The Reinvention of a Hero: Barbaros Hayretti̇n Paşa and the Politics of Naval Memory in Türki̇ye
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: This manuscript presents a critical analysis of the commemoration of Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa and the Preveze Naval Victory, framing it not as an organic, continuous tradition but as a dynamic and contested political instrument. It argues that the tradition's history is characterized by a series of disruptive reinventions, each meticulously engineered to serve the distinct ideological and strategic objectives of different political regimes in Türkiye. The study traces this evolution through three critical, non-linear phases. Initially, during the late Ottoman Empire's period of decline, the tradition was invented from the ground up by non-state actors, primarily the Ottoman Naval Society. Emulating successful Western models like the British Navy League's cult of Nelson, these actors strategically adopted Barbaros as a patriotic symbol to foster maritime consciousness, raise public funds, and legitimize a costly naval modernization program in response to imperial trauma and territorial losses. Following the Republic of Türkiye's establishment, the tradition was selectively re- invented amid the new state's secular-nationalist project. Viewed with doubt due to its overt Ottoman relations, it was initially suppressed in favour of narratives centred on the War of Independence. However, through persistent advocacy from journalists and naval circles, it was cautiously appropriated by the state. This negotiation culminated in the official designation of the Preveze anniversary as "Naval Forces Day," a move that effectively stripped the tradition of its imperial connotations and repurposed it as a tool for building a republican maritime consciousness and for diplomatic signalling on the eve of World War II. The study culminates by examining the contemporary neo-Ottoman culmination of the tradition, where it has been fully weaponized within the context of 21st-century Aegean crises and Eastern Mediterranean energy disputes. This phase is defined by the strategic fusion of the Navy's professionally cultivated historical identity with the state's assertive "Blue Homeland" (Mavi Vatan) doctrine. Through a comprehensive set of mechanisms—including grand naval parades as performative sovereignty, the resumed ritual of saluting Barbaros's tomb as a strategic speech act, the symbolic naming of both warships and civilian energy vessels after Ottoman heroes, and its propagation via state-sponsored popular culture (e.g., the Barbaroslar: Akdeniz’in Kılıcı TV series) and religious soft power projects—the commemoration is explicitly exploited to securitize maritime space, legitimize an assertive foreign policy, and promote a neo-Ottoman national identity. The study concludes that the trajectory of the Barbaros tradition significantly complicates standard top-down models of "invented tradition" by highlighting the critical role of non-state actors, internal contestation, and bureaucratic struggles, thereby revealing the perpetual negotiation in Turkish politics between a republican and an imperial past, where historical narrative is mobilized to project power and shape identity in the face of modern geopolitical competition.
Author: Özel, Mesut
Language: English
Topic: Historical Turkish Studies
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7203540366