Past and Present of Nation-Building: Ideological Instrumentalization of Ministry of Youth and Sports of Turkey

Abstract

When Erdogan declared in 2012, 'We will raise a pious generation', Turkey already had a national identity rooted in secularism and Turkism since the early Republic. His statement signalled an attempt to reshape identity along the AKP's anti-Kemalist lines. This study examines shifting nation-building agendas in state-run youth and sports institutions, comparing the early Republican era with the AKP period. Early programmes emphasized Turkism, secularism, and paramilitarism, reflecting the ideological imperatives of the time. Under the AKP, however, programmes increasingly promoted Islamism and neo-Ottomanism, opposing earlier values. The study argues that AKP-era youth policies deliberately sought to replace Kemalist principles, with the Ministry of Youth and Sports serving as a channel for ideological nation-building absent in formal education.