Autore
Bayçifci, Bugra Can

Titolo
Fascism and the Killing of Giacomo Matteotti in Turkish Perspective
Periodico
Contemporanea
Anno: 2025 - Volume: 111 - Fascicolo: 4 - Pagina iniziale: 563 - Pagina finale: 590

This article aims to shed light on the ways Turkish intellectuals made sense of the kidnapping and subsequent killing of the Italian socialist deputy Giacomo Matteotti by a fascist gang in June 1924. It is well known that the assassination initiated a process that culminated in the "leggi fascistissime". Much less emphasis is placed on how the killing of Matteotti coincided with a domestic crisis in Turkey. The so-called «Clash of the Pashas» pitted the Republican People’s Party and the Kemalists against the Progressive Republican Party. The incidents in Italy were deemed to have a direct bearing on the ongoing Turkish political crisis. The article will illustrate how the anti-RPP opposition figures like Velid Ebuzziya and Ahmed Emin (Yalman) seized upon the so-called «Italian crisis». They utilised it as a «lesson from abroad» to warn Ankara of the futility of authoritarian methods. The response by the pro-RPP circles will also be discussed to illustrate the variance within Kemalism in terms of the perceptions of fascism. While some individuals already saw fascism as building a «new Western civilisation» in the early Twenties, the majority of the RPP perceived the killing of Matteotti as «barbaric» and imagined Kemalism to be democratising Turkey. Both sides of the debate expected fascism to prove futile and imagined Italy in turmoil with violent protests against fascism across the country. Turkish intellectuals widely and falsely believed that Mussolini would be forced to take steps back from authoritarianism. Using contemporary Turkish newspapers, as well as Turkish and Italian state archives, this article focuses on a moment of transnational interaction across the Mediterranean. It highlights how domestic Italian issues could acquire immediate importance in the Turkish context, and how the transnational diffusion of news helped Turkish journalists undermine the Italian diplomats’ statements.



SICI: 1127-3070(2025)111:4<563:FATKOG>2.0.ZU;2-4
Testo completo: https://www.rivisteweb.it/download/article/10.1409/119139
Testo completo alternativo: https://www.rivisteweb.it/doi/10.1409/119139

Esportazione dati in Refworks (solo per utenti abilitati)

Biblioteche ACNP che possiedono il periodico