Political Psychology as an Emerging Field in Turkey (festschrift article)

In 1974, I was a research assistant working to complete my residency at Ankara University when I had my first encounter with my mentor, Dr. Vamık Volkan. At that time, he was not only an influential figure for those of us affiliated with psychoanalytic literature, but he was also a mentor, helping us understand the dynamic relation between the individual and the group.

In 1980, only two years after completing my residency, I went to the United States, to the University of Virginia Medical School, to work under Volkan’s supervision. At that time, I first heard about the new and thriving field called political psychology. During my two years as a visiting scholar in Virginia, I was able to get acquainted with the major writings and conceptual framework

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of this emerging field. I was far more interested in comprehending the interactions between leaders and followers, individuals and groups because of the political turmoil Turkey was going through at that time. By then, right and left wing political groups were clashing in the streets every day; by the end of the year, a military coup d’état took place, resulting in imprisoned and banned politicians. Societal results were devastating regarding the political polarization and ethnic terrorism.

After my return to Turkey, I came to realize the process of large-group dynamics that has been taking place, probably since the establishment of the republic. Then I began to think about the Turkish identity in transition from Ottoman times to the young Republic. In the early 80’s, political psychology was an unknown field in Turkey and it was a time when many societal issues could not be discussed due to political reasons. In the mid-80s, Volkan had sent me a copy of his and Dr. Itzkowitz’s book, The Immortal Atatürk: A Psychobiography. As he wrote in his personal note, it was still not appropriate and timely to even discuss Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic as a regular human being. At that point, I came to realize that mystification of Ottoman and republican political figures and symbols was an important area to explore and could serve as necessary steps to find a rapprochement between these contradicting cultural identities.

In 1992, I invited Volkan to a political psychological congress that was tackling the issue of terrorism. About the same time, the former Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel and former Minister of State Ekrem Ceyhun invited Volkan and me to a meeting at the prime minister’s office. As a result, recognizing the need to address political issues from a psychological perspective, the Center for Political Psychology was established under the auspices of the Turkish Prime Ministry. The same year, I went back to the University of Virginia and spent three months at Volkan’s Center for the Mind and Human Interaction. It was right around the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. This groundbreaking event had major effects on Turkey, as well. I spoke about the psycho-political implications of the post-Soviet era on Turkey and the newly established Turkic states.

It was also the same time that Turkey had to deal with eth-

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nic terrorism, which could not be properly addressed for various reasons. Therefore, upon my return from the U.S., the Center started to work on issues such as terrorism, violence, and psychological motivation of conflict from a psychoanalytical perspective that I had previously learned from Vamık Volkan’s work. After a few years, the Center was closed down, leaving a vacuum in addressing such important societal issues from a psychological perspective. Recognizing that necessity in 2006, I established the Turkish Psychopolitical Association along with colleagues from various disciplines. About the same year Ankara University was honored to host Dr. Volkan for three months to guide us at the Department of Psychiatry, both in psychoanalytic literature and political psychology. In 2007, I wrote a book in Turkish titled Political Psychology that specifically aimed at addressing major issues in Turkey. Since the establishment of the Center of Political Psychology, I have been invited to teach about this emerging field in several state institutions, such as the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Turkish Police Academy, and Turkish Military Academy. After a while, I realized that trying to introduce political psychology as a new field led many young colleagues to find interest in this area. As a result, in 2011 Ankara University founded the Center for the Study and Research of Political Psychology, initiating field research, workshops, seminars, and conferences.

The field of political psychology in Turkey has been truly influenced by Vamık Volkan, not only through his seminal work, but also through his personal guidance.

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