Shot Turkology (Book)

Shotgunned Turkology is a comprehensive scholarly work prepared as a result of research conducted by Prof. Dr. Ahmet Buran. The 560-page work, published by Akçağ Yayınları, presents the global journey of Turkology as a discipline and the pressures and injustices faced by scholars in this field, analyzed through a scientific lens documents.

Book Cover Image (Akçağ Publications Website)

The book consists of a preface, two main sections, and a bibliography.

In the preface, Author explains the motivation behind this work: “With this work, we have sought to fulfill our moral duty and responsibility toward those individuals who endured dramatic and tragic events unknown to any other branch of science, serving Turkology at the cost of their lives”.^【1】

The first section of the book is titled The Tunnel of Fear. It begins with an overview and general historical account of the persecution and genocide suffered by Turks during the 20th century. The author details historical realities experienced in Balkans, the Princes’ Islands, the Soviet Union, East Turkestan, Iraq, Iran and Türkiye.

The second section is titled Shotgunned Turkology — The Genocide of Our Language and Our Science. This section traces the origins of Oriental Studies and Turkology and examines the 1926 Turkology Congress, identified as a pivotal dunum point in Turkology history. Scholars, poets and writers punished following the congress are categorized by country — the Soviet Union, China and Türkiye — with detailed accounts provided for each.

Furthermore, efforts to dismantle unity among artificial languages are examined in detail, and extrajudicial executions targeting thousands of Turkish intellectuals under Stalin’s “Repression” policy are documented with supporting evidence. The contributions made to Turkology by scholars who fled Soviet pressure and sought refuge in Türkiye — Reşit Rahmeti Arat, Zeki Velidi Togan, Ahmet Caferoğlu, Abdulkadir İnan, Ayaz İshaki, Sadri Maksudi (Arsal), Ahmet Temir — like are also analyzed.

Shotgunned Turkology is a comprehensive and scholarly work that narrates the life stories of numerous Turkish intellectuals from the Turkic world who were punished, exiled or murdered solely for conducting research on Turkish culture, and who endured exile, persecution and genocide.