Karyağdı Hatun: locating Islam in the national opera of “Modern” Turkey

Abstract

The Turkish national opera, founded and shaped by a secular presidential initiative, has historically played a crucial role in defining cultural unity and Turkish national identity. Tracing Islam on the national operatic stage reveals the changing limits and representations of the Muslim self, the multi-layered national imagination, and how they have been closely entwined with changing modalities of secularism in Turkey. By examining the opera Karyağdı Hatun, this study explores how Islam was positioned within the national operatic stage, reflecting shifting representations of the Muslim subject and secularism under the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) since 2002. The two productions of Karyağdı Hatun, one from 1985 and the other from 2012, I analyze in this article illustrate two different modes of decontextualizing Islam in the national imagination, minimizing and adapting its cultural and religious symbols in favor of a modern national narrative. Based on 20 in-depth interviews with former and current contributors to the Turkish State Opera and Ballet (Devlet Opera ve Balesi, the DOB from here on) as well as an analysis of media coverage of the productions, this study examines the contested reception of Karyağdı Hatun and its impact on broader debates on secularism and Islam in Turkey. The research utilizes Julia Kristeva's concept of "abjection" to explore exclusionary mechanisms at play within the secular space of the national opera that paradoxically allow for the partial inclusion of Muslim representation. Through a comparative lens, this paper not only showcases the intricate dynamics at play in the shifting portrayal of Islam in Karyağdı Hatun, but also underscores how the evolving national imagination reflects changing state policies towards Islam, oscillating between repression and selective inclusion.