From the proclamation of the reforms in the Tanzimat (re-organization) period in 1839 onwards, translation from Western sources has been a major means to modernize, Europeanize and Westernize Ottoman and Republican Turkey. Although especially since the late 1980s critical voices have also been raised against the Westernization process, translation is still seen as an important key to the country’s affiliation with Western modernity. This conception of the role of translation in cultural and social planning may be one important reason why Translation Studies in Turkey is an attractive young discipline witnessing remarkable growth, with new departments being opened, and BA, MA and PhD programmes offered at different universities across the country.

The starting point for this special issue is the ‘burden’ translation and translating has thus carried, and is still carrying in Turkey. Papers are therefore invited on the themes including but not restricted to:
the roles and possibilities of translation in cultural, language, and social planning in the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic;
case studies from different fields (literature, philosophy, social sciences, law, engineering, mass media, etc.) where translation was and is a major source for ‘importation’;
particularities of the Turkish-Islamic context generating different notions of translation;
dynamics of translation in Turkey’s intercultural and interregional exchange with the West and East from cultural, political, and ideological perspectives;
interdisciplinary uses of the concept of translation as a metaphor to critically reflect on the impact of Westernization in the humanities or social sciences as well as fields like architecture, urban planning, etc.;
the reception of Western and Eastern translation theories in Turkey.

We are particularly interested in contributions adopting new methodological and interdisciplinary approaches.