Erik-Jan Zürcher

[8] A renowned specialist in Turkey's late modern history, "Zürcher’s research (...) has produced a critique of the official historiography of the Turkish Republic and Turkish nationalism, depicting the national resistance movement organised by Mustafa Kemal as a rupture with the past.

By undermining the standard periodisation that clearly differentiates between the Ottoman era and the newly born Republic of Turkey, Zürcher demonstrated that the resistance movement was, to a large extent, started and organised by former Unionists, who were the key actors in the 1908 Constitutional Revolution and also responsible for the choices made on behalf of the Empire during World War I.

According to him, this is in line with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's depicting of a powerful Turkey in the future, linked to a glorious empire in the past.

[10] In 2016, he noted that his previously expected advancement in democratic standards and Rechtsstaat did not materialize, and that Turkey therefore cannot and should not become a member of the European Union.

[11] Reacting shortly after the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt, Zürcher stated that he deemed it "highly unlikely" that the Gülen movement was behind it.

He added that the coup attempt would lead to Turkish president Erdoğan using the event to get rid of opponents, citing the example of arrest warrants for nearly 3000 judges.