How does a people move from tribal and religiously based understandings of society to a concept of the modern nation-state? This book examines the complex and pivotal case of Turkey. Tracing the shifting valences of vatan (Arabic for birthplace or homeland) from the Ottoman periodwhen it signified a certain territorial integrity and imperial ideologythrough its acquisition of religious undertones and its evolution alongside the concept of millet (nation), Behll zkan engages readers in the fascinating ontology of Turkeys protean imagining of its nationhood and the construction of a modern national-territorial consciousness.