The Turkish History Thesis is a Turkish ultranationalist, pseudohistoric thesis which posited the belief that the Turks moved from their ancestral homeland in Central Asia and migrated to China, India, the Balkans, the Middle East, and Northern Africa in several waves, populating the areas which they had moved to and bringing civilization to their native inhabitants. The theory was developed within the context of pre-Nazi scientific racism, classifying the Turks as an "Alpine subgroup" of the Caucasian race. The intent of the theory was a rejection of Western European assertions that the Turks belonged to the "yellow or mongol" race. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk took a personal interest in the subject after he was shown a French language book that claimed Turks "belonged to the yellow race" and were a "secondaire" people.

Hüseyin Nihâl Atsız was a prominent Turkish ultranationalist writer, novelist, and poet. Atsız self-identified as a racist, Pan-Turkist and Turanist. He later became a critic of Islam, calling it "a religion created by Arabs, for Arabs". He is the ideologue of Atsızism. He was the author of over 30 books and numerous articles and was in strong opposition to the government of İsmet İnönü, which he criticized for co-operating with the communists. He was accused of being a sympathizer of the Nazi government and plotting to overthrow the Turkish government.