Research master thesis | Middle Eastern Studies (research) (MA)
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This study examines the ideological connections between the left-leaning Kadro, Markopaşa, and Yön journals and Kemalism . Kadro, Markopaşa and Yön are not only journals but also political currents...Show moreThis study examines the ideological connections between the left-leaning Kadro, Markopaşa, and Yön journals and Kemalism . Kadro, Markopaşa and Yön are not only journals but also political currents of different scales. This research reveals what the exact relation of the writers with the Kemalist regime of their time was, whether these journals contributed to Kemalist ideology by using their intellectual influence and how they attributed left-oriented concepts to Kemalism. Further, it explores how they coped with contradictions of combining left-oriented ideas with Kemalism and what the similarities and differences were in terms of expressing the views of the left-leaning intellectuals in the mid-1930s, the late 1940s and in the early 1960s. The answers to these questions are discussed in connection to the six tenets of Kemalist ideology: the nationalist, populist, etatist, laicist, reformist, and republicanist arrows.Show less
In this study is been examined the stance of the Kemalist elite towards liberalism as a competing political program of modernization and as one opposed to that of the RPP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi –...Show moreIn this study is been examined the stance of the Kemalist elite towards liberalism as a competing political program of modernization and as one opposed to that of the RPP (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi – Republican People’s Party) in the period of 1922-1945. According to the prevalent viewpoint in most of historical analyses of the early republican history of Turkey, the path to the formation of the new state and the viewpoint of the ruling elite clashed with the liberal ideal. The hybrid ideological nature of Kemalism, as the dominant trend of Turkish nationalism, and its distance from other existing paradigms is clearly captured by Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk)’s phrase uttered during the debate on the abolition of the sultanate, ‘Biz bize benzeriz’ (We resemble ourselves). Through the study of the government’s acts and the intellectual debates of the period, I show that certain aspects of liberalism, such as constitution, rule of law, popular sovereignty and representative government, are an organic part of any modern political system, including Turkey's, and that any state has to adopt at least some of them if it is to be regarded as modern.Show less
