0

BEĞENDİM

ABONE OL

News

0

ZIYA GOKALP

Thinker and artist, poet He was born in Diyarbakir in 1876. He died in Istanbul in 1924 He was arrested in last class of Veterinary school because of establishing secret society. He was sent to exile to Diyarbakir after 9 months in prison, he opened a branch of Ittihat ve Terakki party there after proclamation of second Constitutional Monarchy Then he went to Salonika, he wrote articles for Genç Kalemler magazine He became a member of general central committee of the party after constitutional monarchy He entered Turkish Parliament in 1924 He died the same year He was a great Turkist Ziya Gokalp is one of the greatest Turkish thinkers of contemporary Turkish thought history He is a sociologist and instructor who thought the philosophy of Turkism trend and ensured development of national literature in Turkey.

He was born in Diyarbakir, which bore many monuments of various civilizations This city is the oldest cultural center of Anatolia with its libraries and schools A visitor named Çolu Hodja came on 23 March 1876 while Ziya Gokalp’s father Provincial Director of Documents Tevfik Effendi sat and waited for the news of birth of her wife at his house’s selamlik and gave the good news: “You will have a son in this hour, name him Mehmet Ziya”.

Tevfik Effendi had a son indeed some time later, and they named him Mehmet Ziya The mother and father took much care of his being brought up Young Ziya read about Shah Ismail, Asik Kerem even when he was only seven or eight He enjoyed Ziya Pasha and Namik Kemal when he was fourteen His father Tevfik Effendi was a foreseeing person He gave him the taste of reading, and fed him with great ideals He said to his son on the day when Namik Kemal died: This is a day of big mourning, because the greatest personage of this nation Namik Kemal died You will follow him, and will be a patriot and independence lover like him” Such inculcation with a psychological understanding turned to be a will of his father, and guided him

While Ziya studied in Secondary School, his father died He was replaced by his uncle Hasib Effendi Hasib effendi was an intellectual who knew Islamic philosophy well He taught him great Islamic philosophers such as Ibni Sina, Ibni Rusd, Imam Gazzali He taught him Arabic, Persian and scientific investigation methods.

Afterwards, Ziya married his uncles daughter in line with his last will Ziya entered College toward 1890 He studied Theology, physics and biology Two opposing trends brought about a deep skepticism in his mind instead of lightning of truth He could not perceive that this wise existence called “Human” who was the only spring of heart was a machine made of “matter” He thought how Turkish nation being threatened with thousands of dangers but was not even aware of that could be saved from despotism A miracle was needed for this He looked for a philosophy of hope Mysticism and theology sciences not dealing with the problems of Turkish society of the day came out inadequate in providing such philosophy.

But he was determined to reach the ideals in his mind He went to Istanbul without informing his uncle He was enrolled with Veterinary School, which was one of the priceless schools of the day He also entered a secret society established my medical faculty students of the day He gave to secret societies as contribution the monies they sent him as pocket money He even sometimes remained moneyless for days He was arrested because he took part in secret movements against despotism in last class of Veterinary school After being imprisoned in Taşkışla in 1900, he was sent to Diyarbakir into exile

Ziya Gokalp always lived a simple life He was not engaged in any work other than a few temporary civil service duties until proclamation of constitutional monarchy He spent most of the wealth bequeathed by his uncle for independence fighters banished to Diyarbakir, and sold more than half of the properties and precious goods He did not like money He read, wrote and thought without rest; and lived in his thought world In 1908 when Constitutional Monarchy was proclaimed, he opened Diyarbakir branch of Ittihat ve Terakki After some time, he attended 1910 Congress of this community gathered in Salonika as the Diyarbakir delegate and was elected as the General Center member He taught sociology in Ittihat ve Terakki school

He started to write articles to Genç Kalemler magazine published by Ali Canip and Omer Seyfettin One of his pennames was GokalpZiya Gokalp turned into a pole attracting the press and intellectuals even in his thirty five as a young thinker His outer appearance did not promise much too He was a hermit-spirited, shy and humble person Because he was a plump, roundish faced person with low moustache and almond-eyed person He was like Uygur miniatures

But when he started to talk, it was immediately recognized that he was an instructor with his thought and struggling power as well as his extraordinary convincing skills, delicate intelligence and deep knowledge His way of speaking was slow and calm He spoke thinking, but certainly influenced the person he talked to Because, every word he said was in line with not only wisdom and logical thought, but also scientific facts His lessons were open for everyone and were followed with great interest.

He was writing articles on language, philosophy and sociology in Genç Kalemler magazine He investigated the ideal of simplification of Turkish language dealt with by this magazine The same ideal had been put forward by Reforms writers before, but only within the framework of hope and remarks, had been applied within a narrow scale, and writing language and oral language could not be united

Ziya Gokalp, by defending simple languge trend, wanted to save Turkism which lost its identity among Islamic culture For him, simple language was a scientific and national necessity Ottoman language lost Turkish Because, language is the basis of nationalism All values such as law, morals and good feelings are expressed via language Spreading of national culture occurs with simplification of language

It was necessary not to admit words from other Turkish dialects, and not to let dead words even of Turkish origin into Turkish

Türkçeleşmiş Türkçe’dir,
Eski köke tapmayız

For Ziya Gokalp, admitting dead words into the language contradicts to the natural development and own rules of language All words Turkish people know are national His ideas also illuminated writers and poets such as Omer Seyfettin, Falih Rıfkı Atay, Orhan Seyfi Orhan, Halit Fahri Ozansoy, and brought about development of national literature trend.

Ziya Gokalp is a thinker who showed the right path to follow in the idea anarchy of the period of collapsing of Ottoman Empire He is a sociologist who investigated the bases of Turkism with Western scientific understanding In the period he lived, non-Turk people under Ottoman rule felt their national identities and wanted to separate from Turks However, Turks could not have reached a national understanding about which of the three trends f Turkism, Ottomanism and Islamism to choose

Ziya Gokalp is the first to reconcile those three trends For Gokalp, the most important thing for Turkey is awakening of national awareness and conciliation to the course of the century Being modern meant admittance of science and technique of the west Coexistence of two sciences and two understandings such as both eastern and western is impossible The University should be arranged in accordance with western understanding Islamic Law courts should be lifted Religion is a subject of conscience We needed a secular state organization.

He wanted establishment of modern Turkish family instead of paternal family model which collapsed in a unrecoverable manner For this, he scientifically investigated old Turkish family He put forward correction of civil code for establishment of family in terms of law, economy and morals His ideas on modern family, marriage, divorce and inheritance are principles accepted in today’s Turkish community.

For Gokalp, improvement of nationalism idea could be accomplished by examining not only Ottoman history but also Turkish history The source of literature should not be west but Turkish folk and Turkish nation’s life Idea Turkism was necessary for awakening of national awareness Because, civilization is international, common However, mortar (culture) was national

He defined nationalism as “Turkism is to raise Turkish nation”; and explained Turkism with regard to language, religion, law, morals and family For him, nationalism was not racism

Ziya Gokalp wrote works with simple and natural language which were strong with regard to their educational aspect He dealt with folk stories and poetized them with a clear style in a way everybody, and children in particular, could understand He said:

Vatan ne Türkiye’dir Türklere, ne Türkistan
Vatan büyük ve müebbet bir ülkedir: Turan

and after the Sevres rag, Mondros and Losan, he understood that way was not the solution and began to write Türk Medeniyeti Tarihi (Turkish Civilization History)

He understood Turan as an ideal of Ottoman unity at the same time He accepted it as a formation brought about by historical determinism In his book named Turkculugun Esaslari, he said “Nation is neither a racial, nor a tribal, nor geographic nor political group” The Turks should have three ideals for today Turkeyism is the most accurate one of all” He said the second ideal was Oghuzism, and the third and most distant one was Turanism, that is, unification of all Turks

Ziya Gokalp was known as the founder of modern sociology science in our country and was reputed for applying and teaching the principles of French scientist Emile Durkheim This is his scientific aspect His view to history complies with his unifying opinion In this unifying opinion which starts Turkish history from not Osman Bey but from before Christ, contains the belief as the most important property of his idea that all Turkish states were established by people speaking the same language and from the same generation, living within the framework of the same traditions, and changes in the state title governed by other communities would not change the integrity in truth The only limping point was the idea which contradicted with the contemporary reality to gather under the same flag those communities which separated from each other distinctly with language, dialect differences and more importantly, with traditions and rules above all Poets who advocated panturanist ideal such as “Red Apple” and “New Turan” could not succeed therefore In fact, the only bitter end was Enver Pasha’s being killed in a rebel in Turkistan Deserts

Gokalp was banished to Malta by English upon occupation of Istanbul by Trio Entente States after Mondros armistice (1919-1921) He saw the danger of losing Anatolia during his exile in Malta, and wrote Çoban ile Bülbül, as a realist Turkist

Çoban dedi: -Ülkeler hep gitse de,
Kopmaz benden Anadolu ülkesi
Bülbül dedi: -Düşman haset etse de,
İstanbul’da şakıyacak Türk sesi
Sürgün bitince tekrar Diyarbakır’a dönüyor

The famous Thinker went to Ankara in 1923 being appointed to Ministry of Education, Issuance and translation Department Chairmanship Gokalp was elected as Diyarbakir deputy in second election period of Turkish parliament in 1924 However, he was tired and sick despite his ager 48 His indisposition increased an dwent to Istanbul for recovery Ziya Gokalp, being admitted to French Hospital, died in the same year, that is in 1924, despite all efforts of the physicians He was buried in the graveyard around Sultan Mahmut Tomb in Çemberlitaş His house in Diyarbakir was turned into a museum in his name Now, this museum is a home for culture and ideas which visitors of Diyarbakir visit

Ziya Gokalp caused bringing up of a watchful generation no matter how little, and their pursuing university education after him His articles in magazines such as Yeni Mecmua, Türk Yurdu show his efforts toreach a system He showed the ways of liberation by taking Turk and Turkish as a basis in language, economy, fine arts, morals, politics and philosophy The influence of Ziya Gokalp’s efforts was visible in language which headed towards a great simplification within ten years It was seen in art and literature, national music, national art trends developed Writers such as Omer Seyfettin, Halide Edip, Resat Nuri, and poets like Yahya Kemal were empowered by his Türkçülüğün Esasları book

Ziya Gokalp weighed much Turk Medeniyeti Tarihi in particular, and wanted to complete this book definitely But he passed away before he could do Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoglu describes his high morals as follows: His calm head over humanly passions is like high hills close to clear sky over clouds and lightning, so he never engaged himself in the malarial waves we call daily politics even in his times he served as general center member He always looked high, thought high He was a high person above all” “A torch in our temple went out, but only after thousands of hands lit their own torches from his!”