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ZIYO GOKALP'S VIEWS ON THE STATE
Khamdamov Erkin Ibodullayevich
“Alfraganus university” non-governmental educational organization
Teacher of the department of social sciences
Tel.: +99899 517-34-87
E-mail: hamdamoverkin5@gmail.com
Orcid: 0009-0003-0761-964x
Https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15083472
Annotation:
Ziyo Gökalp is a thinker who played an important role in the
processes of Turkish nationalism and modernization, and his views on the state
are based on the idea of combining national identity and modern systems of
governance. He saw the state as an expression of national culture and
considered it a key factor in the development of society. Gökalp advocated the
harmonization of Western and Eastern principles in the formation of the Turkish
national state, and an approach based on justice and progress in state
governance. In his opinion, the state should serve the interests of society and
strengthen national unity. This article analyzes Ziyo Gökalp's theoretical views
on the state and highlights their impact on modern political processes.
Keywords:
Ziyo Gokalp, concept of state, national state, Turkism, social
philosophy, political views, national culture, modernization, relations between
society and state, Western and Eastern principles.
INTRODUCTION.
Ziyo Gökalp is one of the thinkers who has been studied
especially for his philosophical views, ideas, worldview, especially his works on
political and social topics. Many researchers have expressed their opinions on
this, including Hüseyin Kazim Kadri, Gökalp's greatness in this field has not gone
unnoticed. Gökalp realized that the society he lived in was at a very critical
threshold in terms of the historical process in which he lived, and he formulated
his thoughts in search of a way out. For Gökalp, this turbulent period also served
as a historical opportunity for the awakening of Turkish society. Indeed, this
situation can be clearly seen in his works on the concept of "ideology".
For Gokalp, concepts such as culture (hars), civilization, customs,
ideologies, solidarity, and morality are of great importance in terms of showing
the thinker's place both in the field of sociology and in approaches to the state.
Because the concepts in question may differ from the meanings described in the
dictionaries of Gokalp's world of thought. In order to understand Gokalp
correctly, it is necessary to pay attention to how these concepts appear in his
thought patterns and the essence he describes in his works on these concepts.
Gokalp's acceptance of the state is that the state is an instrument of a political
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institution. The state represents a structure that cannot act on its own. The
direction and character of the state's movement are determined by the political,
cultural, and civilizational elements with which it is connected. Therefore,
Gokalp does not have a point of view that puts the state above society. Gökalp
sees social institutions as having an impact on politics and the state along with
their historical development. Gökalp's views on the tradition and organization of
the Turkish state, in accordance with his views stated above, are determined by
Turkish culture, Turkish civilization, and Turkish administrative structures,
which have manifested themselves in many types of political organizations
throughout history. Gökalp believed that the Turks, considering their cultural
elements and way of life, could not be individualistic to the point of being liberal,
nor could they live a collective life to the point of giving up freedom and
independence. Gökalp emphasizes that social solidarity has played an important
role among the Turks since the earliest Turkish political organizations. For this
reason, he emphasized that the most suitable system for the Turks was
solidarity corporatism (corporation). Gökalp's idea remained valid for the newly
established Republic of Turkey, and he stated that the political and economic
organization of the state should be a corporate structure that assumes
cooperation rather than class conflict. Gökalp's thoughts, especially those
related to the Turkic movement, present a rich whole from the perspective of
social sciences. His concept of the state and his views on the traditions and
organization of the Turkish state are also seen as important research areas for
research in the field of governance. This study aims to examine Gökalp's
thoughts on the function, elements and types of the state, his view on the
traditions of the Turkish state, and the qualities that the new Turkish state
should have. Among Gökalp's works, the articles in the magazines "Küçük
Mecmua" and "Yeni Mecmua" allow us to study his views on concepts and his
general theory of the state, while the books "Turkization, Islamization,
Modernization, Turkish Tradition, Foundations of Turkism and History of
Turkish Civilization" allow us to understand his thoughts on the tradition and
organization of the Turkish state.
Gökalp's article titled "New Life and New Values", which he published in the
magazine Genç Kalemler in 1911, is important in that it shows the path the
thinker wanted to take in the political and ideological turmoil of the time. Gökalp
rewrote this article in the magazine Yeni Mecmua in 1917 and included it in the
article he published in 1911 with new explanations.
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Gökalp focused on three fields: sociology, literature and history with his
articles in the magazine Yeni Mecmua, which was founded in 1917. In his
publications in this journal, Gökalp focused on topics such as the legal
foundations necessary for the formation of a state in society, the organizational
forms of primitive societies, the role of the family in the formation of states,
types of governance, the origin and characteristics of the traditions of the
Turkish state, and conducted extensive research.
Published in 1918, the work titled “Turkishization, Islamization, Becoming
Contemporary” is Gökalp’s work in which he described the revival of Turkish
nationalism in his own terms and explained concepts such as nation, homeland,
and ideal. In this work, Gökalp examined the Ottoman, Islamization, and Turkic
movements with their development processes, and caused Turkishness to
become an agenda item in his time.
Gökalp's articles in the magazine "Küçük Mecmua" published in Diyarbakir
in 1922 seem to have yielded the ripe fruits of the world of thought in various
fields. Because the fields covered by Gökalp's articles in this magazine ranged
from philosophy to sociology, from economics to politics, from literature to
psychology. It can be said that Gökalp reflected almost all of the knowledge he
had accumulated during his relatively short life in his works on each of the
mentioned fields. In his works on the state, Gökalp explained the characteristics
of the modern state and the emergence of the Turkish state, its organization, and
the philosophical, political and social foundations of this organization in a very
comprehensive way. In his book "Turkish Tradition" published in 1923, Gökalp
examined the concept of tradition, the social life of the ancient Turks, the
relationship between the emergence of religion and the state among the Turks,
and Turkish cosmogony. In this work, Gökalp describes in detail the changes that
occurred in the triangle of religion, law and society during the period of the
emergence of the state among the Turks.
Another work published after Gökalp's death in 1926, in which the thinker's
theory of the Turkish state can be traced, is the book "History of Turkish
Civilization". In this work, Gökalp studies the characteristics of Turkish culture
and Turkish civilization, the organizational abilities and methods of the Turks,
Turkish customs and nomadic relations, the ontological differences between the
Turks and the Chinese, and the concept of "province" that the Turks saw as the
first state organization.
The investigation carried out in this direction; begins with an examination
of Gökalp's ideas about the state. In this context, Gökalp's general perceptions
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about the state are observed in his works. The next part of the study includes
Gökalp's ideas about the tradition and organization of the Turkish state. Finally,
the aim of the study is to achieve the above-mentioned goal by explaining the
place of the new Turkish state in the world of Gökalp's thought and the qualities
he envisioned.
There are no sections in Gökalp's works that specifically express his theory
of the state. This situation has been interpreted by some authors as the absence
of a theory of the state in his thoughts. For example, Parla (2021: 108) claimed
that there is no theory of the state in Gökalp's works, even in the narrow sense.
On the other hand, if Gökalp's works are studied from the perspective of the
state and his views on this matter are summarized, his views on the state can be
illuminated in a relatively holistic way.
It seems that Gökalp's views on the state cannot be considered
independently of the period in which he lived. At this point, it can be said that
the thinker's view on the state has three aspects. The first dimension is his
general perceptions of the state. The second aspect consists of his views on how
to save the Turkish state. The third dimension consists of thoughts aimed at the
reborn Turkish state. This study examines Gökalp's general views on the state,
his thoughts on the traditions of the Turkish state, and the qualities he
envisioned for the new Turkish state.
Gökalp emphasizes that there are two social wills in every society: "culture"
and "politics" (Gökalp, 1972: 66). According to Gökalp, the state is one of the
instruments of politics and a political machine that operates through the
mechanism of law. The informal factors that control this political machine
invisibly are called "political power" (Duru, 1975: 49). Although the concept of
the state occupies an important place in Gökalp's thoughts, since it is seen as a
tool, it does not have the quality of activating itself. The state comes into being
only when the society in which it is located guides it and determines the form
and character of its action.
It can be seen that the concept of culture is of decisive importance in
Gokalp's thoughts on the state. Because, as noted above, for Gokalp, one of the
two wills inherent in every society is "culture" and the other is "politics." At this
point, it is appropriate to clarify the meaning that Gokalp attached to the concept
of culture.
List of used literature:
1.
Gökalp, Z. Türk medeniyet tarihi. -İstanbul: Türk Kültür Yayını. 1974.
2.
Gökalp, Z. Hars ve medeniyet. -İstanbul: Toker Yayınları. 1995.
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3.
Gökalp, Z. Türkçülüğün esasları. -İstanbul: Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı Yayınları.
1999.
4.
Gökalp, Z. Türkleşmek, İslamlaşmak, muasırlaşmak. -İstanbul: Akvaryum
Yayınevi. 2005.
5.
Gürsoy, K. Bir felsefe geleneğimiz var mı?. Ankara: Aktif Düşünce
Yayınları. 2014.
6.
Heidegger, M. Nedir bu felsefe?. (A. Irgat, Çev.). -İstanbul: Afa Yayıncılık.
1995.
7.
Karakaş, M. Türk modernleşmesi üzerine değerlendirmeler. Sosyologca,
24, 190-120. 2022.
8.
Topçu, N. İslâm ve insan Mevlâna ve tasavvuf. -İstanbul: Dergâh Yayınları.
2018.
9.
https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/4747
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GENDER TENGLIGI MASALALARI //International Conference on Educational
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UMUMIY JIHATLARI VA O ‘ZIGA XOS TOMONLARI //Scientific Conference on
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