/ . THE RELATIONSHIP OF POETRY AND IDEOLOGY IN TURKEY: THE INFLUENCE OF ZIVA GOKALP ON THE POETRY OF THE ( BE? HECECI LER 0 , '" ... .. BY ® MARY CATHERINE MliRRA Y• • A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUA~E'STUDIES AND RESEARCH OF MCGILL UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUI~EMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN ISLAMIC' STUDIES " INSTI1UTE OF ISLAMIC STUDIES 1 MCGILL UNIVERSITY MONTREAL L' 1982 " " J ~ . , , " A~STRACT_ , Ziya GOka1p's influence on the ideology of the Turkish revolution \ has generally been unquestioned. Yet, few sy;temàtic an~lYSeS of the , direct impact of his work have been completed. -Thi s thes i 5 wi 11 s tudy hi s thought in order to di séover a sys tem that can serve as a model against which the poetry of ~he Be~ Hêceciler, members or the national poetic movement, can be examined fo~ the purpose of determinin~ the Qature of GDkalp's influence on both ~orm and theme. This study introHuces the issue of certain cOlexisten~ bJt contra- t dictory elements tn ~Okalp's'philosophy which underl~y the interaction of form and theme in the wo;ks of these poets and shows how"consequently, y~ attempts ta diversify poetic themes, ta approach poetic realism or even ~~,>f- to fulfil the Turkist requirement that form and theme reflect the • culture of the people, were'fraught with fundamental problems. ! .. i ,.- ( , ' , ( . 'r) RESUME L'influence de Ziya GVkalp sur l'idéologie de la révolution tu~que est généralement incont~stée. Cependant, des analyses r" ,\ systematiques sur la nature de cette influence sont peu nombreuses. Cette thèse exami nera 1 es oeuvres de Gljka 1 p pour découvri r un syst~me qUl pourrait servir comme modèle de comparaison pour la ... poésie des Ber Hececiler, qui sont eux-mêmes représentants du mouvement national de poésle, avec l'intention de déterminer la / mesure de son lnfluence. Ceci démontrera que certalns éléments co-existents mais - contradictoires sont contenus dans la philosophle de Gëkalp et ,que ceux-ci sont à la base'de l'interaction entre les formes et thèmes util i sés par ces poètes. Dans 1a suite, \a thèse i ndi quera que 1 es efforts de ces poètes a di versifi er leurs' thèmes poètiques, à écri re de mani~re r~allst~ et même ~ rêaliser les demandes Turquistes que la forme et le thème tous deux salent lnspirés par ceu.~ utilisés par 1~' peuple, conf~ontalent des problèmes fond~mentâux . .d' , / ., ( \ 1 J " , 1 / " 1 ( t, " -, For my grandfather.. Sir , Robert Urquhart and For James / ' \ .. ) ( ,~ 1 [\ '" ','1 1 ,. .' ( " ('" 1\ TABLE OF CONTENTS \\ 1 INTRODUCTION . " o " Chapter j' 1. lIYA GtlKALP' S PHILOSOPHY OF IDEALS . , 3 1. Form: Ttl".e Relationshi p of Language and Poetic Reform to National Consciousness' in ~. Ziya G6kalp's Philosophy of Ideals ... 3 ',' 2. Theme: The Relationship of lndividual to Nation in liya GOkq.lp's Philosophy of IdeSlls ?1 II. THE POETRY OF THE BE~ HECEC ILE~ . 33 ~ , , ~. ,..- )) \ , 1. Form in the Poetry of thê Be~ Hececi 1er . 33 2. Theme in the Poetry of the Be~ Hececil er. 31 III. lIYA GOKALP, THE BES HECECILER AND THE INTERACTION OF FORM AND THEME . ... '. ~ 1 82 1. Contradictions in Form and Theme in the . 6 "', Pqetry of the Be~ Hececiler as a Result of the Infl uence of the Philosophy of Ziya GOkal p .;. " 82 • 7-tr, CONCLUSION . 105' BIBL IOGRAPHY ~ 109 " " • <", \ .' 1 " " ( - ,.. " . ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, The supervision of my thesis advisor, Dr. A. Oner Turgay, and • 0 the assistanc.e provided to me by the Institute of Islamic $,tudies, McGill University, are 'acknowledged with thanksl Ors. Robert Polzin and Leonard Librande read the thesis and provided valuable cnticism. Their interest and support are muc~ , 1 appreciated.- - finally, ( am especially grateful to Ahmet Karamustafa without, whose patJent help and encouragement this thesis,would not have been .' " compl eted. '. fo' , r 4 .., , . ( , Cc. { INTRODUC"fION ,Ziya Go~alp is most commonly recognized as the ideologist whose thought stands behind the principles and,reforms of the nationalist regime under AtatUrk. Vet, the degree to WhlCh his philosophy actually influenced ldeology, po1itlca1 and socid1 thinklng and touched a11 aspects of the Turkish commitment to national renewal and reconstruction ,...- has hardly been studied. :Certalnly, there has been little analysis of his thought for the purpose of discoverlng the nature of the system that underlay his various and diverse works spannin~ a per'iod from 1911 ta 1924. One of the areas that Gokalp most ,nfluenced~ as a result of his -v 9 philosaphy and hls,own predilectipns, was that of 1iterat~re, and especial1y poetry: It;s the pUli'"pose of thlS .study tb establish a , " framework based on GHkalp's works in order that~hey might be established as ~ cohesiv~ unit ~r mode1, against WhlCh Turkist cultural principles and th~ applicatlon of these principles wlthln the Natlonal Llterature movement can be'compared. The thesis will show how G5kalp's philo~ophy was ref,l ected bath in terms of "farm and theme in the works of the prime . , • representatives of the national poetlc movement, the Bes Hececiler • 'and then, how assumptlons and inconsis~encies, only implicit in his 1 thought, revealed themselves upon 'applicat,~n wlthin the works of thes~ poets and created a situation where trends ln theme inevltably resul~ed in a betrayal of the lnten~tion motlvating lnnovatlOn ln form. The study will conslst of three parts. Chapter l will trace the development of Gokalp's ~hought on the relationshlp of ldeals, values anq social evolution and devèlo p a framework, on both a general level and ".. .... ("- a parallel national level, against which Turklsh reform strategies, involving issues as disparate as language, law and economics, can be 1. seen as an lndlvlsible unit. , . 2 The IIHa 1 ka Dogru" (Towards the People) movement exemp 1 ifi ed the impact of Gëkalp's ph,i1osophy on culture and lnitiated revolûtionary trends in' llterary language and form, among other things. Yet,' this t movement, baslcally individualist and liberal in nature, in terms of its treatment 'of theme, was also influenced by aspects of Gëkalp's thought involvlng the relationship of individu~l to natlon. These particular concepts are therefore also investigated ln Chapter I. , Chapter II demonstrates the influence of Ziya Gôkalp's philosophy of ldeals o~ form in the poetry of the Be~ Hececiler by showing how t~ey attempted as required by Turkist principles 'of, cultural reform, to pattern their poetry according to -folk forms' of versification, popular metre and vernacular Turklsh. It then lndicates by an examina­ ti on of repres,~ntati ve extracts of poetry of the Be? Hececil er. how Gokalp's concepts of the creation of the natlon by individuals and thelr subsequent re-creation of soclety within themselves and resulting l • ' embo.diment of social va'lues by their function as ful1y socialized i ndi vi duà l s i nfl uenced and Wère refl ected i,n the themes of these poets. Chapter III examines certain problems and contradicti9ns that qrose in the poetry of the Be~ Hececiler, not l~ terms of thelr artistic, method but rather as a ,result of thei r adhérence to "'assumptions undér- . " . , lying Gokalp's philosgphy, and particularly~his thought on the relation- ", Shlp of i'ndividual to nation, that were lnherently lnconsistent with those concepts that precipltated changes in form. It wll1 show how GBkalp's advocacy of the necessary-irnmersion "of indlvlduality in the l ' callectivity and the consequent requirement of ?oclal homogeneity cantributed ta inherent limitations of poétic theme which the poets were unable to overcome and WhlCh contradicted and belled the intention behind trends i~ form. The overa 11 purpose of thi ~ thes i s l S to examl ne Goka l p' s work and' () ta study one specifie area among the many that were subJect ta the .appllcatlon of hlS philosophy in arder to determlne the degree ta 'which -1" the proponents ot his philosophy adhered ta his concepts and to trace the nature of the problems which, ~rose as a result of this application. ( 1 CHAPTER l ZlYA GOKALP'S PHILOSOPHY OF IDEALS The Relationship of Language and Poetic Reform te National Consciousness ln Ziya GÔkalp's Philosophy of Ideals In 1911, Ziya Gokalp wrote the followil1g words in "Yeni Hayat ve Yeni Klymet1er" (New Life and New Values): "We have athieved the politlcal revolution; now we are confronted with yet another task: to prepare for" the social revolution!"l . His conviction that mere politlcal change was meaningl~ss unless followed by a culturaJ-tand social revolution is at the foundation of his soc1,51l and political • phil osophy, In the same article, he wrote: The political revolution was easy to realize because lt meant merely applying the machinery of the J ... constitutional regime to government. , , . In qrder to put the politlcal revolution into practice. it was enough to di ssemi nate certai n idées-forces, 'such as liberty, equality, and fraternity which symbolize the spirit of the constitutional regime. 2 ' "The social revolution cannot be attained by a mere mechanical action. 1 t wi 11 be di ffi cult to achi Eve because it must be the product of a long process of organlc evolution,,,3 The soclal revolutlOn i s dependent upon the gr~wth and consumma t i on of . certa in sentiments-forces\ Acceptance or rejecti on of the ideas is within the power of reason. The sentiments, on the other hand, cannot evolve easily because they are the product of social habits developed in the course o,f several' centuries,4 The social revolut1on was to be effect~d by d1s-câ:rding the old life and values and creating a New Life, wi~h new economie, domestic, aesthetic, philosophlcal and let,9{ll features.