Nihâl Atsız’s History Perception And Opinions About Turkish History

Nihal Atsız one of the most imporant figures of Turkish intelliectual life in 20th century was known also for being a man of letters and a historian along with his ideology. Most of the researches about him were based on his Turkism ideology but his perception of scientific history is a field also cannot be ignored. From Atsız’s perpective history is not only the knowledge of past. In his history perception, history is an obligation and integral part of a nation to name it and experience of it. Besides, it means a important purpose at the point of protecting a nation’s values. According to this, at the begining of this research Atsız’s history perception will be defined. In second part, Atsız’s opinions about Turkish history will be analyzed and his theories about periodization of Turkish histories’s eras which are stil controversial among today’s historians. His thesises will be criticized and his ideas about Turkish history philosophy and methodology. There has been no research reviewed in detail about Atsız’s philosophy of history, till the present day. In this respect, our article will have an important task for the elucidation of important issues related to Atsiz. In addition, this article will be a first in terms of disclosure and examination of a concept that we can call as Turkist conception of history with the impact of Atsız’s mentality and historiography. In accordance with Nihâl Atsız’s opinions, it will be pointed out how Turkist conception of history ascribes of a meaning to the history and expectations from the history; and how approached to the methodological problems of Turkish history will be discussed critically.

Keywords

Nihal Atsız, history, historical consciousness, philosophy of history, historian.