NATIONALISM AS A POLITICAL IDEOLOGY AND ITS REFLECTION IN TURKEY: ZIYA GÖKALP AND TURKISM/TURANISM

As a political ideology, nationalism has a different place in political ideologies due to the fact that it is an ideology on which serious debate is ongoing. Particularly, it is an important part of this debate that the nationalist rhetoric developed regarding the understanding of the nation is criticized by certain thinkers and that nationalist thinkers place it at the center of the ideology. It can be argued that the views that claim that the nationalism is a concept as old as the history of humanity, are an important crossroads in the struggle against the critical approaches that considerate the nation is an artificial structure created by nationalism. When looking at the reflection of nationalism as a political ideology in Turkey, we face with the Turkic / Turanist ideas. The idea of Turkism appeared in the late Ottoman period has also been appeared in the Turkish Republic period and has emerged as Turanism by Ziya Gökalp etc. thinkers. In this study, approaches to nationalism and basic principles such as nation, nationality, national interest, language, religion, organic society, history, self-determination and culture, which summarize its core values and which are central to the nationalist political ideology are addressed, and the debates over these subjects have been examined. However looking at the reflection of nationalism in Turkey, the process of the development of this thinking has been dealt with, the beliefs in the development of this thought have been evaluated and the basic values of the Turkist / Turanian understanding have been tried to examine. In this context, Ziya Gökalp and his Turkist / Turanian views have been taken into consideration, and Gökalp's conception of the nation and Turkist / Turanian understanding have been tried to examine.

Keywords

Nationalism, nation, self-determination, Turkism, Ziya Gökalp