A Millennium of Turkish Literature: A Concise History

Republic and Renascence

81 Republic and Renascence When the Ottoman state collapsed after nearly 625 years and gave way to the Turkish Republic in 1923, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk devoted his prodigious energies to the creation of a homogeneous nationstate dedicated to modernization in all walks of life, vowing to raise Turkey to the level of contemporary civilization (meaning the West) and higher. In image, in aspiration, in identification, the official and cultural establishment became largely Europeanized. Education was made secular, and reforms were undertaken to divest the country of its Muslim orientation. The legal system adapted the Swiss Civil Code, the Italian Penal Code, and German Commercial Law. Perhaps the most difficult of all reforms, the Language Revolution, was undertaken with lightning speed in 1928, and since then it has achieved a scope of success unparalleled in the modern world. The Arabic script, considered sacrosanct as Koranic orthography and used by the Turks for a millennium, was replaced by the Latin alphabet . This procrustean reform sought to increase literacy, to facilitate the study of European languages, and to cut off the younger generations from the legacy of the Ottoman past. Atatürk also launched a “pure Turkish” movement to rid the language of Arabic and Persian loanwords and to replace them with revivals from old Turkish vocabulary and provincial patois as well as neologisms. Reforms and all, the single common denominator of Turkish identification has significantly been the language. It has provided for social cohesion, cultural continuity, and national allegiance. Although many of these sweeping reforms did not have a strong impact in the rural areas until the latter part of the twentieth century, in the urban centers drastic changes took place: the political system, religious faith, national ideology, educational institutions and methods, intellectual 82  A Millennium of Turkish Literature orientation, daily life, script and language—all underwent transformation. All stages of modern Turkish history (reforms under Atatürk, 1923–38; consolidation under İsmet İnönü, 1938–50; democracy under Adnan Menderes, 1950–60; and the junta, coalitions, caretaker cabinets, parliamentary governments since 1960) have been marked by the thrust of literary modernization. Today’s Turkey is homogeneous in population (more than 99 percent Muslim) and integrated in political and administrative structure, yet it is diversified, full of inner tensions, a battleground for traditionalists versus revolutionaries, fundamentalists versus secularists. In its reorientation , Turkey seems to have traded the impact of Islamic civilization for the influences of Western civilization—at least in the urban areas. During its vita nuova, Turkish culture was influenced by Europe, but it was not European as such. It is no longer predominantly Islamic, but it certainly has little kinship with the Judeo-Graeco-Christian world despite the concepts , forms, and values it has adopted from that tradition. It has become a new amalgam of traditions—ancient Turkic, Anatolian, Selçuk, Ottoman, Islamic, Arabic, Persian, European, American—a bridge between two continents , like the two dramatic bridges in Istanbul that now link Europe and Asia. This synthesis, its culture, and literature are enchorial, an original creation of modern Turkey. Whatever the strengths and weaknesses of this synthesis might be, there is no other like it. Literature was also caught in the maelstrom of reforms. Turkish literature is vibrant with ideologies and the feverish search for values old and new, for styles and tastes, for elements of traditional national culture that may be valid enough to revive, and significant borrowings from the West as well as from other traditions. In 1923, the influential social thinker Ziya Gökalp wrote: “We belong to the Turkish nation, the Islamic community, and Western civilization. . . . Our literature must direct itself to the people and, at the same time, to the West.” His summation of Turkish identity was by and large correct in terms of historical realities and the burgeoning impetus toward Westernization . His counsel for a people’s literature that explores the West’s literary norms and values proved inspiring and prophetic. The literature of the Turkish Republic has achieved Gökalp’s dual objective, but thanks to its versatility it has functioned and achieved impressive accomplishments in other spheres as well. Republic and Renascence  83 Revolution, innovation, and Westernization have been the driving forces of the Turkish nation since the beginning of the twentieth century. In the transformation of sociopolitical structure, economic life, and culture , the men and women of letters have served not only as eloquent advocates of progress, but...