NIYAZI BERKES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF ‘TURKEY’S COMING OF AGE’ - NIYAZI BERKES VE TüRKIYE’DE A DA LA MA’NIN GELI IMI

This article aims to provide a new perspective in discussing one of the most important books by Niyazi Berkes - Turkey’s Coming of Age - which has significantly contributed to modern Turkish political thought. . Published in 1964 with the title “The Development of Secularism in Turkey”, the Turkish translation “Türkiye’de a da la ma” followed in 1973 and is still being discussed in studies on modernization history of Turkey. The main argument of the book is that the emergence of secular nation-state Turkish Republic was an inevitable result of the Ottoman-Turkish modernization process at the beginning of the 18th century.Although there has been various evaluations on Berkes’s book to date, none of them have contextualized the writing of ‘Turkey’s Coming of Age’ in detail. What is the relationship between the book and Niyazi Berkes’ worldview and ideology? How is the book based on a background throughout which the main thesis of the book, especially thesis about Islam and secularism, is presented? Following these questions, the article aims to put forth a new perspective discussing Niyazi Berkes and his book. For this purpose, his academic works which was published from mid 1930s till 1960, will be analyzed. zetBu yaz , Cumhuriyet d nemi Türk dü ünce hayat nda etkili olmu olan ayd nlardan Niyazi Berkes’in temel al mas olan “Türkiye’de a da la ma” adl eseri yeni bir yakla mla ele almay ama lamaktad r. 1964’de ngilizce “The Development of Secularism in Turkey” ad yla; 1973’te ise Türk e “Türkiye’de a da la ma” olarak bas lan kitap bugün hala yayg n olarak Türkiye modernle me tarihi al malar nda okunmaya ve tart lmaya devam etmektedir. Kitab n ana tezi, 18.yy’ n ba lar ndan 20.yy’ n ilk yar s na uzanan Osmanl -Türk modernle me sürecinin, laik bir ulus-devlet olarak Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nin kurulu uyla neticelenmesinin ka n lmaz bir sonu oldu udur.Bu zamana kadar Berkes’in al mas na ili kin e itli de erlendirmeler km olsa da, hi biri bu eserin ncesini, arka plan n ayr nt l olarak tart mam t r. Niyazi Berkes’in dünya g rü ü ve ideolojisi ile bu eser aras nda nas l bir ili ki s z konusudur? Eserde dile getirilen argümanlar, nas l bir entelektüel geli imin sonucu olarak ne sürülmü tür? Bilhassa slam ve laikli e ili kin yazar n tezleri, hangi arka plana dayanmaktad r? Bu ve benzeri sorular n izinden giderek, bu yaz Niyazi Berkes’e ve eserine dair yeni bir bak a s sunabilmeyi hedeflemektedir. Bunun i in yazar n ilk akademik yaz lar n yay mlamaya ba lad 1930’lar n ortalar ndan 1960 y l na kadar olan al malar incelenmi ve