The Worth and Status of Historical Figures and Places with Respect to Current Public Opinion (Example of Kütahya Province)

Abstract Every society has some value judgements such as moral, aesthetic, theological, ideological etc. Embodiment of these valuable things are individuals and places that went down in history. Relation between historical places and individuals, beyond an ordinary one, has a feature that provides the city and its people with identity and character. Relation between place and individual has an effect on formation of identity. Because place is the key element of his or her identity. There are some unique people who add meaning to the places with their identities, the places are depicted with them. There are lots of examples of this. For instance Kütahya Lodge of Mevlevi Dervishes, Vacidiye Madrasah and Evliya ？elebi, Sun’ullah-？ Gayb？ and Ergun ？elebi are among the people of great merit. However, urban life, social variation and particularly globalization has eroded these merits as it eroded lots of many other merits. One of these values is the important personalities and places in the history of society or city. In this study primarily city and merit terms were discussed sociologically. Secondarily, the study tries to find the places and values of Kütahya Lodge of Mevlevi Dervishes, Sun’ullah-？ Gayb？ and Ergun ？elebi in the present day collective idea. After the theoretical application and questionnare carried out it is found out that merits that belong to the city is directly proportional to the educational and information levels of the people. Summary Every society has some value judgements such as moral, aesthetic, theological, ideological etc. Embodiment of these valuable things are individuals and places that went down in history. Relation between historical places and individuals, beyond an ordinary one, has a feature that provides the city and its people with identity and character. Relation between place and individual has an effect on formation of identity. Because place is the key element of his or her identity. There are some unique people who add meaning to the places with their identities, the places are depicted with them. There are lots of examples of this. For instance Kütahya Lodge of Mevlevi Dervishes, Vacidiye Madrasah and Evliya ？elebi, Sun’ullah-？ Gayb？ and Ergun ？elebi are among the people of great merit. However, urban life, social variation and particularly globalization has eroded these merits as it eroded lots of many other merits. In this study primarily city and merit terms were discussed sociologically. Secondarily, the study tries to find the places and values of Kütahya Lodge of Mevlevi Dervishes, Sun’ullah-？ Gayb？ and