The panel titled "Thoughts on the Republic in its 100th Year", organized for the 100th anniversary of the Republic, was held on Tuesday, October 24th at the Media and Events Center Event Hall. In the panel, our academicians discussed the concept of the Republic, which we realized its 100th anniversary on October 29th this year, with the papers they presented from different perspectives within the framework of their fields of expertise. The event touched upon the prominent differences of the early Republican and Kemalist period compared to the Ottoman period and the sociopsychological changes experienced by the society, while the reflections of these changes in the past and present were also evaluated from the perspective of our academics.
In his greeting speech, Our Rector Prof. Atilla Arkan stated that today's Republic of Turkey represents a point of Ottoman - Turkish modernization and that this modernization is not in the context of a Western wannabe, but in the sense of adapting to the existing situation.
Prof. Arkan pointed out that when looking at the 100 years of the Republic, Turkey is in a good position among the countries that experienced or were indirectly affected by World War I and World War II, and that our country is in a process just like the transition from agricultural society to industrial society in the 17th century.
Emphasizing the importance of artificial intelligence adaptation, building sustainable structures and creating geography-based political unity, Arkan emphasized that managing the pace of change is a responsibility on society today, just as it was in the 17th century, and concluded his speech by reminding the students that having a mature and unifying heart and a knowledgeable and broad mind are the two most important traits.
Moderating the panel and presenting a paper titled "Revolutions and Asymmetries", Prof. Halil Berktay, Head of the Department of History, stated that evaluations of revolutions do not remain constant and change in the following decades according to the conditions and perspectives of the time.
In his paper, Prof. Berktay emphasized that the "War of Independence" was fought not for liberation from a temporary occupation, but for liberation from colonialism, mandate and protectorate, and that this is what the "War of Independence" meant, and that innovations such as the Tanzimat Edict, which caused a significant change in our history, were only possible because we were not a colonial state.
Following Prof. Berktay, Prof. Ramazan Aras, Head of the Department of Sociology, presented his paper titled "Rewriting the History of Modern Turkey: Events and Memories", Prof. Ramazan Aras, Head of the Department of Sociology, emphasized the necessity of a confrontation regarding our adaptation process to the changes we woke up to on the first morning of the Republic, and expressed his belief that without this confrontation, we will experience a repetition of that faltering. Prof. Aras concluded his speech by mentioning the necessity of transforming the writing of history into a democratic action.
Dr. Emine Hoşoğlu Doğan, Lecturer at the Department of Comparative Literature, who presented her paper titled "The Novel and the Islamic Struggle in the Republican Era" at the panel, drew attention to the differences between the literary works written in the last periods of the Ottoman Empire and the first periods of the Republic, and touched upon the reflection of the enlightenment and pro-change Republican spirit on the identities of the protagonists of the early Republican novels. Dr. Doğan made a detailed evaluation of the reflections of the Republic in our literature in his paper in which he comparatively examined this change through novels such as Aka Gündüz's novel "Dikmen Yıldızı" (Dikmen Yıldızı), which was later made into a movie, Reşat Nuri Güntekin's "Yeşil Gece" and Hekimoğlu İsmail's "Minyeli Abdullah".
Vahdettin Işık, Director of the Alliance of Civilizations Institute, who presented his paper titled "The Republic and Islamic Magazines", talked about the reflection of the literary differences between the late Ottoman period and the early Republic on the press through magazine culture. Stating that the most obvious reflection of a change can be read from the names, Assoc. Prof. Işık stated that the magazines such as Sıratı Müstakim, Beyanül Hak and Islam, which were published in the last period of the Ottoman Empire, were replaced by magazines with symbolism-oriented names such as Büyük Doğu, Diriliş, Mavera, Tohum and Pınar in the early Republican period.
Our Head of the Department of Political Science and International Relations, Assoc. Prof. Ali Aslan was the last speaker in the panel. In his paper titled "Kemalism and Post-Kemalism Today", Assoc. Prof. Aslan discussed the past and present of the idea of "Kemalism" in a general and comprehensive evaluation. In his presentation, Assoc. Prof. Aslan also touched upon the Post-Post-Kemalism debates in current publications.
In the closing speech of the panel, moderator Prof. Halil Berktay thanked all participants and panel speakers, including our Rector Prof. Atilla Arkan. Prof. Berktay concluded the session by stating that the panel titled "Thoughts on the Republic in its 100th Year" should be considered as the beginning of the other events to be held in the semester on the 100th anniversary of the Republic.
