Niyazi Berkes and the Development of 'turkey Coming of Age

Abstract

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 " Turkiye'de cagdaslasma" 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.