"Sesimiz" de Niyazi Berkes/Niyazi Berkes in the "Sesimiz" Periodical

• Published in: Cumhuriyet tarihi arastirmalari Dergisi 2015-10, Vol.11 (22), p.393
• Main Author: Ak, Gökhan
• Format: Article
• Language: Turkish
• Subjects: Berkes, Niyazi; Intellectuals; Modernization; Secularism
• ISSN: 1305-1458; 2147-1592

Niyazi Berkes is a Turkish intellectual who studied on the change, transformation and progress that Ottoman-Turkish society had gone through during the process of Westernization, modernization and secularism regarding social sciences, economy, politics and culture. Following this goal, Berkes used particularly dialectic method in his analyses regarding historical conflict perspective and progress. Following 1952 when he was forced to leave Turkey, Berkes founded his works mainly on the impacts of the conflict between religion and secularism in the Ottoman-Turkish modernization, and with various literary works in this line he made his significant place in the Turkish intellectual history. In this respect it is possible to divide Berkes' intellectual life in two main periods taken the year 1952 as a milestone. Thus, Berkes who spent his abroad years in 1950's was unfruitful regarding writing and carried on the rebirth he caught in the Turkish intellectual life in the 1960's with Yön with intense methods for writing in the 1970's in Cumhuriyet newspaper and Sesimiz (Our Voice) periodical. However, it is noticed that not many references regarding his works in the 1970's used in the papers, thesis or whatsoever concerning Niyazi Berkes's intellectual life and thinking in line with his main vein themes of intellectual perspective such as laicism, secularism, modernization, democracy. Therefore, this study mainly aims to examine and put forward to the partnership between Niyazi Berkes and Sesimiz periodical at the end of 1970's in order to bring new perspectives to the researchers and contribute to the further studies regarding Berkes' intellectual life and way of thinking.