Turkish political culture Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu and Ankara

Abstract

The main aim of this thesis has been to analyse Turkey's official ideology's effect on Turkish political culture as it is reflected in Turkish novels during the early Republican era. This aim has been realized through historical analysis and text analysis of Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu's novel Ankara. The thesis argues that the intellectuals of the early Republican era had close relationships with the state elites and the impact of the official ideology on the literary elites are reflected in the novels. Certain elements of Turkish political culture such as the cult of leadership, an understanding of nation within a harmonious framework and the absence of civic engagement in the public sphere are determined in Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu's novel, Ankara. Hence this thesis argues that there is a close relationship between the novelists of the early Republican era and the Turkish political culture which is to a great extent shaped by the official ideology of the state as it is reflected in Ankara.