State-space relationship: The homeland concept in terms of public law

This study analyses the role of the concept of homeland in the state-individual relationship. It aims to examine the role of the concept of homeland in the legitimacy of the state, in the obligations of individuals towards the state, and in encouraging loyalty to the state from the perspective of public law and state theory. The concept of homeland refers to people's "natural" or instinctive attachment to place as well as their attachment to place through external influences, through the influence of the cultural accumulation of the communities into which they are born, or through the influence of these organizations after the emergence of complex political organizations. When the different versions of the relationship of political organizations with the place-space throughout history are evaluated together, two lines can be identified: the area where political power is spread and the places to which the members of this organization feel attachment. When we look at the history of both the concepts of "vatan" or "yurt" used in Turkish and the concepts used in different languages with the same or similar meaning, it can be seen that the meaning has evolved from attachment to local, small-scale places to the area where the community of attachment, the political organization, is spread. The use of the concept of homeland to denote the state's territory and symbolically political unity is the product of a series of political-legal developments. In order to follow these developments, throughout the study, the spatial spread of power is tried to be revealed historically. With the emergence of the idea of the political body/whole, the space where political organization spreads becomes conceivable as a unit. From this point on, the discourse of making sacrifices as a consequence of belonging to a place will be directed towards this unit. In the patriotic discourse that became widespread in Europe before the French Revolution, devoted, self-sacrificial behaviors, which had previously been characterized as a debt of loyalty to kings, were dedicated to the concept of the homeland as a unit, including kings. The homeland becomes the new carrier of sovereignty instead of the king. In the process of nation-state formation, the concept of homeland emerges as a kind of secular sacredness. This secular sanctity is presented as an argument for loyalty to the state. However, love for the homeland cannot be seen solely as a tool used by states to ensure the obedience expected from individuals. It is also related to the sense of belonging to the place where people live. In the study, with the emergence of the homeland as a secular sacredness, the territoriality of human beings and their behaviors related to place attachment are presented as a basic explanation for loyalty to the state.