Anti-colonialism and the war of independence in Hasan İzzettin Dinamo's Kutsal Isyan Narrative

Hasan İzzettin Dinamo, who has an important place among the social realist writers of the Turkish literature of the Republican period, has dealt with the historical and social transformations experienced in society with a realistic perspective in his novels. The author, whose childhood years coincided with the First World War and whose youth coincided with the War of Independence and the early periods of the Republic, reflected the painful consequences of the war, poverty, inequality and the transformations that took place in society with the Republic in his works. Indeed, Kutsal İsyan is one of the works of the period in which the author deals with the War of Independence with an anti-imperialist perspective. This study aims to examine the author's perspective on the National Struggle period by focusing on Hasan İzzettin Dinamo's work, Kutsal Isyan, and to reveal the ideological infrastructure that determined the construction of the work. In the thesis, first of all, the historical background of the events that led to the occupation of Anatolia, the period from the reign of Abdülaziz to the Armistice of Mudros, is discussed in terms of forming the basis of the study. Then, especially the process in which Anatolia was occupied, the social, political and military developments experienced in the period starting from the occupation of İzmir and ending with the declaration of the Republic of Turkey, are examined through the literary narrative that the author constructed with an anti-imperialist perspective. While the thesis examines how the events narrated in the work coincide with historical reality, it also questions how these events can be interpreted in line with Marxist critical theory. Therefore, it has been demonstrated that the National Struggle led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha was not only a struggle for national independence but also an anti-imperialist popular movement. The study also examines the people's self-defense through figures such as Yörük Ali, Demirci Mehmet Efe, Topal Osman, Sütçü İmam, Karayılan, Cudi Pasha, who took part in the Kutsal Isyan, the forms of organization of local resistance, and the people's taking the initiative when the central authority weakened. The narrative in the work is not only a testimony of the past, but also reveals class conflicts, resistance consciousness, and small-scale public solidarity, and socio-political solidarities between countries on a national scale. As a result, this study examines the Kutsal Isyan not only as an epic literary text that narrates the War of Independence, but rather as a reflection of the resistance of the Anatolian people in search of freedom, independence and equality for the dominance of the national will. In the Kutsal Isyan, the misery experienced by the peasant and working classes in particular is narrated together with their struggle against the occupation. The resistance of the people is at the forefront. Dinamo draws attention to the fact that the resistance is not only military but also a process of solidarity and organization that develops at the grassroots level. Mustafa Kemal is treated in the work as both a political leader and a figure who establishes contact with the people. During the War of Independence, internal enemies as well as external enemies were fought. In the work, psychological and strategic wars are waged against the occupying forces in addition to military wars. In addition, war is treated as a destruction that shakes not only physical but also moral and social structures. The work is shaped around the emphasis on complete independence.