A Modern Islamic Intellectual From Constitutionalism To Republic: Mehmet Şerafettin Yaltkaya

Mehmet Şerafettin Yaltkaya, who witnessed the most fragile period of Turkish modernization, is an intellectual who began to be spokesperson of Turkist and Islamist circles together with II Constitutionalist Period. Handling with modern perspective of 20th century, he reinterpreted on the fundamental dynamics of national culture and Islam. History of Kelam, history of Islam, history of medicine and history of literature were the leading areas of specialization in which Yaltkaya exhibited his productivity. In World War I years and during the National Struggle Period, he carried out great contributions to defend the country, even though he did not take part in the battle fields directly. Yaltkaya, who was one of the leading personalities trying to prove the legitimacy of the reforms put into practice in Turkey in terms of Islam, undertook active mission in many important reforms realized in social, cultural and educational fields; for example, language reform, forming national history thesis, accomplishment of law on wearing hat, regulation and amendment of worshipping places, generalization of village institutes. The fact that the works he brought in Turkish from Arabic, frequently used in international circles, led him to be recognized abroad. One of the advancements that caused his name to be mentioned in recent era of Turkish History was that he performed funeral prayer of Ataturk on 19 November 1938. Apart from his books and translations, Yaltkaya, who wrote a number of manuscripts, is a thinker, who is close to the line of Ahmet Cevdet Pasha, Hilmi Ziya Ulken and Erol Gungor in respect to scientific activities and mind. He died in Ankara on 23 April 1947. Key Words: Mehmet Şerafettin Yaltkaya, Cultural Reforms, Kelam, History, Education.