National conservatism's understanding of the state in Turkey in the Cold War Era

In this study, the view of the state by the nationalist conservative ideology, which is one of the main veins feeding the Turkish Right, is examined. The main purpose of the study is to reveal the "state vision" of this ideology in a holistic way, through a reading of thinkers of nationalist conservative ideology, such as Mümtaz Turhan, Erol Güngör and İbrahim Kafesoğlu. Before examining the state vision in question, it is important to explain the political-historical medium in which the nationalist conservative ideology was born and developed in Türkiye and the basic characteristics and dynamics of this ideology. Turkish nationalist conservatism, which emerged as an articulation of nationalist and conservative ideologies, owes its existence to Kemalism to some extent. Kemalism's "nation- building" project and its understanding of "secularism" play a major role in the emergence of conservative ideology in Türkiye. Nationalist conservatism, which is a derivative ideology of conservatism, also flourishes on this historical ground. However, nationalist conservatism becomes a "methodological follower" of Kemalism, which it criticizes in terms of content. In this sense, "social engineering" and "voluntarist" tendencies in Kemalism's conception of society appear in the nationalist conservative intelligentsia. The main external dynamic that played a role in the development of nationalist conservatism is the "anti-communism" that emerged in the "free world" bloc during the Cold War period. The development process of nationalist conservatism during the Cold War years, on the other hand, follows an ideological outcome that evolved from the "East-West Synthesis" to the "Turkish-Islamic Synthesis". Nationalist conservatism's conception of the state can be handled under two main headlines: The nature of the state and the function of state. The nature of the state is related to how the nationalist conservative ideology perceives the state in Türkiye. The nationalist conservative approach sees the state in a transcendent and paternalistic character; this state also refers to a political apparatus equipped with the mechanisms of the "wisdom/reasoning of state" (raison d'etat). In the analysis of the nationalist conservatism's perception of the state, the interpretation of the historical heritageof the Ottoman Empire inherited by the Republic of Türkiye, through the state/civil society dichotomy provides a suitable theoretical baseline. In addition, Carl Schmitt's approach to the state provides a rich theoretical framework for the analysis of the state in the nationalist conservative imagination. The function of the state seeks an answer to the question of what roles nationalist conservatism assigns to the state in Türkiye. In this framework, the issue of how the nationalist conservative intelligentsia assigns a political role to the state in basic areas such as "culture", "economy" and "democracy" gives the main themes of the function of the state. The main dynamic that brings all three fields together in a common intersection is the "state- centred" political perspective of nationalist conservatism. In other words, for nationalist conservatism, the fields in question are "dependent variables" against the state, and it is preferable to make a reading from the state to these fields. In this study, by examining the views of nationalist conservatism on the fields of "culture", "economy" and "democracy" in Türkiye, the "ideal state" of this ideology will be revealed. KEY WORDS: Nationalist Conservatism, Conservatism, Kemalism, Nation-State, Cold War, Turkish-Islamic Synthesis, The Aydınlar Ocağı Association.