Turkism in Yusuf Akçura's works

Nationalism, which came into being with the French Revolution having swept across Europe, caused new states to emerge and big states to lose land. The Ottoman Empire, which had lost territory abroad in such an atmosphere, was subjected to indoctrination and criticism made by local intellectuals who adapted the currents of thought they had learned from the West for the survival of the state. The depressive period of the Ottoman Empire, which became inextricable especially in its last years, is undoubtedly the period in which the Turkish nation struggled for existence. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, it was the Turkist intellectuals who made intellectual contributions to the foundations of Turkish Republic. The ideas of Yusuf Akçura, who was one of the leading Turkist intellectuals of that period and known as the "Father of Pan-Turkism", about some movements of thought are discussed in the present study. As one of the pioneers of Turkism, Yusuf Akçura studied in France, lived in Tunisia and studied Turkism in such different cultural environments as Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Akçura stated that Turks could get rid of the crisis they are in only with Turkism. In our study, books, articles, papers and other scientific publications written about Akçura were reviewed, and his life, works, personality and thought system were mentioned. In addition, the prominent currents of thought of the period were briefly introduced, and the relationship of Akçura with them was tried to be determined. In particular, Yusuf Akçura's ideas on Turkism were tried to be revealed by directly referring to his own works. Keywords: Yusuf Akçura, Nationalism, Turkism, Three Styles of Politics, Ottoman Empire.