A colonial-postcolonial approach reflected to Mevlüt Süleymanlı's novels

This study has been carried out to elucidate the works by Mevlüt Süleymanlı called Göç (1980), Ceviz Kurdu (1981-82), Ses (1984) in the light of Colonial - Postcolonial theory. Mevlüt Süleymanlı was born in the village what is now Kızıl Şafak in Azerbaijan in 1943. The author has also concentrated on poetry, short and long story works. The reason why we chose the novels Göç, Ceviz Kurdu and Ses being subject of the thesis is that these novels, which were written and printed in the Soviet Russia period but dealing with the history of Azerbaijan for the last three centuries, are suitable for the application of the Colonial-Postcolonial theory. Süleymanlı has been subjected to criticism for many years on the grounds that it is contrary to Soviet communism and has gone through painful processes. However, despite the oppressive literature template of communist Russia, the author was able to tell the Turkish society and history, and even criticized the regime with original symbols and metaphors. In the thesis, primarily Colonial-Postcolonial theory was explained. The explanation was supported with the titles "literature", "hybridism", "nationalism", "Can subaltern speak?" which are the tools of the theory. Subsequently, the issue was minimized to the last periods of Tsarist Russia and Soviet Russia. The tools of the theory were evaluated in this particular way. "Disappearance-Evaporation", which is not included in the theory, was included in our theory. After briefly mentioning the Turkish literature in and out of the Anatolian area, three novels of Mevlüt Süleymanlı were elucidated. Thus, it was aimed to introduce the Colonial-Postcolonial theory and three examples from the Azerbaijani novel to the Turkish reader. A table showing the pedigree of the important group Karakelles of the first novel "Göç" was placed in the appendix. Also in the section there are photos about Süleymanlı. The author's first novel "Göç" was released in Turkey. Despite the Western researchers who associate civilization with settlements, the work, which tells that a civilization can be established by emigrating, was widely acclaimed. Turkey Turkish translation of his second novel "Ceviz Kurdu" is in the appendix of the thesis of Tutku Aygen named "An Analysis On Mevlüt Süleymanlı's novel Ceviz Kurdu". While "Göç" is the novel of the settling down, "Ceviz Kurdu" focuses on the village settlement. In the novel, the author makes walnut and worm symbolic in the reader's mind. He awakens an impression that the walnut is Central Asia and the walnut worm is Soviet Russia. There are no studies on the third novel "Ses" in Turkey. In the novel about city life, there is a six-floors building that metaphorically represents the communist system. Through the events in the building, the colonial system is described throughout the novel with all its tools. Colonial - Postcolonial theory is not recognized in Turkey. Because Anatolia has not faced a long-term, systematic foreign community for the last 800 years, so it has not undergone colonial-postcolonial processes. Also, in the theory, the colonial activities of states such as England and France were explained, but Russia, which carried out similar practices in Central Asia, was not discussed. The fact that Soviet Russia is a closed country has a great share in this. In the National Thesis Center of the Higher Education Council, no thesis containing the words "colonial" and "postcolonial" in the field of Turkish Language and Literature was found. We believe that in Turkey, our thesis "A Colonial-Postcolonial Approach Reflected To Mevlüt Süleymanlı's Novels" has created a first in Turkish Language and Literature. Keywords: Colonial-Postcolonial theory, Turkish Literature, Mevlüt Süleymanlı, Azerbaijan Literature, novel