A study on Turkish modernization and Kemalism: The life, times and thoughts of Niyazi Berkes

Niyazi Berkes (1908-1988) was among the most prominent figures in Turkish political thought in the Republican period. He was the author of several masterpieces, which broke fresh ground in the field of Turkish politics and history. He has a very significant place in the history of Turkish political thought thanks to his voluminous work on the social, political and economic structures of Turkey. Besides that, he not only witnessed but also became a part of Turkish political history on several occasions during his long life, which began in Cyprus in 1908 and ended in Britain in 1988. In fact, the Young Turk Revolution (1908), the War of Independence (1919-1922), the reforms of Kemal Atatürk (1923-1938), the construction of a Kemalist ideology and its transformation during the Second World War (1939-1944), and the Cold War (1945-1989) are some elements of Turkish history that were a part of his life story. Therefore, Niyazi Berkes?s political and intellectual biography stands as a vantage point for researchers whose aim is not only to study Turkish political thought but also to examine the interplay between political history and biography. In line with this idea, this work focuses both on the works and thoughts of Niyazi Berkes and on his life and times. This work, there-fore, analyzes Niyazi Berkes?s biography with respect to the social and political history of Turkey. Moreover, the thoughts of Berkes are studied within the context of Turkish political thought and the transformation of the Kemalist ideology.