Intellectual foundations of the leftist kemalism in the turkish politics

Kemalism as a historical phenomenon was a progressive movement carried out by the revolutionist cadre under Mustafa Kemal Ataturk?s leadership in the period of 1919-1938. This early Kemalism has been greatly diversified after 1938 therefore it can not be treated as a monolithic ideological structure. Today, Kemalism has many different interpretations, among them, the leftist Kemalism is the subject of this study. The leftist Kemalism can be briefly described as the defender of a non-capitalist development strategy aiming at modernization with an emphasis on anti-capitalism and antiimperialism. In this study, the leftist Kemalism is examined within the context of 1930s Kadro Movement and 1960s Yön-Devrim Movement which constitute historical roots of the leftist Kemalism. In the first section, the relationship between Kemalism and basic concepts like ?revolution?, ?ideology?, ?westernization-modernization? and ?political left? are discussed. In the second part, Kemalist Movement, led by Mustafa Kemal, is analyzed according to its position in the left in terms of its basic principles. In the third section, the validity of the term ?leftist Kemalism? is questioned, and Kadro and Yön- Devrim movements are analyzed from the perspective of the influence of the former on the latter. In this section, it is also tried to clarify the distinction between the leftist Kemalism and National Democratic Revolution Movement