The founding philosophy of the Republic of Türkiye

This study aims to analyze the intellectual sources underlying the founding philosophy of the Republic of Turkey through Emile Durkheim, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and social positivism. Our main argument is that the ideas of these thinkers showed an evolutionary development throughout the Early Republican Period and that positivism's scientific worldview and the understanding of progress in order played a decisive role at every stage of this evolution. In this study, the Early Republican Period is analyzed in two different phases: the 1920's (1919-1928) and the 1930's (1928-1938). The 1920's, the first phase of the founding of the Republic, represents a period in which the institutional structure of the modern nation-state and the understanding of citizenship were attempted to be established in Turkey. In this period, the approach of positivism focusing on scientific method and rationality and the motto of progress in order guided the policies of social transformation and modernization. Inspired by Rousseau's single, indivisible and inalienable principles of the national/general will, the new state's understanding of sovereignty was shaped; in addition, this principle contributed to the emphasis on national unity and common goals. On the other hand, solidarism, introduced to Turkey by Ziya Gökalp and inspired by Emile Durkheim, supported the construction of a social model that rejected class division and prioritized solidarity and harmony among individuals. In this phase, when the foundations of the Republic were laid, the three intellectual approaches mentioned were eclectically effective both in ensuring social integration and in the integration of individuals into the new nation-state understanding. In the 1930's, the second phase of the founding of the Republic, although the scientific worldview of positivism and the understanding of progress in an orderly manner continued to prevail, the intellectual approach that had been in place since the 1920's underwent a significant transformation. For this reason priority was given to cultural policies, and by focusing on branches of science such as history, anthropology, archaeology, ethnology and linguistics, it was aimed to strengthen national identity on scientific grounds. Important developments such as the Turkish History Thesis and the Sun-Language Theory formed the ideological basis of these studies; a new narrative about the origins of the nation was constructed based on Eugéne Pittard's Eurasianist theses, and a search for an original identity against the West was aimed.