The representation of contrarian intelligentsia during modernization of Turkey in novels

Modernization of Turkey began as a consequence of military defeats during the Ottoman period; afterwards, military/political centralization and education reforms were brought to agenda. Accordingly, until the Republican period, modernization efforts were primarily actualized in political/administrative/military domains. Hence, one of the most important features of Ottoman modernization was the fact that it portrayed a linear structure growing outwards from the centre with the leadership of the ruling elite. Another important constituent in this context is that a new type of intelligentsia different to ulama class emerged depending upon the modernization politics. The most important feature of this new type of intelligentsia ? whose members' primary aim was to save the state, to ensure its continuity, and to disseminate the basic principles of modernity ? was most of the time to function as a civil servant in state organization.When the Republican Era is considered; however, the idea of mass modernization was adopted with respect to order and progression principles. Nevertheless, also during this period, just as it was during the Ottoman era; modernization was actualized by the state, and the intelligentsia became an important part. Even though there were some differences, intelligentsia maintained their past qualities and missions during the Republican era.These missions and functions greatly defined the contrarian identity of the Ottoman/Turk intelligentsia. As a matter of fact, the fact that these members of the intelligentsia who were foreseen to portray an autonomous and independent structure were in the social - political arena with their social servant/bureaucrat identities played an important role establishing their contrarian identity. Parallel to Turkey's modernization process, social and political functions of intelligentsia also exhibited transformations and differences to some extent. On the other hand, Turkey's transformation period and role of intelligentsia during this process has been a subject matter to the Ottoman/Turk novel in various ways from the very first time it appeared.From this point of view, in the study, through the images in the novels, it has been aimed to put forth under which circumstances the contrarian attitude of Ottoman/Turk intelligentsia formed, around which topics the social/political criticisms centred, what kind of image the `contrarian? identity had and how all these issues underwent changes together with the social/political developments. In accordance with this purpose, novels which were written in different time periods and with different ideologies were examined, and the ones which match the aim of the study were determined. The data collected from the chosen sample novels were analyzed under certain categories.As a result of the analysis, it has been seen that the intelligentsia represented in the works have the features of Ottoman/Turk intelligentsia such as `saviour?, `founder?, `bureaucrat/ruler,? and these properties are important elements which determine the `contrarian? identity. Thus, it has been concluded that it cannot be a right approach to define the Ottoman/Turkish intelligentsia, who attitudinized `contrarian? behaviour and displayed various transformations with the change of basic modernity narrative, as `contrarian intelligentsia? with its definition in the study, especially till the 80s.Key Words1) Modernization2) Modernization in Turkey3) Novel in Turkey4) Intellectual