Squirearchy structure in the novels of Yaşar Kemal

The aim of the thesis is to examine how Yaşar Kemal (Göğceli, 1923-İstanbul, 28 Şubat 2015), who is the voice of socialist realist Turkish novel in Anatolia, addressed the squirearchy in his Ince Memed, Dağın Öteki Yüzü (The Other Side of the Mountain), Akçasazın Ağaları (The Agas of Akçasaz), Kimsecik (Little Nobody) series, and the Legend of Binboğalar and Teneke (The Drumming-out) novels. Yaşar Kemal reflected the agas as characters who oppress and exploit the people in the fictional universe constructed in these books and constructed the main conflict of the texts over the "agas" and "noble bandits" who objected to the system of exploitation that agas created. In this context, it was firstly investigated the disintegration which started in the last periods of the Ottoman Empire and problems seen in the land system after the proclamation of the Turkish Republic, and it was demonstrated that how these malfunctions played a role in strengthening of the agas. Then, how the "noble bandits" were structured in the books was examined. These characters were people from the oppressed community, who have been persecuted and who had to rebel. These characters, who resist and rebel the agas on behalf of themselves and the oppressed people of the society because they have been exposed to the exploitation and cruelty and who can kill when necessary, turn into "noble bandits" and become heroes required by the society. The representation of the agas, which is the main research question of the current study, was discussed in the novels within the framework of the exploitation of religion and morals, labor exploitation, bribery and the relationships with government officials based on interest. Yaşar Kemal especially constructed the "agas" as one-dimensional evil characters and punished them via the "noble bandits" in his books. On the other hand, he criticized the ignorance of people while standing by the oppressed people and indicated this ignorance was the reason of the corrupted world system. All of these points are the expressions of his wish for a more livable world through his references specifically from Çukurova to the universal one in the changing world system. Keywords: Yaşar Kemal, squirearchy, bandit, social realism, land system