Ali Galip Erdican

MEHMET FUAT KOPRULU
A STUDY OF HIS CONTRIBUTION

TO CULTURAL REFORM IN MODERN TURKEY
ALi GALiP ERDiCAN
H AR TFO RD , C O N NECTICUT
PREFACE
I owe a personal debt of gratitute to my w ife for

her constant encouragement and her criticism and
suggestions regarding this manuscript.
I dedicate this book to my w ife and my parents.
C opyright 1974 by author. A ll rig h ts reserved.

P rinted in Istanbul, T urkey by Redhouse Press,
P. K. 142, at EKO M atbaasi.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE ii
IN TRO DU CTIO N V
CHAPTER
I. A B IO G R AP H IC AL SKETCH OF KOPRULU 1
A. H is P o litic a l Career ................................................ 3

B. H is Literary Career 4
C. Ziya G okalp's Im pact on K oprulu 6
II. KOPRULU'S RELIGIOUS REFORM ................................ 13
A. Prayer 16
B. Sermons 18
C. M u sic 20
III. KOPRULU'S E D U C A TIO N A L REFORM ..................... 22
A. Language R eform 24
B. School R eform ............................................................ 30
C. F aculty o f T h eology 36
IV. KOPRULU'S IN V O LV E M E N T IN
SO C IO -PO LITICAL ISSUES 41
V. S U M M A R Y AND CO N CLU DING REMARKS .......... 50
BIBLIO GRAPHY 55
INDEX 59
INTRODUCTION
On April 23, 1953, I had the rare privilege of

meeting Mehmet Fuat Koprulu in the Democrat Party
Headquarters in Ankara while I was serving as the
president of the Young Democrat Party. I asked him
several questions, one of which was about his opinion
concerning the social and political future of Turkey.
His answer was simple and straightforward.
He said:
Our generation had a v e ry d iffic u lt tim e in s tu d ie s
as w e ll as in o th e r a c tiv itie s because o f the p o litica l
unrest. In Europe the O ttom an E m pire w as considered
the " s ic k man o f E u ro p e ." T u rke y was co n sta n tly w aging
w ars w ith European c o u n trie s as w e ll as w ith the countries
in the A rabian peninsula. M o st young people w ere
fig h tin g in these w a rs instead o f a tte n d in g schools. Those
w ho considered them selves educated w ere setf-taught.
I was ve ry fo rtu n a te to have a fa th e r w h o w as a high
g overnm ent o ffic ia l in the O ttom an Em pire, w h o w as able
to give me a good education. The m ain p o in t is, because
o f th is vast gap in education between yo u r generation
and my generation, there is lack o f co m m u n ica tio n ,
th e re fo re , yo u r u ltim a te o b je ctive as a Young D em ocrat
should be to b rid g e th is gap. Thus w e hope to achieve
a m odern T urkey w ith the u ltim a te aim o f a ch ie vin g the
best social and p o litic a l changes th a t w e co u ld o ffe r to
our people.1
A study of Islamic progress throughout history

w ill show a gradual decline, and Turkey is no excep
tion. Turkish leaders were aware of this approaching
decline. Therefore, they were anxious to adopt some
European systems, particularly with a view to religious
and social change. Ultimately, the University of
Istanbul was considered the headquarters where a body
of knowledge was concentrated for this revolution. It
1 Personal in te rvie w , A nkara, A p ril 23, 1953.
v
is no wonder that a man like Koprulu was made the
chairman of the first reforms committee.2 The fer
mentation of social, political and religious reforms in
Turkey was taking place as far back as 1839 (Gulhane
Hatti-Hurnayun). Gradually, the Shari'a Law was
changed and a new type of law was accepted by the
order of the Sultan.3 However, the internal problem
was not solved. As Koprulu told me:
The on ly change was the ju d ic ia l system . U nder the
cloak o f th is system the w h o le governm ent organization
was co rru p t, due to lack o f com petent leadership. Even
tu a lly , the young in te llig e n ts ia re volted against th is, co rru p t
regim e. They w anted to change the fo rm o f governm ent.4
The new ideas they were anxious to adopt were

Pan-lslamism, Turkism and Nationalism. In the mean
time, intellectuals like Ziya Gokalp, influenced by the
famous French sociologist Emile Durkheim, came up
with the idea of complete social changes in Turkey.5
Such ideas were passed on to his pupil Koprulu. There
fore, it is not surprising at all to see the reflection of
Ziya Gokalp's philosophy of social change in Koprulu's
ideas.
On November 29, 1956, I met Koprulu for the
second time at the Youth Democrat Party Organization
Congress in. Ankara. He recognized me at once and
inquired about our Party Organization and my studies
in the University. A t that time he was the Chairman
of the Democrat Party. He cautioned us by saying:
2 Lutfy Levonian, The Turkish Press, Selections from the
Turkish Press showing Events and opinions 1 9 2 5 -1 9 3 2 (Athens:
School o f R eligion, 1 9 3 2 ), pp. 1 2 3 -1 2 6 .
3 Ramesh Chandra Ghosh, Constitutional Documents of the
M ajor Islamic States (Lahore: M uham m ed A sh ra f, 1 9 4 7 ), p. 1-A.
4 Personal in te rvie w , Ankara, A p ril 23, 1953.
s U riel Heyd, Foundations of Turkish Nationalism: the Life
and Teachings of Ziya Gokalp (London: Luzac & Co. and H a rvill
Press, 1 9 5 0 ), pp. 34-3 6 .
vi
D em ocracy is very new in our country, it is like a
new -born c h ild w ho needs constant care and nourishm ent.
T herefore, w e m ust attend to its needs by understanding
its co n d itio n s , oth e rw ise it w ill d ie before m a tu rity .0
Another important statement he made was:

I w o uld like to make one very im p o rta n t co n trib u tio n ,
th a t is an e ffo rt fo r the peace o f the nation and the
peace of the w o rld like A ta tu rk d id (Yurtta Sulh, Cihanda
Sulh).~
Following in the footsteps of Gokalp, Koprulu

wanted to make a scientific contribution to modern
Turkey by b ring ing 'out the conflict throughout history
and by correcting the errors. When Ziya Gokalp pub
lished his famous Turk 9uliigun Esaslan (Principles of
Turkism) in 1923, he pointed out that Koprulu was
one of the outstanding researchers and scientists of
modern times.8 Such scientific research was important
for cultural changes since it would reflect the cultural
problems from every angle.
The modern Turkish people are greatly indebted

to Koprulu for the cultural and social reforms that were
adopted into Turkish society from European civiliza
tion. Both as a political leader and as the Dean of
the1University of istanbul he had tremendous influence
on his students as well as'on the public. His influence
on the young intelligentsia was remarkable, and even
in his most busy moments he still had tim e to talk to
young people. His contribution in the fields of history
and language brought him international fame and
G Personal In te rvie w , A nkara, N ovem ber 29, 1956.
7 Ibid.
8 M ehm et F. K oprulu, "O n so z, Fuad K oprulu - Hayati ve
S a h s iy e ti," in Kdpriilii'nun Edebi ve Fikrr Makalelerinden Se$-
meler, ed. by Orhan F. K oprulu (Ista n b u l: M illi E g itim B asim evi,
1 9 7 2 ), p .v .
vii
admiration. P. W ittek, a German Turcologist, once
remarked that "K o pru lu was one of the few scientists
who brought new and good prosperity in the. field of
historical linguistics, and won international fa m e .''0
In spite of the heavy pressure from the conser

vative Islamists, Koprulii's liberal ideas on religion
remained unchanged. This quality is clearly projected
in his numerous works.10
The unique characteristic of the Westernization

movement in Turkey was the duality of its nature:
the existence of the medieval M uslim institutions side
by side with the new institutions founded according
to Western concepts. Koprulu brings out the striking
difference between these two civilizations by compar
ing their concepts of God; the ancient civilizations of
China, Iran, Mesopotamia, and Egypt which were the
cradle of Eastern civilization, regarded and accepted
their rulers as God, or the sons of God, or the repre
sentatives of God on Earth. Therefore they were raised
above mankind and deified. Such view naturally "gave
birth to a system of fearful despotism, oppression,
dictatorship, and physical and spiritual slavery."11 On
the other hand the Greek civilization, "w h ich is the
mother of today's emphasis on human values , " 1-
accepted God from the humanistic point of view. This
concept "opened the road to physical and spiritual
liberty, to democracy, and to freedom of th o u g h t."13
9 Osman Turan, ed., Fuad Koprulu Armagam; 60. dogum

yili miinasebetiyle (Ista n b u l: Osman Y algin M atbaasi, 19 5 3 ),
p. xi.
30 Ibid., p. x ii.

u F. K oprulu, "D e m o k ra s i R u h u ," in Demokrasi Yolunda,
ed. by T. Halasi Kun (The Hague: M outon & Co., 1 9 6 4 ), p. 21.
Ibid.
Ibid.
v iii
CHAPTER I
A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF KoPRULU
Mehrnet Fuat Koprulu was born on December 4,

1890, in Istanbul. He was the descendant of the
famous Vizier Mehrnet Pasha of the 17th century. His
father was Faiz Koprulu bey, who was a high govern
ment official in Istanbul. His mother was Hatice
lslimye Hamm.
He received his early education in Istanbul, where

he attended the Aya Sofya Merkez Ru$diyesi and the
Mercan idadisi in 1905,1 and later the School of Law
(1907-1908).- However, he did not finish his legal
studies because he fe lt that he was not benefiting
from them.2
He seems to have started his literary career at an

early age. A t the age of fifteen, when he was a third
year student in Mercan idadisi, he wrote one of his
first poems expressing his sympathy towards the
Sultan.3 After 1908 he started publishing original
1 Koprulu'nun Edebi ve Fikri Makalelerinden Segmeler,

p. iii.
2 Ibid.
3 Fevziye A b d u lla h Tansel, "P ro f. Dr. Fuat K o prulu'nun
Y a zila ri i?in B asilm is B ib liy o g ra fy a la r," Turk Kulturu, VI (1 9 6 8 )
551.
2 M E H M E T FUAT KOPRULU
books as well as translations from French. Some of

his famous French translations are, Henri Becque's
La Parisienne published in Istanbul in 1910 as Paris
Kadim,4 and Gustave le Bon's Psychologie des Foulas
published in 'Istanbul in 1911 as Ruh Cil-Cemaat.5
Between 1910-1913 he was a high school teacher

of Turkish language and literature. In 1913, at the age
of twenty-three, he became Assistant Professor of
Turkish Literature at Istanbul University, and some
years later he founded the Institute of Turcology.
While he was a professor, he wrote articles and poems
following the European meter and rhyme schemes, but
fashioned according to his own style. His first famous
article was "T u rk Edebiyatinda ilk M uta savvifla r" (The
Early M ysticism of Turkish Literature), published in
1919. In 1923 he wrote Tiirkiye Tarlhi (Turkish His
tory). It was very highly praised by his former teacher
Ziya Gokalp.
In 1935 Fuat Koprulu went to Paris and lectured

at the Sorbonne University on the subject, "Les Ori-
gines de I'Empire O ttom an" (Origins of the Ottoman
Empire). In 1959, the Turkish Historical Society pub
lished these lectures in a series.7
In 1928, he became the head of the Theological

School at the University of Istanbul. He fe lt that Islam,
as it was practiced then in Turkey, was out of harmony
with the social and cultural development of Turkey of
4 Kopriilii'niin Edebi ve Fikri Makaielerinden Seomeler,

p. iv.
s Ibid.
0 Fuad Kopriilii Armagani, p. ix.
7 Kopriilii'niin Edebi ve Fikri M akaielerinden Seomeler, p. v.
A BIO GRAPHICAL SKETCH OF KOPRULU 3
that time. A few years later, in 1931, he became the

President of Istanbul University.8
A. His Political Career
In 1933, Koprulu turned to politics and became

a member of Parliament. However, he kept his Uni
versity post until 1941. In the meantime he became
the Dean of the Language and History Department in
Istanbul University, a member of the Political Science
School in Ankara, and Chairman of the Ottoman His
tory Department.u He also contributed the first edition
of the Encyclopaedia of Islam published in Leiden.10
When the Turkish government wanted to declare

war against Germany in February 1943, Koprulu stated
in the Legislative Assembly of Turkey that "Turkey
was one of the neutral countries in the Second World
War. Therefore, we do not want to declare war on
any country.''11
After the Second W orld War, a week before the

elections of 1946, Koprulu and three of his close
friends, viz, Celal Bayar, Adnan Menderes and Refik
Koraltan, submitted a point communique expressing
their desire for introducing'new ideas in regard to party
hierarchies as well as the government legislature. A l
though at first this idea was not accepted by the
8 Ibid., p. vi.
9 Fuad Koprulu Armagani, p. xxi.
10 Niyazi Berkes and H ow ard A . Reed, " A T u rkish A ccou n t
o f O rie n ta lism , " T h e Muslim W orld, XLIII (1 9 5 3 ), 2 77. See
B ibliog rap hy fo r K o p riilu 's a rticle s in The E ncyclopaedia of
Islam.
11 Kopriilii'niin Edebi ve Fikri Makalelerinden Sepmeler,
P. v i .
4 M E H M E T FUA T KOPRULU
Legislative Assembly, six months later it was passed.

Thus it is the beginning of the multi-party system in the
political history of Turkey. He played an important
role in the struggle for democracy. Over the years he
became the party ideologist and spokesman for the
democratic movement.12
In 1950, when the Democrat Party won the elec

tions with a sweeping majority, Koprulu became the
M inister of Foreign Affairs. During his tenure in this
office Turkish Foreign Policy was well maintained
through better diplomatic understanding w ith other
nations and mutual pact agreements with several d if
ferent countries were signed. Above all, Turkey joined
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In 1956, a
rift occurred between Koprulu and the leaders of De
mocrat Party which led to his resignation from the
Party in 1957.13
After the 1960 "r e v o lu tio n " he was arrested and

exiled to an island called Yassi Ada. Three months
later he pleaded not guilty and was acquitted. On
October 15, 1965, he had an automobile accident in
Ankara, after which he was confined to Istanbul Hos
pital until his death on June 28, 1966. He was buried
at the Sultan M ahm ut Family Mausoleum.14
B. His Literary Career
Mehmet Fuat Koprulu was a very intelligent and
1,2 A hm ed Emin Y alm an, Turkey In M y Tim e (O klahom a:

U n ive rsity o f Oklahom a Press, 1 9 5 6 ), p. 222.
13 tOdpriilii'nun Edebi ve Fikri Makaleierinden Sepmeler,
p. v ii.
14 Ibid.
A BIO GRAPHIC AL SKETCH OF KOPRULU 5
methodical person. In a relatively short period, he

became a world-renowned figure. Various countries
of the world recognized his contribution to history and
literature, and conferred honorary degrees upon him.
In 1925 the Soviet Science Academy made him

an honorary member of the Academy. But strangely
enough, this membership was withdrawn by the Rus
sian government in 1948, for political reasons. How
ever, when Koprulu became the M inister of Foreign
Affairs in the Turkish Government in 1950, the Russian
Government re-offered the membership, but Koprulu
refused it very politely. In 1927, the Hungarian Orien
talist Research and Science Society conferred on him
an Honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree. Other
honorary degrees were conferred on him by the Uni
versity of Heidelberg in 1927, Athens University in
1937, and the Sorbonne University in 1939. He be
came an honorary member of the follow ing societies:
The American Oriental Society in 1947, the Hungarian
Academy of Science in 1956, and the American His
torical Society in 1959. The University of Karachi
conferred upon him an Honorary Law degree in 1956.
In 1958, he accepted an invitation from Harvard Uni
versity, and from September 13, 1958, till July 2,
1959, he was at Harvard University doing research in
Turkish history and belles-lettres, and giving lectures.
In 1964 he became a researcher of the London School
of Oriental and African Studies.15
Of the seventy-six years of his life, he spent sixty-

one in active and productive efforts for the benefit of
the world and Turkey. He wrote books, articles and
15 Ibid., p. v iii.
poetry totalling about 1500 titles.30 Most of his works

covered the history of belles-lettres, cultural history,
law history, economic and constitutional history. He
was a scholar and a profound thinker as well as a
statesman who eminently represented modern Turkish
nationalism.17
C. Ziya Gokalp's Impact on Koprulu
Ziya Gokalp was one of the leading Turkish so

ciologists of modern times. His European style of
scientific research left a great impact on the young
Turkish intelligentsia. Above all, Gokalp aroused the
interest of the young Turkish intellectuals in the an
cient, particularly pre-lslamic history of their nation.
This has been proved very clearly by the fact that
since his death Turcology in Turkish Universities has
made great strides. Among his disciples, there were
several well-known Turkish sociologists, including
Mehmet Fuat Koprulu.18 Following the footsteps of his
teacher, Koprulu introduced "sociological methods into
the study of Turkish literary history with great suc
cess. " w It is partly because of Gokalp's contribution
that the interest in the study of Turcology has gone
far beyond Turkey and has reached the old as well as
the new continents of the world. As referred to above,
his pupil, Koprulu was invited to Harvard University
to contribute to the study of Turcology."20
Ibid.
Ibid.
ls Foundations of Turkish Nationalism: the Life and Teach
ings of Ziya Gokalp, p. 157.
19 Fuad Koprulu, Turk Edebiyati'nda ilk M utasavviflar ( ik in ci
B asim ; A nkara: Ankara U n ive rsite si B asim evi, 1 9 6 6 ), p. x vi.
- "P ro f. Dr. Fuat K o p ru lu'n u n Y a zila ri (gin Basilm i? Bib-
Iiy o g ra fy a la r," Turk Kiiltiirii, VI (1 9 6 8 ), 545,
In contrast to the pictures painted by his critics

about his ideas and character, Gokalp was shy and
introverted by nature. In fact, he tried to avoid the
field of politics and tried to remain a teacher and
writer. But his dynamic and charismatic personality
drew the attention of many "Turkish youths and poli
ticians of the Party of Union and Progress. Because
of this charismatic quality, he was often regarded as
the spiritual guide. He was called a Miirsid in
T urkey."21
A fe w years a fte r the c o n s titu tio n a l re v o lu tio n Gokaip

found h im s e lf associated w ith the Party o f U nion and
Progress in Salonika. He w as surrounded by a group of
in te lle ctu a ls w ho w ere d is s a tis fie d w ith the old regim e
and w ho w ere searching fo r a new life . Such progressive
ideas m ust have led him to th e co n clu sio n th a t a mere
p o litic a l change m eant n othing fo r T urkey, but it m ust
be fo llo w e d by a social and cu ltu ra l re v o lu tio n .-2
He also realized that in order to bring this change,

there had to be a great mutual understanding between
the intellectuals and the politicians. But unfortunately,
Turkey at that time was far from such a dream. On
the contrary, these two groups were divided on the
basis of social reconstruction.
A fte r the revo lu tio n the conservatives am ong them

b o ld ly urged a reversion to the' S heriat o f the Islam ic
Um m et. On the o th e r hand the lib e ra ls th o se w ho more
staunchly supported the idea o f W e ste rn iza tio n could
say nothing but th a t everything e xistin g w as " ir r a tio n a l''
and everything com ing fro m Europe was " r a tio n a l." Only
vaguely d id they hope fo r a secular basis o f re in te gration .
A nd, fin a lly , there w ere the T u rk is ts , w ho longed fo r the
21 Niyazi Berkes, "Z iy a Gokalp: H is C o n trib u tio n to T urkish

N a tio n a lis m ," The M id d fe East Journal, VIII (1 9 5 4 ), 3 76.
2:2 Ibid., p. 382,
ro m a n tic ideal o f racial or e th n ic u n ity o f the T urks and

preached a return to the p re -lsla m ic past.23
Gokalp neither accepted the above statements

whole-heartedly nor rejected them. But very wisely
he followed the m iddle path of Namik Kemal who
believed in the adoption of European material c iv ili
zation rather than its non-material aspects. He believed
in shifting from 'T a n z im a t rationalism inspired by the
18th century thinkers of the European Enlightenment,
to the romantic thinking of the 19th century. His
conviction was both Islamists and Westernists based
their ideas on individual reason,''31 which may be blind
to reality.
Therefore, the individual and his reason cannot

be accepted as a norm and standard for social recon
struction. Because such action w ill lead to conser
vatism of to utopianism, the ideal procedure for the
new reconstruction w ill be to proceed not from the
reason of individuals, but from the reason of society.2-1
"A s a pupil of Alfred Foui 1let and Ziya Gokalp, Koprulu
is a partisan of the idee-force school. He believes
that firs t of all a revolution in ideas and mode of
thought is needed in Turkey, and that without it there
can be no positive results."20
Fuat Koprulu's article "Conversion to Christianity

and Cultural Crisis, published on February 9. 1928,
in the journal Hayat, pointed out the social crises
s3 Ibid.
2* Ibid.
25 Ibid., pp. 3 8 2 -3 8 3 .
26 "O lu m u n u n 25. Y ild o n u m u n d e Ziya Gokalp'a a it Bazi Ha-
tira la r," in Demokrasi Yolunda, p, 889.
facing the new Turkey. He said:
I have the idea th a t T u rkish so cie ty today is passing

through a ve ry deep and ve ry acute cu ltu re c ris is . This
c ris is through w h ic h w e have been passing since the
T anzim at period (e a rly nineteenth ce n tu ry) has today
reached its zenith. O ur so cie ty leaving the sphere o f the
Islam ic c iv iliz a tio n o f the M id d le Ages has fe lt it to be a
vita l necessity to enter the sphere o f m odern c iv iliz a tio n .
T his was o f necessity so. The 'p la c in g -th in g s -a d ja c e n t'
p o lic y o f the T anzim at and 'C o n s titu tio n a l M o n arch y'
periods w h ic h appeared in th e fo rm o f cre a tin g new values
by the side o f old values w ith o u t d e stro yin g those old
values, co u ld n o t c o n t in u e in R epublican T urkey. A secular
co u rt beside a re lig io u s co u rt, a m odern school opposite
a relig io us school, a re lig io u s regim e above a national
regim e, in a w o rd , dem ocracy and th e o cra cy are contrary
p rin cip le s w hich it is im p o ssib le to harm onize.27
According to this idea, the Islamist-Westernist contro

versy inspired Gokalp to study the difference between
the nature of secular morality and the individualist,
liberal educational views of the Westernists. W ithout
committing himself to one side or the other, he pointed
out the necessity for the cultural orientation to be given
to the new education. He was very much aware of
the moral crisis that was to fo llo w on the process of
loosening from the hold of religion. In the meantime
he cautioned that remedy for such crisis could not be
found in religious education. Therefore, he stated that
a society where "re lig io s ity was nothing but catego
rical imperatives for everyone, the only morality to
make men good was ascetic morality (Zuhdi ahlak)
which was based on the principles of vacib and haram
\imperatives and p ro h ib itio n s )."28 However, since
37 The Turkish Press, 1 S 2 5 -1 9 3 2 , pp. 67-68.

- s Niyazi Berkes, The Development of Secularism in Turkey
(M o n tre a l: M c G ill U n iv e rs ity Press, 1 9 6 4 ), p. 408,
such morality was not permanent, it would last only

as long as the religious force behind it would remain
active. In the case of Turkey, religion no longer re
mained the source of value. Hence she faced the
moral crisis while undergoing the transition period
from an "u m m e t state to a state of nationhood. 2
In reality, the main cause of upheaval in Turkish

society was the poor relationship between the Western
civilization which the new Turkey hoped to adopt and
the institutions of Islamic civilization. From the very
start it was quite obvious that the Western civilization
was getting the upper hand.30 In such a state of poli
tical unrest, where religious and social conditions and
values were shaken and unstable, perhaps the only
refuge the Turkish youth could depend on was the
foreign religion and education provided by the Am e
rican schools and other European schools that were
established in Turkey at that time.
Koprulu stated that in the process of W esterni

zation Turkey was undergoing an unexpected and rapid
change from the old values and traditions to the new
values. People were confronted with a problem which
was new to them, that is, accepting the new values
in place of the old values and of the old tradition
which was on the verge of complete destruction. In
the meantime, the new value was trying to lay a new
foundation based on a new ideal, a new national cul
ture, and a new society, w ith a final goal of leading
the nation into the path of modernization. Koprulu
admitted the fact that national leaders were not quite
29 Ibid.
30 |bid.
ready to tackle such a tremendous challenge. Once

the speed of the revolution gained momentum, it was
very d iffic u lt to stop. Under such circumstances, the
movement and the society could not wait for the
development of great minds who could establish these
new values, and for the readiness on the part of the
people to accept those new values. As a final outcome,
the adoption of modern European society was rather
superficial and shallow-rooted. For instance, the idea
to replace the old Ottoman alphabet w ith Latin script
was an attempt to complete the revolution by breaking
away from the last link of the old ways and traditions,
and start everything new that would be the modern
Turkey.31 In the process of finding this identity, people
had overlooked two important factors that separated
the Turks from Europe. In Koprulu's own words:
... the clearest p o in t o f d iffe re n c e separating us from

Europe is th a t o f m e n ta lity , lo g ic. U n til w e change our
manner o f th in k in g and o f w o rk in g to the European fashion,
u n til we save o u r econom ic life fro m its present M id d le
Age state, we cannot cla im to be a m odern so cie ty. W hen
ou r ancestors firs t entered the sphere o f Isla m ic c iv ili
zation, they looked dow n upon o u r n ational cu ltu re , they
m elted th e ir national p e rso n a litie s in Isla m ic c iv iliz a tio n .
Today w hen we w ish to e nter into the sphere o f m odern
c iv iliz a tio n w e again face the danger o f tra ve rsin g the
same w ro ng road.32
Koprulu believed in the development of national

culture and its national personality which would ulti
mately emerge into a unique form of international
value. Such qualities, according to him, can be con
sidered modern. Therefore, in order to develop a
modern Turkish nation, instead of melting w ithin the
31 The Turkish Press, 1 9 2 5 -1 9 3 2 , p. 68.

32 Ibid., pp. 68-69.
Western civilization, Turkey should "assim ilate that

civilization in order to develop w ith its great power its
own personality.33 On this particular issue Gokalp had
the same trend of thought.
His d is tin c tio n betw een c u ltu re and c iv iliz a tio n serves
Gokalp as a touchstone to determ ine w h a t is and w h a t
is not to be accepted fro m the w e st... C iv iliz a tio n , w h ich
is by nature in te rn a tio n a l, covers o n ly s c ie n tific m ethods,
the natural sciences and te ch n ica l processes. A ll these
should be adopted fro m Europe. A ll sp iritu a l values,
how ever, are p a rt o f cu ltu re s w h ic h should not be bo r
row ed from o th e r nations but should be taken fro m the
re lig io u s and national h e rita g e .34
Koprulu's concept of " v a lu e " and Gokalp's con

cept of " id e a l " seem to run in a parallel line of
thought. These values or ideals have long existed in
the soul of the people in hidden longings, the only
things required is to discover them. In the case of
Turkey, the recognition of the existence of this ideal
came along w ith the ushering in of the revolution of
1908-1909.35 There is no doubt about Gokalp's in
fluence-on Koprulu's thought. Koprulu's statement on
the topic of Turkish revolution brings out his influence
very well, when he said: "Essentially, it is an historical
necessity that great social revolutions should coincide
w ith a great cultural crisis. 38
To sum up, Ziya Gokalp made Turcology out of
science and Mehmet Fuat Koprulu, under the influence
of Gokalp, made a science of Turcology following
Western methods.37
33 Ibid., p. 70.
34 Foundations of Turkish Nationalism, p. 80.
3r Ibid., p. 49.
3G Turkish Press, 1 9 2 5 -1 9 3 2 , p. 75.
37 H. M a lik Evrenol, Revolutionary Turkey (Ankara: L ib ra irie
H achette, 1 9 3 6 ), p, 89.
CHAPTER II
KoPRULU'S RELIGIOUS REFORM
Among the educated elite in Turkey, there was

discontentment and unrest due to the existing social
and religious corruption. They fe lt the urgent n e e d
for a complete religious reform and believed Islam was
not in tune with the development and the westerniza
tion of the country. However, Ataturk understood the
significance of religion in the life of the people.1 This
fact played an important role when he became the
leader of a liberated nation. " H e had seen how dan
gerous religious fanaticism could be in moments of
national disaster; he had, at the same time, fe lt the
role of religion as a spontaneous expression of popular
unity in consolidating national e ffo rts ."2 Therefore,
he realized that th e 'o n ly way to make the people
understand the true teachings of religion, i.e. "e n lig h t
enment and fre e d o m ,"3 was to give a genuine interpre
tation of the holy scriptures. This meant the translation
of the Qur'an into the spoken language of the people.-1
Ataturk's great political speeches show that he

was in favour of a neo-lslamic movement. As early
1 The Development of Secularism in Turkey, p. 483.

2 Ibid.
3 Ibid., p. 4 8 4 .
4 Ibid.
as 1923, he announced the establishment of a council

of jurisprudence of the M uftis, and the formation of
the Board of Islamic studies. The objective was to
study Islamic philosophy in relation to Western philo
sophy, and to study the ritual, rational, economic and
demographic conditions of the Muslim peoples.3
Koprulu, on the other hand felt that religion was

reflected in law throughout the Islamic world, and
that such law was interpreted differently in different
countries, though the system did not change much in
character. Positive law, however changed according to
the needs of life. Koprulu felt that Turkey must change
from the old religious laws and customs to a system
of positive law more liberal in outlook. In this connec
tion the question he put forward was whether other
Islamic countries would fo llo w Turkey in changing the
old Sunnite doctrine to the new outlook of Islam which
modern society needed. He admitted that no one could
predict such a matter immediately, but only history
and the study of Muslim jurisprudence could tell. His
torical and systematic research was one of the neces
sities which, in his opinion, must at all times remain
based on science. Therefore, he fe lt that Turkey must
make an effo rt to change certain aspects of the old
traditional religion. Even though he expressed a need
for a relaxation of the religious law he did not com
pletely agree with Ataturk's idea of drastic religious
reforms.0
5 J. Deny, "La Khoutbe En Langue T u rq u e ," Actes du
Congrds International d'Historie des Religions, II (Paris: M acon,
1 9 2 6 ), 455.
G:W . B arthold , Islam Medeniyeti Tarihi, tr. by M ehm et Fuat
K oprulu (ik in c i Basim , A nkara: T u rk T arih Kururnu B asim evi,
196 3 ), p. 3 1 6 . The above statem ent was K o p ru lu's o rig in a l idea,
w ritte n as a co n clu din g rem ark o f the book.
K O P R U L U S RELIGIOUS REFORM 15
In 1928, under the chairmanship of Professor

Mehmet Fuat Koprulu, a committee was appointed by
the Theological School of the University of Istanbul to
study the scientific basis for a religious reform. The
committee, after studying the matter for some time,
drew up a program.7 Koprulu, speaking of the reform
to the newspapermen who asked him for information,
said:
The purpose o f re lig io u s reform is to make re lig io n

also shape the process o f developm ent now a ctive in all
the oth e r departm ents o f life . W e shall s u b m it th is
program w h ic h we have prepared to a cco m p lish th is , to
the Board o f D ire cto rs o f the U n iv e rs ity and th a t body
in its turn w ill su b m it it to the M in is try o f E duca tion .s
However, disagreements arose among the com

mittee members. Particularly, Professor ismail Hakki
(Baltacioglu), suggested some revolutionary changes
in the pattern of worship. He said:
... w o rsh ip was an aspect o f re lig io u s life th a t had

m eaning in sofa r as it p ro vid e d aesthetic experience. The
m anner o f w o rsh ip should fa c ilita te such experience. In
a d d itio n to p ro v id in g m odern h y g ie n ic devices and m ea
sures in the mosques, the re lig io u s reform should in clude
at least tw o m ajo r innovations: the a b o litio n o f prostratio n
durin g prayer and th e in tro d u c tio n in to the mosques of
instrum ental m u sic such as had c o n s titu te d an integral
part o f M u slim m ystica l w o rs h ip .8
Furthermore, he pointed out that the Turkish Revo

lution implied two processes and two objectives. " I t
was a movement for creating the social institutions

* Ibid.
n The Development of Secularism in Turkey, p. 494.
M E H M E T .F U A T KOPRULU
rational, and to make them national in character."10

ismail Hakki's view was supported by others, too.
The Turkish newspaper EViilliyet published an article
on August 15, 1932, under the title " C u ltu re " which
said: " A Society understanding the dangers of m i
crobes, does not worship by rubbing [the] face on the
floor of the mosques where others have trodden with
their fe e t."n
The proposal turned out to be far reaching and

impractical. On top of it all, "th e atmosphere of the
time was not conducive to its realization. 12 Contrary
to all the ambitious proposals and the hopes of putting
therri into practice, conditions began to deteriorate.
Out of the several recommendations submitted, only
one, " th a t of the Turkicization of w o rs h ip ,"13 was
successfully implemented. In 1932, a sum of 4.000
Turkish liras was made available by the Grand National
Assembly for the translation and publication of the
Qur'an. Also a Hadith collection was prepared for the
use of Friday Hutbe.14
A. Prayer
In 1924 Atatiirk declared that there was no com

pulsory attendance requirement in the mosque for
prayers.15 On January 30, 1932, the call to prayer
Ibid.
11 Lufty Levonian, The Turkish Press, 1 9 3 2 -1 9 3 6 (B e iru t:
Printed at the A m erica n Press, 1 9 3 7 ), p. 66.
12 Bernard Lewis, The Emergence of Modem Turkey, 2nd
ed. (London: O xford U n ive rsity Press, 1 9 6 9 ), p. 415.
is Ibid.
11 G otthard Jaschke, " D e r Islam in der Neuen T iirk e i,'' Die
W elt des Islams, I (1 9 5 1 ), 80.
55 Ibid., 65.
KOPRULU'S RELIGIOUS REFORM 17
resounded from the Fatih mosque in Istanbul for the

first time in Turkish: Allah biiyuktur. The Turkish
Historical Research Society had submitted a sugges
tion to the Director of Religious Affairs for introducing
prayer calls in the mosques in Turkish. Shortly after
wards a Turkish prayer call was prepared by the Lin
guistic Congress w ith collaboration of the Ankara Con
servatory of Music School that prepared the compo
sition and melody. On December 29, 1932, a law was
passed for training the muezzins all over Turkey to
learn the new Turkish call to prayer; and later an order
was issued to use the new version w ith out actually
banning the call in Arabic.10 On March 15, 1933, the
decision of the Department of Religious Affairs on the
issue of the ritual prayer was published. It said:
C onsidering th a t a t a tim e w hen in all quarters the

ca ll to prayer is read in T u rk is h , the A ra b ic reading o f
the R itual Prayer fro m the m in a re t is out o f harm ony,
and consid erin g th a t th is m ethod is not in c o n fo rm ity
w ith the national p o lic y o f the governm ent, a fte r c o n su l
ta tio n w ith the re lig io u s a u th o ritie s , three exam ples o f
the T urkish T e k b ir have been prepared and sent out.
Those concerned m ay use any o f them according to
th e ir desire and need.17
The reform program submitted by Koprulu and

his colleagues to the M inistry of Education via the
Directors of the University of Istanbul suggested that:
The T u rkish (n o t A ra b ic as at present) fo rm s o f

verses (K o ra n ic ), prayers and serm ons m u st be used.
T hey should n o t be used o n ly fro m m em ory b u t th e ir
w ritte n fo rm s should be usecr as w e ll. Special preparations
should be made in the m osques on th is basis.18
Ibid., 7 4 -7 5 .
M E H M E T FUA T KOPRULU
Ahmet H. Akseki, Director of Religious Affairs

(1947-1960), declared in 1949 that every individual
should read parts of the Turkish Qur'an during prayer.
From his office he sent a printed form of the daily
prayer schedule, prepared according to the Gregorian
calendar, to every mosque throughout the country.3U
B. Sermons
Along with the appearance of a national move

ment, the Arabic liturgy was abandoned in order to
adopt a Turkish liturgy. The sermon (hutbe) had to
be presented in two parts. The first part should be
in Arabic, mentioning the Prophet, his Companions and
the Orthodox caliphs. The second part of the sermon
would be in Turkish, and would deal with issues per
taining to daily activities and include a recital from
the Qur'an followed by exegesis.20 This showed an
element of respect for old tradition, in spite of mod
ernizing the nation in every aspect. Also, the mainte
nance Of an Arabic prelude preserved its character as
an international institution. The Turkish part of the
sermon reminded the populace to whom the nation
belonged and what it must be. One can easily perceive
the close relationship between the political interest of
the national movement and the modern liturgical
works. The Liturgy permitted the inclusion in the
sermons of subjects such as exultation of the new
government, the Grand National Assembly, and the
principle of the integral sovereignty of the nation.
Thus, it gave the n a tio n a l movement a religious con
19 " D e r Islam in der Neuen T iir k e i," Die W e lt des Islams,

I (1 9 5 1 ), 79.
20 Actes du Congres International d'Histoire des Religions,
II (1 9 2 6 ), 4 5 3 -4 5 5 .
KOPRULU'S RELIGIOUS REFORM
secration in the eyes of the believing population.-'
Between March 15 and 22, 1926, in the month

of Ramazan, Cemal ed-Din, the Imam of Goztepe,
conducted the entire Friday prayer in Turkish. As a
result, his service was suspended. Towards the end
of 1926, the Director of Religious Affairs presented
a reform which stated that all preachers (hatib) could
preach following the Qur an and Hadith texts in Arabic
and Turkish. Fehmi, the Muftu of Istanbul, proclaimed
that after April, 1928, all the sermons in mosques
would be preached in Turkish. All religious beliefs
and problems would be discussed in Turkish.-2
From June, 1928, onwards, the Theological

School in Istanbul started using Turkish for Q uran
recital, Friday sermons, and other sermons.2'1 On Feb
ruary 5, 1932, Hafiz Sadettin gave the entire sermon
in Turkish in the Suleymaniye-Cami-i (Blue Mosque)
in Istanbul for the first tim e.2i Koprulu's modernist
ideology was projected in the committee's report in
these words :
The prin te d fo rm s o f serm ons are not s u ffic ie n t.

Preaching is som ething d iffe re n t fro m m ere reading o f a
prepared serm on. The im p o rta n t elem ents in serm ons
are not s c ie n tific and econom ic ideas, but ra th e r re lig io u s
values and ideas. O nly philosophers o f re lig io n capable
o f ora to ry can p erfo rm such duties. H ow ever, w e should
p ro fit by the present re lig io u s th in ke rs and philosophers
in our society u n til the D epartm ent o f T he o lo g y prepares
21 Ibid., 4 55.
32 "D e r Islam in der Neuen T u rk e i," Die W elt des Islams,
I (1 9 5 1 ), 73.
23 Ibid.
21 Ibid.
a s u ffic ie n t num ber o f w o rks on lite ra tu re and p h ilo

sophy.25
C. Music
M usic w ith prayer outside of the mosque is not

a new practice in Turkish religious society. The only
forms of music that were allowed inside the mosque
were Qur'anic recital and mevlud. After 1928, music
was included in the funeral rituals. Professional mu
sicians were trained to render such services.26
The realization fo r the need of " a new set of

values and ideals''27 came to Turkish society. This
was the time when ''som e believed a reformed Islam
would provide the spiritual source to fill the moral va
cuum fe lt to exist in the s o u ls."28 People expressed
their feelings anh wishes through various articles pub
lished in the newspapers. As one of them said: " M u s ic
can wake those sublime feeling which cannot be
expressed by words. For national religion we are bound
to accept music as a p rinciple. '29
Koprulu stated that in olden times music played

an important role in the religious activities of Turkey.
Religious poetry was set to music and was accom
panied by dancing, but in the later period only music
and dance were performed. It is very likely that his an
cient practice prompted Koprulu to revive the idea of
25 The Turkish Press 1 9 2 5 -1 9 3 2 , p. 125.

20 Personal research in the Foreign A ffa irs A rch ive s and the
fo p k a p i M useum in Istanbul, and in te rv ie w w ith Kemal Qig,
D ire c to r.o f th e T opkapi M useum , J u ly 2 6 , 1969.
27 The Development of Secularism in Turkey, p. 4 9 3 .
28 ibid.
KOPRGLU'S RELIGIOUS REFORM 21
using, music and singing in the religious services in

the mosques. Thus, this point was mentioned as one
of the suggestions in the draft of religious reforms
submitted to the M inistry of Education in 1 928,30
which stated:
Measures should be taken to make W o rsh ip b e a u tifu l,

in sp irin g , and s p iritu a l. F or th is reason w e m u st prepare
'S in g e rs ' and im am s equipped w ith a fa ir kn ow le dg e o f
m usic. W e m ust also have in stru m e n ts o t m usic in our
places o f w o rs h ip . The need is urg e n t fo r m odern and
sacred in stru m e nta l m u s ic .31
30 F. K oprulu, "T iirk le rd e M u s ik i," Belleten, II (1 9 3 8 ), 159.

s'1 The Turkish Press, 1 9 2 5 -1 9 3 2 , p. 125.
CHAPTER III
KoPRULU'S EDUCATIONAL REFORM
One of the most critical stages in Turkish west

ernization and reformation in relation to education was
the adoption of the Latin script.
W h ile the W e ste rn ists had regarded the adoption of

the Latin s c rip t s im p ly as w h a t they ca lle d a " c iv iliz a tio n "
or te ch nica l problem , the T u rk is ts had refrained from
endorsing the idea because o f th e ir b e lie f th a t the m atter
was one o f national m ores. T h is issue became even more
to u ch y in the new phase fo r tw o reasons: the Latin scrip t
had been adopted by the A lbanian M u slim s, w h o were
considered to have "c e d e d fro m the O ttom an Empire and
from Is la m "; the m ovem ent had begun also among the
T urkish -sp eakin g peoples o f the S oviet U nion.1
The adoption of a new script into an old culture caused

doubt and confusion in the minds of many people.
The idea was rejected on several grounds, but two
points were taken into consideration most seriously.
First, the adoption of a foreign script would mean
acceptance of Christianity and thus the Islamic
world would turn against Turkey. Second, there were
doubts that the Latin script was capable of expressing
Turkish works of the past centuries.2
1 The Development of Secularism in Turkey, p. 474,

2 Ibid., pp. 4 7 4 -4 7 5 ,
KOPRULU'S E DU CA TIO NA L REFORM 23
A philological conference took place in 1926 at

Baku, a Russian city near the north-eastern Turkish
border. The main topic discussed was the introduction
of Latin script in lieu of Arabic script in Turkistan.
K oprulu, attended th e Baku congress and declared his

on the eve o f the in te rn a tio n a l congress convened at
Baku to discuss the m atter. The T u rk is h h isto ria n Fuad
Koprulu, attended the Baku congress and declared his
o p positio n to the Latin s c rip t fo rth w ith .3
In the period between December 1927 and May 1928,

the philologist Cevat Emre published a series of articles
in the new Romanized Turkish alphabet to prove that
this particular new script could be adopted with ease.
He further stated that, "changing the script was a
matter of civilization and not culture. The new Turkey
should adopt the international script of Western civ
ilization if it was determined to join that c iv iliz a tio n ."4
I do not quite agree w ith Cevat Emre on this

issue because the mere changing of the script is not
the key to Western civilization. But along w ith the
change of script, the mentality and philosophy of the
people must change as well. Then only w ill a nation
go forward and legitimately claim to be a part of
Western civilization.
In 1928, according to Government policy of sec

ularization and Westernization, the Latin script was
adopted as the national script.5 As mentioned earlier,
in June of that year a committee was set up by the
3 Ibid., p. 4 75.
* Ibid., p. 4 7 6 .
5 U riel H eyd, Language Reform in Modern Turkey (Jeru
salem: Hadassah A ppre n tice School o f P rin tin g , 1 9 5 4 ), p. 22.
Theological School of the University of Istanbul under

the Leadership of Professor Mehmet Fuat Koprulu to
draw up a religious reform program.6 One of the major
points suggested was the replacement of. the Arabic
script by a Romanized Turkish alphabet to be used for
religious purposes. Simultaneously a Language Com
mittee was organized to prepare a pilot project as a
starting point on the road to the adoption of Latin
script. Thus, on November 3, 1928, it was officia lly
declared as the Turkish national script. Hence, this
year is "generally regarded in Turkey as the beginning
of Ataturk's 'language revolution' (dil inkilabt or dil
devrimi) . " 7
Two distinctly different views came up on the

matter of time required fo r the firs t results of the
language and script reform. The committee members
were pessimistic whereas Ataturk was very optimistic.
W h ile the c o m m itte e w h ich had draw n up the new

alphabet believed th a t its in tro d u c tio n w o u ld take con
sid erab le tim e (in schools a t least fiv e years), the Gazi
decreed th a t the change was to be e ffe cte d w ith in a fe w
m o n th s.8
A. Language Reform
Language reform was part and parcel o f . the

introduction of the Latin script. In turn, these reforms
were branches of the main secular reforms of 1924-
1928.
Koprulu pointed out in 1945, two main factors
e The Turkish Press, 1 9 2 5 -1 9 3 2 , pp. 1 23-124.

7 Language Reform in Modern Turkey, p. 22..
s Ibid., pp. 22-2 3 .
KOPRULU'S E D U C A T IO N A L REFORM 25
that were involved while considering the language

problems of Turkey. He fe lt that reform was good
but also very depressing. It was good because it
brought out the national understanding and ideology of
the country in their best form. On the other hand,
it took a considerable length of tim e to sim plify a
language because unnatural and forceful actions led
to wrong directions.9 He classified the group of people
who were contemplating and struggling to sim plify the
Turkish language into two groups. The firs t was the
progressive group led by Ziya Gokalp and his fo l
lowers. Their philosophy was to see a Turkish lan
guage, free of foreign elements which were not under
stood by an average citizen. Their main object was to
make the Turkish language rich particularly in scien
t ific and arts terminology. According to their theory,
every living word used by the Turkish people was
considered Turkish. Gokalp's statement reinforces this
theory:
Gokalp proposes to a d m it into the lite ra ry language'

w o rd s fro m th e spoken language and fro m local dia le cts
in Turkey, though he is n o t in fa v o u r o f re ce iving w o rd s
fro m T u rkish languages spoken o u tsid e th e boundaries o f
Turkey. O nly if th e re q u ire d w o rd cannot be fo u n d in
sources is it p e rm issib le to create new w o rd s, alw ays of
course a ccord ing to the rules o f the T u rk ish language...
Gokalp sum s up his re quirem ents in the m a tte r o f lin
g u is tic reform in the trip le fo rm u la : M o d e rn iza tion and
Europeanization o f the language in respect o f notions,
Islam ization in respect o f s c ie n tific te rm s, and T u rk ifi-
cation in respect o f all o th e r w o rd s , and gram m ar, syntax
and o rth o g ra p h y.10
The second group was the conservative one, whose
9 " DiI M e s e le s i," in Demokrasi Yolunda, p. 29.

30 Foundations o f Turkish Nationalism, pp. 1 1 8 -1 19 .
idea was to return to the pure language as quickly as

possible, and they referred to themselves as e lim i
nators. According to this group, words of Arabic and
Persian origins, even though in use for three of four
hundred years, must be eliminated and then replaced
by new 'm ade-up' words, or words from Turkish
dialects remodeled fo r popular usage. Thus they
created an unnatural language.11 Even though Koprulu
went along w ith Gokalp's theory he did agree that the
eliminators' approach was faster and more revolu
tionary in nature. Therefore it accelerated the language
reform program. He also pointed out that members
of this group were1 not academicians but mostly pol
iticians and w riters.12 Naturally such a national pro
ject in the hands of the politicians had to move even
if their theory was not quite feasible. After a few
years this approach turned out to be impractical.
Therefore, they propagated a new hypothesis, namely
that every language originated from Turkish. Obviously
this hypothesis was far from scientific.13 Both groups
had one goal to achieve eventually, but their methods
of approach were different. The progressive group
approached the subject from a scientific view, whereas
the conservative group approached it from a practical
view.
As expected, many suggestions were made from
every corner of the country but this added to the con
fusion. Therefore, Ataturk had to intervene and he
laid down the fundamental rule on this issue by
saying:
11 " D i l M e s e le s i," in Demokrasi Yolunda, p. 30. It refers

to the idea o f replacing w ith U yg u r (U ig u r), M ongol, U ra lic and
A lta ic languages.
12 Ibid., p. 29.
13 Ibid., p. 30.
KOPRULG'S E DU CA TIO NA L REFORM 27
I certainly do not think it proper to add letters to

the Turkish alphabet fo r the sake of foreign w ords which
have infiltrated into our language and the elim ination of
which is (merely) a question of tim e.11
Progress was pa in fu lly slow. Even the Language Com

m ittee of 1929 did not take any effective measure for
language reform . In the meantime the governm ent had
more pressing matters to spend the money on, and
all financial aid set aside earlier fo r language reform
was w ithdraw n. Thus the Comm ittee came to an end,13
at least fo r the tim e being.
Koprulu stated that the national language issue

was a very im portant m atter w hich concerned every
member of the nation. He drew the attention of the
national leaders to the fa ct that Turkey needed d ic
tionaries, grammar books and certain w ritten form s of
Turkish phonetics. In order to do this, groups of
specialists and linguists must search fo r historical
background and roots of the Turkish language. He
further suggested that, European linguists and scien
tists should be approached fo r assistance in the prepa
ration of a general dictionary of Turkish dialectology,
a historical Turkish dictionary and a Turkish language
history. In the meantime the nationals should be en
couraged to contribute tow ards the project, too. He
emphasized that such a national project was not a
sim ple m atter but it was a long-term program. He
also suggested to organize a p ilo t project fo r the
research of dialectology and the preparation of linguis
tic maps. Furthermore, under this project, language-
historical research, literary, language and historical
11 Language Reform in Modern Turkey, p. 24.

15 Ibid., p. 25.
old documents such as m anuscripts should be exam

ined thoroughly. Such research should not frighten or
demoralize the people because it was one of the main
requirements of the m odernization of Turkey. This
scie ntific program must be strong and properly or
ganized on a s cie n tific basis so that a satisfactory
result m ight be achieved w ith in a quarter of a century.
Turkey m ust realize the fa c t that Europe had already
gone through this stage earlier. Therefore, people who
were involved in the project of the nation as a whole
must not take this m atter lig h tly and make hasty
decisions or expect im m ediate results.16
A taturk's strong determ ination to carry through

his language reform program led to the establishm ent
of two d istin ct societies. F irstly, in 1931 the Turkish
H istorical Society was founded. Secondly, as an
expansion of this society the Turkish Linguistic Society
(T iirk D il Kurum ti) was founded on Ju ly 12, 1932,17
solely fo r the study of T u rkic languages and " t o bring
out the genuine beauty and richness of the Turkish
language and to elevate it to the high rank it deserves
among w orld languages. 18 This tim e the government
and adm inistration took more interest and gave their
fu ll support fin a n cia lly and otherwise to carry out the
language reform program. It is very likely that A taturk
must have exercised his authority in Parliam ent on this
issue fo r obtaining such an easy cooperation. He was
determined to try out the new script. He even w ent
out of his way to dem onstrate to his cabinet members
and other high governm ent o ffic ia ls how sim ple it was
]| MilIT Lisan ve Ehem m iyeti," Koprulii'nun Edebi ve Fikrl

Makalelerinden Secmeler, pp. 78-80.
17 Language Reform in M odem Turkey, p. 25.
Ibid.
K o P R U L U 'S E D U C A T IO N A L REFORM 29
to switch over to the new script by w ritin g the new

script on the blackboard in the palace ground of Dolma
Bahce.19 It is interesting to note that during this in
terim period the nation's printing trade stood s till, and
the record showed only one book being published in
the year 1929!- Thus in 1935, the Language Com
m ittee revived its a ctivity w ith more v ita lity . This
tim e the Turkish Linguistic Society Congress gave
them two main guidelines to go by.
The first, to put the Turkish language into a form

that could be easily learned and understood by everybody.
The second, to reveal that the Turkish language had been
the root of all the languages in the w orld.21
Therefore, their main aim was to prepare a Turkish

language that w ould enable the people to learn how
to read and w rite in the easiest and shortest possible
way.
On March 15, 1942, the Government sent out a

Questionnaire to every Parliam ent member on the
question of language reform . Koprulu's answers to
these questions brought out his opinion and attitude
towards this im portant reform program. He said:
(1) C onstitutional Law should be w ritte n in simple
language. (2) The team responsible fo r the language
reform program should clearly define their project
outline. (3) The m ajority of the population was illit
erate and the words they used had been in use for
several centuries. Therefore, to replace these ancient
19 John Parker and Charles Smith, Modern Turkey (London:

George Routledge & Sons, 1940), p. 55.
20 Ibid.
21 The Turkish Press 1932-1936, p. 61.
30 M E H M E T FUAT K oPRULU
words w ith non-Turkish 'm ade-up' or 'co in e d ' new

words was wrong, in w hich case the Government
was fo llo w in g the wrong direction. (4) Unlike Euro
pean countries, Turkey did not have a system atic phi
lology research. Hence, m ost of the research in this
fie ld was done by amateur researchers. To s im p lify
a language was very im portant and valuable. That was
why it was highly desirable that the Government must
fo llo w the right course. He concluded, therefore, the
language reform should be_ handled by experienced
philologists rather than le ft in the hands of amateur
and incompetent researchers as it was then.2'-
Over a period of sixteen years his position on the

language reform issue did not change. However, he
moved along over the years w ith the p olitica l tide of
the nation, w ith o u t taking any drastic action on this
particular subject. As a clever p o litician and a states
man, he only gave suggestions to fo llo w the course
in a more s cie n tific pattern.
B. School Reform
A fter 1908 prim ary education started w ith a very

sad and painful history. Under the leadership of a
teacher named Sati and his friends, a teachers' move
ment started w ith the aim of establishing more schools
in every village. However, after the First W orld War
this a ctivity ceased. A ccording to Koprulu, after the
declaration of the Turkish Republic, more importance
was given to the prim ary education program.23 The
reason was obvious, to start educating the people,
both young and old, in the use of the new script. In
22 "D il M eselesi," in Demokrasi Yolunda, pp. 32-33.

23 " ilk Ogretim M eselesi," in Demokrasi Yolunda, p. 771.
the meantime a snag occurred. Even though the people

were ready to accept this new' reform program, the
Government's program was not rationally and scie nti
fic a lly organized. As a result teachers' schools were
closed down and hundreds of trained school teachers
started leaving their profession. A fter this brief crisis
was over the government started appointing village
school teachers from among the discharged army
sergeants who were not, s tric tly speaking, qualified to
teach. Numerous teachers' training centers were
opened in several villages under a p ilo t project. The
main aim of the plan was, for the mass production of
trained teachers in a short tim e. Koprulu objected to
such hasty plans and fe lt that this was m erely a 'show-
o ff' program on the part of the government to impress
the pub lic.24
As a true educator, Koprulu expressed throughout

his life the need fo r a new and reform ed education
system, more schools, and better com m unication and
understanding between d iffe re n t classes of people. He
firm ly believed in educating the masses and raising
their cultural level so that Turkey w ould be a better
place to live in. He brought to the attention of the
national leaders and the government the necessity of
changing the educational law and the school system,
and he called fo r free and com pulsory education fo r
every citizen up to high school level, and fo r financial
aid to the poor students at the college and university
levels. He reminded the nation that education was the
backbone of a nation and that everyone must work
in unity w ith a s p irit of dem ocracy. He particularly
emphasized the issue of program m ing the whole edu
24 ibid., p. 772.
3? M E H M E T FUA T KOPRULU
cational system and putting in the hands of selected

experts and experienced educators the responsibility to
carry out such tasks.25
Koprulu was quite concerned about the type and

quality of education received by the young generation
of Turkey. He objected to the M in istry of Education
m onopolizing the text-book policy. He pointed out
point-blank that the M in istry of Education was copying
Italian fascism , and this was one of the calam ities of
the nation. He further stated that because of such
arrangement, the ruling party and the government had
no guided program on this matter. That was why
every m inister used his own discretion. This, in his
opinion, indicated a need fo r a change in the party
policy. Turkey m ust move from the existing party
system to a m ulti-party system.20
During the budget debate on December 31, 1947,
Koprulu brought to the attention of the government
the m atter of an overall education policy. He said that
in order to rationalize the school system, diffe re n t
kinds of specialised branches of knowledge and sub
jects were required. He further reminded them that
education was a long term process. Therefore, edu
cation could produce good and satisfactory results
only when the government w ould re ctify th e ir short
com ings.27
Koprulu expressed his concern on the matters of
education and national culture in these words.
25 "Dunya Birligine D ogru," in Demokrasi Yolunda, op.
50-51.
2 c " M illi M aarif Sistem im izi Yeni Ba?tan Kurmak Zorunda-
y iz ! in Demokrasi Yolunda, p. 721.
"B utpe Muzakerelerinin Gosterdigi M anzara," in Demok
rasi Yolunda, p. 718.
KOPRQLU'S E DU CA TIO NA L REFORM 33
The culture of a nation means, in its w idest meaning,

its national history.... It contains all the elements that
constitute the material and moral consciousness of a
nation. Beginning from the remotest past until today it
includes the language, the literature, the fine arts, the
moral, and economic life of the nation. The composition,
the spirit, the genius of a nation can be understood only
by scientific investigation and by fin ding of these ele
ments. And national education means the systematic
teaching o f the discovered national culture to the gen
erations of tom orrow .28
Since 1826 two d is tin c t types of foreign educa

tional institutions were in operation in various cities
in Turkey. They were m ission schools operating under
a religious organization, and secular independent
schools.29
The Secondary schools have carried on a more fo r
m alistic type of training. Whereas the American influence
notably that of John Dewey and Teachers' College,
Columbia University has been strong in elementary
education, the high schools have been patterned more
after those of Europe, particularly the French lycees.30
W ith the dawn of revolution these foreign schools were

naturally looked upon w ith suspicion. The Turks fe lt
that these foreign schools were functioning w ith ulte
rior m otives. They were either propagating foreign
religions and culture or propagating foreign pol
itics. Various articles released by the press at that
tim e throw light on this touchy issue. This was a
typical reaction in a country like Turkey where religion
played such an im portant role in the lives of the people,
their society and culture.
29 Ibid., p. 17.
30 Donald Everett Webster, The Turkey o f A tattirk; Social
Process in the Turkish Reformation (Philadelphia: American
Academy of Political and Social Science, 1939), p. 234.
Koprulu pointed out the reasons fo r such unrea

sonable resentment and reaction. His comments on
the issue of "Conversion to C hristianity and the Cul
tural C ris is ," express his social theory very clearly.
In an article on this subject published in Hayat news
paper on February 9, 1928, he stated that it was
ridiculous to demonstrate the feeling of disgust and
anger by Turkish society at such an insign ificant
m atter as that of conversion to C hristianity in the
Am erican Schools at Bursa. He asked whether the
cause fo r this outburst was a sign of national con
sciousness as a result of religious fanaticism or was
it a result of the discovery of a conspiracy to destroy
national unity. Therefore, he concluded that it would
be unwise to put the entire blame on the foreign
schools.31 He tried to reason the incident from the
point of vie w of a so ciolo gist and a historian. He
considered such hasty conclusive accusation as "a su
perficial o bse rva tion''32 and the incident as "a n unim
portant m anifestation of that loosening process.33 He
further stated that the seriousness of the cultural crisis
in Turkey has been proven by the very fa ct that in
the name of reform ation and westernization, the so-
called patriots were not hesitant to educate their
children in foreign schools. On the other hand, the
same people got excited over such a triv ia l incident
as the conversion of some school girls to C hristianity.84
Koprulu wrote a series of articles in Vatan news

paper on February 20, 24, 26 and March 3, 1946, on

a* Ibid.
33 Ibid., p. 67.
34 Ibid., p. 69.
the subject of Universiteye Muhtariyet (Freedom for

the U niversity). According to these articles, he con
sidered the Eastern m entality as a sort of stum bling
block towards the achievem ent of W estern civilization.
Therefore, he suggested that in order to achieve this
goal the W estern m entality must be adopted in place
of the existing Eastern m entality. In order to do this
he gave the fo llo w in g suggestions: (a) Turkey needed
a group of courageous scholars who were highly edu
cated, and who could not be easily influenced even
by high politica l authorities. Such people could be
selected from experienced Turkish professors, or else
European professors should be invited and they should
be made responsible fo r the departmental programs,
(b) Every departm ent should start w ith a m inim um
number of professors in order to m aintain a certain
standard, (c) For organizing a new departm ent certain
objective criteria should be taken into consideration
w ith regard to the required standard of the professors,
such as their experience, fame and confidence. (4)
U niversity professors should com m it themselves to
their professional vocations. Thus, they should be paid
according to the value of their services. There should
be an equal pay-scale for the national and foreign
professors, (e) There should be few fu ll professors
but a larger number of associate and assistant profes
sors in each department. This way future replacement
of professors would be easier, and at the same tim e
newly appointed assistant professors w ould feel
35 "U niversiteye M uh tariyet," in Demokrasi Yolunda, pp.

102-104. Section(d) refers to the practice of d ifferen t pay-scale
arrangements fo r foreign professors. It seems that Koprulu's
objection to this unfair treatm ent fell on the deaf ears of the
adm inistration because this practice continues even in recent
times.
secure, (f) Adequate financial aid should be set aside

fo r scie n tific research equipm ent, libraries and labora
tories.35 Furthermore, he rem inded the government and
the p oliticians that in order to protect the national
entity, Turkey m ust develop the existing U niversity
system w ith s cie n tific and technological understand
ing. Above all, fu ll freedom m ust be granted to the
universities. O therwise the future generation w ill
never forgive the government and the national lead
ers 36
C. Faculty of Theology
There were two types of religious institutions

existing side by side during the fir s t ten years of the
Republic. A t the University level was the School of
Theology at the University of Istanbul, where the main
emphasis was on the historical and philosophical as
pects of Islam. On the other hand, there were the
schools fo r imams and Hatibs under the M in istry of
Education whose sole aim was to train future village
teachers.37 Hence, in general the contin uity of re li
gious training was not disrupted in spite of the various
changes it underwent in a long period.
Koprulu remained in the School of Theology from

1913 to 1939. During this period he became a con
trib u to r to the Encyclopaedia of Islam. His original
w ritin g s w hich were tru ly scie n tific contributions to
Turcological studies added to the prestige of the U n i'
versity of Istanbul. Eventually it led to the foundation
30 Ibid., p. 104.
37 Henry Elisha Allen, The Turkish Transform ation; A Study
in Social and Religious Development (Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, 1935), p. 182.
of the Instituta of Turcology in 1924. A t the same

tim e he also published the journal of Turcology Tiir-
kiyai Mecmuasi/38 and other journals such as the
journal of Turkish law and Economics Turk Hukuk ve
iktisad Tarihi, and the Turkish Folklore Literature En
cyclopaedia Tiirk Halk Edebiyati Ansiklopedisi.39 Be
sides being involved in all these undertakings he also
taught the history of Islam ic literature.
In the meantime, religious education at the Uni

versity level was not doing very w e ll. Several causes
led to the closing of the school of Theology in Istanbul.
The change from the old Ottoman script to the Latin
script and the abandonment of the old traditional
Arabic and Persian studies in schools w ould have af
fected any national education program as it had ef
fected Turkey. In the m idst of all this tu rm oil, the
members of the School of Theology did try to play
their part in the utm ost possible way.
Members of the Faculty of Theology tried sincerely

to adapt and reinterpret Islam so that it m ight both share
in and contribute toward the great Turkish nationalist
awakening. Between 1926 and February, 1933, they
published a series of very useful studies in th eir Faculty
journal, ilahiyat Fakiiltesi M ecm uasi, No. 1-25. Professor
Yusuf Ziya (Yorukan) prepared an o fficia l two-volum e
religious te xt approved fo r use in the m iddle and normal
schools of Turkey by the M inistry of Education in 1929-
3 0 . 4
During this period one of the most outstanding con-
:iS " A Turkish Account of O rientalism ," The M uslim W orld,

XLII (1953), 277.
!9 Fuad Koprulu Arm agarii, p. xxii.
40 Howard A. Reed, "The Faculty of D ivinity at Ankara I,"
The M uslim W o rld , XI.VI (1956), 299.
tributions made by the School of Theology was the

religious reform draft subm itted to the M in istry of
Education by the com m ittee in 1928 under the chair
manship of Professor Koprulu.41 Some statistics on
the overall school enrollm ent and results of the grad
uates w ill show the gradual dow nhill decline of the
school. "T h e number o f students enrolled in it dropped
from 287 in 1926-27 to only ten in 1 9 3 2 ."4'2 The num
ber of graduates between 1924-1933 is shown in the
fo llow ing tabulated form :
Year Number of graduates

1924-25 284
1927-28 167
1929-30 53
1931 2
1932-33 20.43
Thus, "w ith the reorganization of the University of

Istanbul project in 1933, it lost its id e n tity ."14 On the
other hand, we must also consider the fact that even
though the members of the School of Theology tried
to give the im pression of making a jo in t e ffo rt in m ain
taining the school, internally everything was not
running quite as sm oothly as it appeared to be. The
fa cu lty members were not in agreement on the matter
of accepting o ffic ia lly a Turkish te xt of the Qur'an
and they differed on the means and methods to be
used in the im plem entation of a religious reform . Such
internal c o n flic t reduced the School's status to that of
The Turkish Press 1925-1932, p. 132.
w Howard A. Reed, "R evival of Islam in Secular T urkey,"
The M id d le East Journal, VIII (1954), 274
43 "D e r Islam in der Neuen T u rke i," Die W e lt des Islams,
I (1951), 121.
44 The Turkish Transform ation, p. 182.
an Institute of Islam ic studies. Thus, the Theological

School ceased to attract students and gradually dis
appeared in the process of the reconstruction of
Istanbul University in 1933. In its place the Institute
fo r Islam ic Research (Islam T e tkikleri E n stitiisii) was
established attached to the School of Letters. This
institution did not live up to the expectation of the
U niversity and eventually it had to be closed in 1942.
However, it was revived in 1955 fo r another purpose,
as a research center.45 In the meantime Koprulu retired
from the professorship in 1941. He remarked that he
had given tw enty five years of his life to the cause
of education at the U niversity of Istanbul and the Uni
versity of Ankara, particularly in the School of The
ology.40 From then on, he devoted his tim e looking into
educational matters in Parliam ent in his capacity as a
member in the Educational Com m ission, and as the
Secretary of the M in istry of Education. That was how
he was able to support the m otion fo r the reintroduc
tion of religious education in the public schools and
the establishm ent of a School of Theology at Ankara
when this was discussed in the Grand National A s
sembly in 1946, fo r the firs t tim e since W orld W ar II.
However, the outcome of this debate bore fru it only
in 1949 when "a b ill fo r the establishm ent of such a
School was introduced into parliam ent on May 12,
and law no. 5424 w hich passed on June 4, 1949,
authorized the creation of a new S ch o o l.''47 This law
came into effe ct on June 10, 1949, establishing the
School w ith an in itia l teaching staff of one dean, eight
4!> "F a culty of D ivin ity at Ankara I," The M uslim W orld,
XLVI (19 5 6 ), 296-297.
40 Fuad Koprulu Armagam, p. xxi.
47 "T re Faculty of D ivinity at Ankara I," The M uslim W orld,
XLVI (1956), 302,
professors, fiftee n associate professors and twenty-

nine assistants.48 Over eighty-five students were en
rolled during the1 fir s t semester fo r the four-year
course.40
It is the only institutions of its kind in the Moslem

w orld that combines the study of Islam, its principles and
history, along w ith a study o f comparative religion. This
liberal approach is something new and shows the way
Turkey is moving in religious matters. The Faculty
publishes a review which enjoys a w ide circulation. Visits
have also been paid by the professors and lecturers of
the Faculty to other centers of learning both in Western
European and in the Moslem w o rld .50
Koprulu's suggestion of university freedom which

has been discussed earlier seems to have been ac
cepted at last in the School of Theology.
48 "D e r Islam in der Neuen T urke i, Die W elt des fslams,

I (1951), 127.
49 Ibid., 128.
50 M. Philips Price, A H istory o f Turkey, from Empire to
Republic (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1956), p. 217.
CHAPTER IV
KOPROLU'S INVOLVEMENT IN SOCIO-POLITICAL

ISSUES
The p o litica l situation in Turkey was very grim

towards the latter part of the 1930's. Ataturk, the
President of Turkey died on October 10, 1938, and
the threat of the Second W orld W ar was heavily hang
ing over all Europe. The international p o litica l con
ditions started deteriorating. Somehow by a great
m iracle, Turkey survived w ith o u t getting involved in
the war in spite of the internal and external problems
w hich surrounded her.
Soon after the war, alm ost overnight, a new type

of government came into being. This sudden change
from one-party rule to another new and liberal gov
ernm ent gave a som ewhat false im pression of being
"o n the high road to liberal, parliam entary dem oc
ra c y ."1
This relative stagnant situation came to a sudden

turning point in 1945 when the Charter of the United
Nations came to be discussed in the National Assembly.
Adnan Menderes, deputy fo r Aydin, emphasized that
Turkey, by signing the Charter, had definitely engaged
to practice genuine democracy. Celal Bayar, the ex-Prime
1 The Emergence o f Modern Turkey, p. 304.

M inister, together w ith Fuat Koprulu, an authority of

international standing on Turkish history, Adnan Menderes,
and Refik Koraltan presented a join t motion that the
party respect the word and sp irit of the Turkish consti
tution, and m odify all laws of an unconstitutional and
dictatorial character.2
This m otion was rejected. Every possible way was

made to suppress this move. However, its leaders
refused to be subjected and "th e y used the ra tifica tio n
of the San Francisco Charter by the Turkish Grand
National A sse m bly''3 as a means of renewing ''th e ir
insistence on the actual and im m ediate application of
the dem ocratic principles in the c o n s titu tio n ."4 In the
meantime Koprulu and Adnan Menderes, who were
still active members of the Republican People's Party
published a jo in t article in Vatan, an independent
newspaper, "a tta c kin g the tota litaria n m entality and
practices of th e ir own pa rty. 5 This action was c o n s id
ered by the loyal party members as a breach of party
discipline, and they were expelled. This drastic action
did not discourage them. On the contrary, it gave
them new inspiration and determ ination to carry on
the task as planned. Thus they proceeded to organize
the new Dem ocrat Party. In the meantime, there was
a com plete change of policy w hich gave them a better
chance of fu lfillin g th e ir goal. On November 1, 1945,
President inonu in the opening speech of the new
session of the Assembly recommended a number of
im portant changes w hich had direct bearing on the new
Democrat Party. He declared that a single, direct
-A h m e t Emin Yalman, "T h e Struggle for M ulti-Party

Government in T urke y," The M id d le East Journal, I (1947), 53.
3 Turkey in M y Tim e, p. 222.
^ Ibid.
s Ibid., p. 223.
KOPRULQ'S SOCIO -POLITICAL ISSUES 43
election, by secret ballot w ould take place instead of

the previous practice of two-stage elections by col
leges. Restrictions on the constitutional liberties of the
citizens, especially the laws relating to the press, as
sociations, and police powers were lifted. He made it
clear that Turkey was not a dictatoria l country. How
ever, it did lack an opposition party. Therefore, he
hinted that fo r those who differed in their convictions
from their colleagues m ight function openly as a party
instead of w orking as a clique or fa ctio n .0 Thus, the
Democrat Party was o ffic ia lly registered in Ankara on
January 7, 1946, w ith the four original members as
founders of the new born party, fo r the firs t tim e in
the history of modern Turkey.7
The drive against the ruling order was eventually

organized and led by the Democrat Party w ith the support
of many intellectuals, including m ilita ry men from the
lower urban classes. This broad base of support brought
the Democrat Party to power through elections in 1950.8
The traces of Turkish Democracy go back to

the Tanzimat years. Thus,
... its development was accelerated in the periods of

the First and Second Constitutions. The First Grand
National Assembly that created the New Turkey estab
lished sounder foundations for democracy. The 1950
election gave rise to the brightest period of democracy
in Turkey yet known.9
6 The Emergence o f Modern Turkey, p. 306.

7 Turkey in M y Tim e, p. 223.
8 Kemal H. Karpat, ed., Political and Social Thought in the
Contemporary M id dle East (New York: Frederick A. Praeger,
1968), p. 300.
0 "O nso z," in Demokrasi Yolunda, p. xv.
Koprulu who considered him self as a second gener

ation Tanzimat expressed his views on the issue of
Turkish democracy on September 5, 1945, in Vatan
newspaper. He considered the firs t constitution of the
Republic as:
... a very glorious and sincere manifestation of the

dem ocratic sp irit in the fie ld o f p olitical law. W ith this
law, national sovereignty was secured in so broad a form
as to arouse the envy of many o f the democracies of the
old ana new w orlds. It is unfortunate that this situation
did not last! This atmosphere o f democracy slow ly
disappeared, fo r a variety of reasons ... no trace of
freedom of thought, freedom o f criticism , or freedom of
the press remained. Because the Constitution remained
a barren form , the arena was gradually captured by certain
restricting and constricting laws completely contrary to
the original spirit. Certain laws such as the new Press
Law, the new Law o f Association, the new Police Law,
and sim ilar laws liquidated p olitical freedom . In thift
situation it was not possible fo r a single-party Assembly
properly to exercise its duty of control, and the sp irit
of democracy was thoroughly injured.10
Koprulu's idea of a positive result for a Turkish

democracy revolved around the "re v o lu tio n in ideas
and mode of th o u g h t.''11 W ith o u t any reservation and
pretension he published his vie w in Son Saat newspa
per on A pril 1, 1947, in these words:
As everything else, in the intensity of revolution it

is easy to destroy and d iffic u lt to construct. We must
adm it that the government of the Republic has been
successful in liquidating the old values, but it has not
shown the same strength from the view point of construc
tion. The fact that the intellectual and political men of
111 "Dem okrasi D u? m a n la ri/ in Demokrasi Yolunda, p. 24.

11 "O lum unun 25. Yildonum unde Ziya Gokalp'a a it Bazi Ha-
tira la r," in Demokrasi Yolunda, p. 889
KOPRULU'S SOCIO -POLITICAL ISSUES 45
our country have had a very elementary and superficial

understanding of Western civilization and Western in s ti
tutions and have known almost nothing at all aoout our
national past has been the principal factor in this
matter.11
From the very beginning the Democrat Party

leaders objected to the idea of organizing political
parties on the basis of class. Their party was a party
of the rich and bourgeoisie. P articularly Koprulu stood
adamant on this ground. On September 30, 1947, he
expressed his view in Kudret that, the Democrat Party
recognized the existence of social classes and their
special interests and that they needed guidance. Other
wise their interests m ig h t co n tradict each other. There
fore, it was useful and necessary fo r various classes
in a modern society, to organize themselves for work
and activity in the form of professional associations
such as trade unions, and cooperatives. But to accept
the concept of the social classes having irreconcilable
interests and having to struggle w ith each other was
wrong. He considered such attitudes as outdated and
baseless. Furthermore, he emphasized that the Demo
crat Party was not a class party producing co n flicts of
interests among the social classes, but it was a 'na
tional union' com prising all those citizens who believed
in the principle of unity.13
Koprulu said that in his tim e the Republic of

Turkey's p olitica l and social reform s were caused by
two main principles, viz. modernism and nationalism .
These tw o points were w ell taken by the Turkish in
12 "M u hta p oldugumuz Asil inkilap Fikir ve Ahlak inkilS b i!"

in Demokrasi Yolunda, p. 229.
la i$ file rim iz i Dusunmek Ba$lica V azifem izdir,'' in Demok
rasi Yolunda, pp. 560-563.
telligentsia as w ell as by the ordinary citizens. That

was how the Turkish intelligentsia thought and worked,
based on these two principles. W ith o u t them Turkey
could not reach up to the levels of other W estern
countries. Koprulu's concept of m odernism was the
bringing up of Turkey's standard to the level of Euro
pean civiliza tio n . He fe lt that Turkey's p o litica l, eco
nom ic and social institutions should not be diffe re n t
from those of European institutions. A t the same tim e
he pointed out the odds against such am bitious th in k
ing. Furthermore, he stated that theoretically, th in k
ing, w orking, and living conditions in Turkey and other
European countries were not m uch different. How
ever, from a realistic point of view there was no pos
sible comparison between Turkey and Europe. Unless
Turks changed their m entality and attitude towards
work, and broke away from the medieval outlook, it
m ight take them half a century to reach the European
standard of living. In the meantime he cautioned the
people that changing to the European mode of dress
did not mean that they were becoming Europeans. A t
any rate, this did indicate a closer step towards w est
ernization.14
Koprulu did not show any m ercy in criticizing the

ruling party m inisters. As a member of Parliament he
had every rig h t to do so and he made fu ll use of the
opportunity fo r the benefit of the nation. He wrote
another article on August 1, 1947, in Kuvvet newspa
per on this issue, stating that the m inisters exercised
too much power w ith selfish motives. They considered
themselves as experts and did not hesitate to organize
all sorts of com m ittees w ith hand-picked members who
14 "A s rilik ve M illiy e tp e rv e rlik ," in K d p riilii'n iin Edebi ve

Fikri M akalelerinden Secjmeler, pp. 72-75.
K oPR O LU 'S SOCIO-P OLITICAL ISSUES 47
w ould not object to their whim s. Such corruption and

mode of thought were the stum bling blocks to the road
of democracy in Turkey. He, therefore, stressed that
it was a "national duty fo r all p a rtio tic Turks to work
together on the road of this intellectual and moral rev
olution. " Ir
One of the im portant issues that was of great

concern to Koprulu and other p a trio tic national leaders
was the village question. His ever ready sword-pen,
was again busy w ritin g articles on this issue to draw
the attention of the governm ent and the public in gen
eral. On A p ril 4, 1947, he published an article on
this matter in Kuvvet newspaper. He said that the
Turkish villager, who is no less p a trio tic and politically'
mature than the city man, presents an in telligent, na
tio n a lly unified point of vie w in matters pertaining to
the benefit of the country. However, he com plains
because of the incapacity, im potence, and bad admin-
.'stration of the party in power and especially because
of its insistence on w ith holding his rights and his
liberties.10
Because of the favourable atmosphere created by

the new Democrat Party, new offshots, iike the Young
Democrat Party and other sim ilar parties sprang up
throughout the country. Such groups were a trem en
dous asset during the elections of 1950 when the
Democrat Party won w ith sweeping victory.
The period from 1950 to 1954 gave promise for

the future of democracy in Turkey. There was complete
in ''Gerceklestirm ek Zorunda Oldugumuz Zihniyet in k ila b i,"

in Demokrasi Yolunda, p. 456.
10 ' 'Partiler ve M illi B irlik ," in Demokrasi Yolunda, p. 306.
48 M E H M E T FUA T K o PROLU
freedom of the press, and political parties operated

effectively and free of restrictions. During this tim e there
were few m ajor political issues. In the international field,
Turkey had participated effectively in the Korean War
and had joined N.A.T.O. however the D.P. program, which
emphasized an accelerated economic development pro
gram, had no w ell form ulated plans and therefore serious
inflation and balance of payments problems developed
after 1954.17
Mehm et Fuat Koprulu became the M inister of

Foreign A ffa irs on May 22, 1950. On February 24,
1951, he said in the General Assembly that Turkish
involvem ent in the Korean war showed her unity w ith
the free nations and better diplom atic relationship w ith
the A tla n tic Pact and it embraced the East M editer
ranean.18 Again on November 15, 1951, w h ile attend
ing a United Nations conference in Paris he said,
"T u rke y is in a state of firm relations w ith the United
N a tio n s."19
Like most of the p o litica l parties, the Democrat

Party also w ent o ff the main track w ith in a few years.
The party departed from "m a n y of the concepts which
had been established as he had form ulated th e m ."20
Under such circum stances, as a genuine dem ocrat he
had no choice but to resign from the cabinet in 1957.
Koprulu fe lt that most of the W estern historians

had a negative approach towards Turkish history. Many
of them w rote w ith prejudice in the back of their
17 Firouz Bahrampour, Turkey. P olitical and Social Transfor

mation (Brooklyn, N.Y.: Theo. Gaus' Sons, Inc., 1967), p. 21-22.
18 Gotthard Jaschke, Die T iirke i in den Jahren 1942-1951
(Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1955), p. 139.
19 Ibid., p. 1 56.
20 "O nso z," in Demokrasi Yolunda, p. xviii.
KoPROLCl'S SOCIO -P OLITICAL ISSUES 49
m inds. They considered that th.e Turks had no orga

nized civilization but lived like nomads. Furthermore,
they thought that the m ilita ry, p o litica l and civil or
ganizations were borrowed from other countries. There
fore, Koprulu, tried to defend such unjustified ideas
by pointing out that, if a ju ris t or an historian were
to make a scie n tific research he w ould soon discover
that Turkey had her own culture and civiliza tio n even
before the emergence of Islam.21 Such unfair historical
w ritin g s inspired Koprulu to encourage the young
Turks to get interested in literary history. This was
even more s ig n ifica n t in his later life after he had
le ft the fie ld of politics. In fact, one of the last advices
given to the young Turks was, if they wanted to build
up a literary history, then each one of them must con
tribute m aterials towards the construction of a Turkish
national history. Throughout the centuries, the Turkish
nation had b u ilt up her ideology and inspiration
through diffe re n t stages of national unity. This proved
that future generations could aim for the same national
unity as their final target.22 As fate w ould have it, this
turned out to be one of his last w ritin gs before the
autom obile accident w hich led to his death.
21 F. Koprulu, "O rta Zaman Turk Hukuki M uesseseieri,

Belleten, II (19 38 ), 42.
-- F. Koprulu, M akaleier K iillu ya ti - I (Ankara: Turk Tarih
Kurumu Basimevi, 1966), p. 5.
CHAPTER V
SUM M ARY AND CONCLUDING REMARKS
This book m ostly covers one side only of Meh-

met Fuat Koprulu's w ork and personality, and therefore
his image has been projected only from one angle.
Having worked w ith him as a member of his 'branch'
party, and now m aking his cultural reform s the topic
of my research, I hope I have presented Koprulu's per
sonality in a clear perspective. A study of Koprulu's
cultural reform s w ill be incom plete w ith o u t getting
into the history of the Turkish revolution and the works
of A taturk. The very fa ct that Koprulu was a p a rti
cipant in the revolutionary m ovem ent makes it d iffic u lt
to single him out w ith o u t considering at the same tim e
the other actors of the movement. Therefore, in every
chapter reference is made to some crucial historical
events and A taturk's works are m entioned frequently.
In many respects Koprulu was a perfectionist. As

already m entioned earlier, he resigned from the cabinet
because of his conviction in his beliefs and the fa ct
that his colleagues did not fo llo w his idea of dem o
cracy. A t the same tim e he was more of a social and
cultural reform er than a p o liticia n . He was a learned
scholar through and through, and that tra it dom inated
his career. Thus, his p o litica l contributions may be
S U M M A R Y A ND CONCLUDING REMARKS 51
considered as his secondary achievement.
Sometimes Koprulu gave the im pression of having

possessed a dual ideology. Many of his statements
reflected his inclination towards m odernization and
secularization, but at the same tim e certain elements
of conservatism were indicated. The issue of adopting
the Latin script in lieu of the Arabic script brings out
this element very clearly. In the beginning stages of
the alphabet m ovem ent Koprulu objected and con
demned the whole project as a w orship of form . He
even refused the chairm anship of the Latin alphabet
organizing com m ittee w hich came from the top party
leader under the order of Ataturk, on the ground that
he did not believe in the necessity of changing the
existing alphabet into the Latin script. Yet, ten years
later he expressed him self in another tone on the same
issue. This tim e he welcom ed the whole idea w ith
open arms and lavish praises. Thus, on September
1938, in U lkti he wrote that the Arab alphabet " d id
not suit the structure of the Turkish language, could
not express the Turkish sounds. This incom plete and
prim itive alphabet, oppressed our [T u rkish ] language
for nine hundred y e a rs ."1
From the tim e he became a founder of the Dem

ocrat Party, he gained more respect and adm iration
from young Turks. Thus, the young people organized
an off-shoot party known as the Young Democrat
Party. So often he reminded the young that Turkey
was rich in history and that they must be proud of
their rich heritage. In the beginning the young adm ired
i Kemal H. Karpat, Turkey Politics the Transition to M ulti-

Party System (Princeton: Princeton U niversity Press, 1959),
p. 59.
him because of his ideology, but gradually things began

to change. W hat bothered them was his in a b ility to
lead them to the way of democracy, fig h tin g against
the odds as Ataturk did some tw enty years earlier in
his action of cultural revolution and W esternization.
A t that tim e the young did not realize the reasons for
Koprulu's actions. His ideology was to trust the po
litical intelligence and common sense of the people.
But to his dism ay his colleagues' behaviour and a tti
tude were far from ideal. In the meantime, a r ift was
beginning to form between Koprulu and his colleagues,
and that disturbed the members of the Young Democrat
Party, who began to feel discouraged and confused.
In 1960, the m ilita ry Junta took over the regime and
the Democrat Party lost power.
Koprulu declared him self a fo llo w e r of Ziya

Gokalp. Both of them believed in m odernizing and
westernizing Turkey. However, there is a noticeable
difference in their attitude and approach towards this
goal. Gokalp believed in the partial adoption of Euro
pean civilization. He accepted the m aterial aspects of
this civiliza tio n such as natural sciences and technical
processes but he rejected the spiritual aspects of it.
On the other hand, Koprulu had a positive approach
towards this goal. He believed in the assim ilated de
velopm ent of a unique national culture. At the same
tim e, he did not believe in harm onizing the principles
of democracy and theocracy because such a com bi
nation led to national and cultural crisis.
On the educational reform issue, Koprulu was

always seen on the fore-front. He became deeply in
volved in this m atter from the very beginning of the
m odernization and westernization movement. The im
SU M M A R Y AND CONCLUDING REMARKS 53
portant factors concerning the educational reform

program were the questions o f' language and script,
schools and universities in general, theological
schools, and foreign schools. In fact, these last two
kinds of schools drew w ider attention than the rest.
His true s p irit as an educator was w ell projected in
every sphere of his career. He constantly reminded the
government and the national leaders of the importance
and value of sound educational institutions as an es
sential foundation fo r the future generations of Turkey.
Koprulu's attitude towards religious reform s was

m ostly based on his philosophy of free thinking and
free criticism . He believed in fig h tin g against fanat
icism which w ould endanger society. His understanding
of the reform of w orship was inspired by the freedom
of worship in the true sense. A ccording to him, in
the past centuries Ulema could attack new ideology,
but after the religious revolution th e ir place had been
taken over by p o litica l fanatics. That was how pol
iticians made all sorts of promises to restore1religious
activities as a means of obtaining electoral votes. Such
promises were fu lfille d in certain areas after 1950,
in the form of observing religious holidays, Arabic
Qur'an recitals on radios, construction of new mosques
and renovation of old ones.
His involvem ent in socio-p olitical issues indicated

his sp irit of democracy. He believed in a modern soci
ety where various classes of people could live together
in harmony in spite of their differences in social status.
He stated that Turkey needed national unity and pol
itica l understanding. His concept of 'modernization
was to bring peace and solida rity, and a better stan
dard of living fo r the masses instead of co n flict. The
fear of losing the national cultural values and identity

seemed to have been one of his inner forces behind
his visions of social and politica l reform s in Turkey.
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Bahrampour, Firouz. Turkey: Political and Social Transform ation.
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Barthold, W. islam M edeniyeti Tarihi. Translated by Mehmet
F. Koprulu. ikinci Basim. Ankara: Turk Tarihi Kurumu
Basimevi, 1963.
Berkes, Niyazi. The Development o f Secularism in Turkey.
Montreal: M cG ill U niversity Press, 1964.
--------------- . "Z iya Gokalp: His contribution to Turkish Nation
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390.
--------------- . and Reed, Howard A. " A Turkish Account of Orien
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Deny, J. "La Khoutbe en Language T urque," Actes Du Congrfes
International d 'H isto ire des Religions, II (19 26 ), 452-
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Evrenol, H. Mali?. Revolutionary Turkey. Ankara: Librairie Hac-
hette, 1936.
Ghosh, Ramesh Chandra. C onstitutional Documents o f the M ajor
Islamic States. Lahore: Muhammed Ashraf, 1947.
Heyd, Uriel. Foundations o f Turkish N ationalism . The Life and
Teachings o f Z iya Gokalp. London: Luzac & Company
Ltd., and The H arvill Press Ltd., 1950.
--------------- . Language Reform in Modern Turkey. Jerusalem:
Hadassah Apprentice School of Printing, 1954.
Jaschke, Gotthard. "D e r Islam in der Neuen T u rke i," Die W elt
des Islams, I (19 51 ), 1-174.
--------------- . Die Tiirkeii in den Jahren 1942-1951. Wiesbaden:
Otto Harrassowitz, 1955.
Karpat, Kemal H. Political and Social Thought in the Contem
porary M id dle East. New York: Frederick A. Praeger,
1968.
56 BIBLIOGRAPHY
--------------- . Turkey's P olitics: The Transition to a M ulti-Party

System. Princeton: Princeton U niversity Press, 1959.
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paedia o f Islam. Vol. IV. Part. I.
--------------- . "S ha iyad . The Encyclopaedia o f Islam. Vol. IV.
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--------------- . "O ttom an Turkish Literature." "T h e Encyclopaedia
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--------------- . "TifIT, Ahmet Celebi. "T h e Encyclopaedia o f Islam.
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--------------- . "T irm id h i, Saiyid Burhan A l-D in ." "T he Encyclo
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--------------- . "Babur, Zahir Al-D in M uham m ad." The Encyclo
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---------------. "B A D J ." The Encyclopaedia o f Islam. New Ed.
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---------------. Turk Edebiyati'nda ilk M utasavviflar, ikinci Basim.
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ve Fikri M akalelerinden Sepmeler. See under Orhan
F. Koprulu, pp. 72-75.
---------------. "Butipe Miizakerelerinin Gosterdigi Manzara, in
Demokrasi Yolunda. See under T. Halasi Kun. pp.
716-718.
---------------. "Dem okrasi D usm anlari," in Demokrasi Yolunda.
See under T. Halasi Kun. pp. 24-28.
:----------. "Demokrasi Ruhu," in Demokrasi Yolunda. See
under T. Halasi Kun. pp. 20-24.
------ -------- . " D il M eselesi," in Demokrasi Yolunda. See under
T. Halasi Kun. pp. 28-33.
------:----- . "Dunya B irligine D ogru," in Demokrasi Yolunda.
---------------, "G ergekle?tirm ek Zorunda Oldugumuz Zihniyet in
k ila b i," in Demokrasi Yolunda. See under T. Halasi
Kun. pp. 453-457.
-------------- . " ilk Ogretim M eselesi," in Demokrasi Yolunda. See
under T, Halasi Kun. pp. 770-772.
BIBLIOGRAPHY 57
--------------- . "i$ c ile rim izi Diisunmek Ba?lica V a zifem izdir," in

Demokrasi Yolunda. See under T. Halasi Kun. pp.
560-563.
. Makaleier K iilliiy a ti I. Ankara: Turk Tarihi Kurunnu
Basimevi, 1966.
--------------- . " M illi Lisan ve E hem m iyeti," in K opriilu'niin Edebi
ve Fikri M akalelerinden Secmeler. See under Orhan
F. Koprulu, pp. 76-81.
. "M uhtac Oldugumuz Asil inkilap Fikri ve Ahlak in-
k ila b i," in Demokrasi Yolunda. See under T. Halasi
Kun. pp. 297-300.
--------------- . "O lum unun 25. Yildonum unde Ziya Gokalp'a ait
Bazi H atirala r," in Demokrasi Yolunda. See under T.
Halasi Kun. pp. 887-890.
. " M illi M aarif Sistem im izi Yeni Ba?tan Kurmak Zo-
rundayiz," in Demokrasi Yolunda. See under T. Ha
lasi Kun. pp. 718-721.
--------------- . "O nso z," in Demokrasi Yolunda. See under T. Halasi
Kun. pp. x iii - xxii.
--------------- . "O n so z," in K o priilu 'n iin Edebi ve Fikri Makalele
rinden Sepmeler. See under Orhan F. Koprulu. pp.
i - xi.
. "P a rtile r ve M illi B irlik ," in Demokrasi Yolunda. See
under T. Halasi Kun. pp. 303-306.
--------------- . "U niversiteye M uh tariyet," in Demokrasi Yolunda.
--------------- . "O rta Zaman Turk Hukuk M uesseseleri," Belleten,
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--------------- . "T urklerde M u s ik i," Belleten, II (1938), 140-163.
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Sepmeler. Istanbul: Mill? Egitim Basimevi, 1972.
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Athens: School of Religion, 1932.
--------------- . The Turkish Press 1932-1936. Beirut: Printed at
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Parker, John., and Smith, Charles. Modern Turkey. London:
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Price, M. Philips. A H istory o f Turkey From Empire to Republic.

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INDEX
A Coined 30
Columbia U niversity 33
Akseki, Ahmet H. 18
Conservative 25
Albanian, M uslim s 22 Conversion 8, 34
Am erican School 10, 34
C onstitutional Law 29
Ankara v, vii, 3, 4, 39, 43.
Culture 16
Ankara Conservatory Music 17
Cultural Crisis 34
Arab Alphabet 51
Cultural reformer 50
Arabic 17, 18, 19, 23, 26, 53
Ataturk, Mustafa Kemal v ii, D
13, 16, 24, 26, 28, 41. 50,
51 Democracy ix, 4, 31, 52
Ayasofya 1 Democrat Party v, v ii, 4, 5, 42,
43, 45. 47, 51
B Demographic 14
Baku 23 Department of Religious
Baltacioglu, ismail Hakki 15, A ffairs 17
' 16 Despotism ix
Bayar, Celal 3 Dewey, John 33
Becque, Henri 2 dialects 25, 26
Bon, Gustave le 2 dialectology 21
Bourgeoisie 45 Dil Devrimi 24
Branch 50 Dil inkilabi 24
Bursa 34 D irector of Religious A ffairs
17, 18, 19
C
Dolmabahce 29
Calamities 32
Cemal ed-din 19 E
China v iii
C hristianity 22, 34 Educational Commission 39
C ivilization ix, 10, 11, 12, 46, Egypt viii
49 Eliminators 26
60
Emre, Cevat 23 i
Encyclopaedia of islam 3, 36
Europe 11 idee-force 8
European Institutions 46 ideology 51
Exegesis 18 imam 19
inonii 42
F Institute of Turcology i
Faculty of Theology 36. 37 intelligentsia v iii, 46
Fanaticism 53 Iran v iii
Fatih mosque 17 irrational 7
Fine arts 33 islam 13, 14
First Grand National Assembly islam T etkikleri Enstitusi'i 39
43 Islamic 9, 14, 22
Freedom of C riticism 44 Islamists v iii, 8, 9
Freedom of Press 44 islim ye, Hatice Hamm 1
Freedom of thought 44 istanbul 1, 17, 19
French Lycees 33 Italian Fascism 32
Fouillet, A lfre d 8
J
G
Germany 3 Jurisprudence 14
God v iii, ix
Gokalp, Ziya vi, vii, 6, 7, 8, 9, K
12, 25, 26, 52
Greek ix Kemal, Namik 8
Gregorian Calendar 18 Koraltan, Hefik 3, 42
Gulhane Hatti-Humayun vi Koranic 17
Korean W ar 48
H
Koprulu, Faiz Bey 1
Hadith 16, 19 Koprulu, Mehmet Fuat v, vi,
Hafiz Sadettin 19 v ii, v iii, ix, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8,
haram 9 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17,
Harvard 5, 6 19, 20, 22, 23, 2.4, 26, 27,
Hatib 19 29, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36, 38.
Hayat 8, 34 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45, 46,
Hungarian O rientalist Research 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53
and Science Society 5 Kudret 45
Hutbe 16, 18 Kuvvet 46
61
L M ur?id 7
m ystical 15
Latin alphabet 51
Latin script 11, 22, 23, 24 N
Language Reform 24, 30
national script 24
Language revolution 24
nationalism 45
Law of Association 44
neo-islamic 13
Leiden 3
new script 30
Libraries 36
North A tla n tic Treaty Organi
Linguists 27
zation 4, 48
Linguistic Congress 17
Linguistics Maps 27 0
Liturgy 18
Oppression ix
Logic 11
Orthodox caliphs 18
London School of Oriental and
Orthography 25
African Studies 5
Ottoman alphabet 11
M Ottoman Empire v, 2, 22
made-up 26, 30' P

Menderes, Adnan 3, 42 Paris 48
Mesopotamia v iii Party of Union and Progress 7
Mevlud 20 Persian 26
microbes 16 Phonetics 27
M illiy e t 16 point-blank 32
M inister of Foreign A ffairs 4, Police Law 44
48 political reforms 54
M inistry-of-Education 15, 17, Prayer 16, 17, 18
21, 32, 37, 38, 39 Pre-islam ic 6, 8
M ode of thought 47 President 41
M odernism 45 Press Law 44
M odernization 25, 51, 52 Prophet 18
Moral 33
Q
Mosque 16, 17
M uftis 14, 19 Qur'an 13, 16, 18, 19, 38, 53
M ulti-Party 4, 32
R
Music 20, 21
M uslim v iii Ramazan 19
muezzins 17 rational 7, 14
62
Republican People's Party 42 Theological School 19, 24, 36

revolution 4, 7, 12, 44 Turcology 6
ritual 14 Turkey v, vi, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
11, 12., 14, 22, 25, 28, 30,
S
33, 41, 43, 46, 47, 48
San Francisco Charter 42 Turkish 26, 48
Sati 30 Turkish dialectology 27
School Reform 30 Turkish dictionary 27
Second W orld War 41 Turkish H istorical Society 2,
Secularization 23, 51 28
Sermons 18, 19 Turkish Grand National As
Shari'a vi sembly 42
Sheriat 7 Turkish H istorical Research
Show-off 31 Society 17
Single party 44 Turkish Language 25, 28, 29,
Social Institutions 46 51
Social reformer 50, 54 Turkish Linguistic Society
Sociology 6 Congress 29
Sociologist 34 Turkish Liturgy 18
Son Saat 44 Turkish nation 49
Sorbonne University 2, 5. Turk Dil Kurumu 28
Souls 20 Turk Halk Edebiyati Ansiklo-
Soviet Science Academy 5 pedisi 37
Soviet Union 22 Turk Hukuk ve iktisad Tarihi
Statesman 6 37
Sultan 1 Turkiyat Mecmuasi 37
Sultan Mahmut 4
U
Sunnite 14
Superficial observation 34 United Nations 41, 48
Suleymamye-Cami-i 19 University Heidelberg 5
University of istanbul vi, v ii,
T
2, 3, 15, 17, 24, 38, 39
Tanzimat 8, 9, 43, 44 University of Karachi 5
Tekbir 17 utopianism 8
term inology 25
U
text book 32
theocracy 52 Ummet 7, 10
theology 19 ulkii 51
63
W orship. 15, 16, 21, 51, 53
Vacib 9 Y
Vatan 34, 42, 44
Yassi Ada 4
Young Democrat v, v ii, 47, 51,
52
W esternists 8 Young Turks 49
Westernization 23
Z
W ittek, P. viii
W orld W ar 3 Zuhdi ahlak 9

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Ali Galip Erdican - Mehmet Fuat Köprülü A Study of His Contribution To Cultural Reform in Modern Turkey

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MEHMET FUAT KOPRULU

A STUDY OF HIS CONTRIBUTION

I owe a personal debt of gratitute to my w ife for

I dedicate this book to my w ife and my parents.

C opyright 1974 by author. A ll rig h ts reserved.

A. H is P o litic a l Career ................................................ 3

II. KOPRULU'S RELIGIOUS REFORM ................................ 13

III. KOPRULU'S E D U C A TIO N A L REFORM ..................... 22

V. S U M M A R Y AND CO N CLU DING REMARKS .......... 50

On April 23, 1953, I had the rare privilege of

A study of Islamic progress throughout history

The new ideas they were anxious to adopt were

Another important statement he made was:

Following in the footsteps of Gokalp, Koprulu

The modern Turkish people are greatly indebted

In spite of the heavy pressure from the conser

The unique characteristic of the Westernization

9 Osman Turan, ed., Fuad Koprulu Armagam; 60. dogum

A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF KoPRULU

Mehrnet Fuat Koprulu was born on December 4,

He received his early education in Istanbul, where

He seems to have started his literary career at an

1 Koprulu'nun Edebi ve Fikri Makalelerinden Segmeler,

books as well as translations from French. Some of

Between 1910-1913 he was a high school teacher

In 1935 Fuat Koprulu went to Paris and lectured

In 1928, he became the head of the Theological

4 Kopriilii'niin Edebi ve Fikri Makaielerinden Seomeler,

that time. A few years later, in 1931, he became the

A. His Political Career

In 1933, Koprulu turned to politics and became

When the Turkish government wanted to declare

After the Second W orld War, a week before the

Legislative Assembly, six months later it was passed.

In 1950, when the Democrat Party won the elec

After the 1960 "r e v o lu tio n " he was arrested and

B. His Literary Career

Mehmet Fuat Koprulu was a very intelligent and

1,2 A hm ed Emin Y alm an, Turkey In M y Tim e (O klahom a:

methodical person. In a relatively short period, he

In 1925 the Soviet Science Academy made him

Of the seventy-six years of his life, he spent sixty-

poetry totalling about 1500 titles.30 Most of his works

C. Ziya Gokalp's Impact on Koprulu

Ziya Gokalp was one of the leading Turkish so

In contrast to the pictures painted by his critics

A fe w years a fte r the c o n s titu tio n a l re v o lu tio n Gokaip

He also realized that in order to bring this change,

A fte r the revo lu tio n the conservatives am ong them

21 Niyazi Berkes, "Z iy a Gokalp: H is C o n trib u tio n to T urkish

ro m a n tic ideal o f racial or e th n ic u n ity o f the T urks and

Gokalp neither accepted the above statements

Therefore, the individual and his reason cannot

Fuat Koprulu's article "Conversion to Christianity

facing the new Turkey. He said:

I have the idea th a t T u rkish so cie ty today is passing

According to this idea, the Islamist-Westernist contro

37 The Turkish Press, 1 S 2 5 -1 9 3 2 , pp. 67-68.

such morality was not permanent, it would last only

In reality, the main cause of upheaval in Turkish

Koprulu stated that in the process of W esterni

ready to tackle such a tremendous challenge. Once