1923-1960 Arası Süreçte Türkiye’de Cumhuriyet - Muhafazakârlık Geriliminin Mekânsal Yüzü
Gencay SerterDevrimci ve modernist bir atılımla başlayan Cumhuriyet, kurulduğu andan itibaren muhafazakâr düşünce ile gerilimli bir ilişki içerisinde olmuştur. Türkiye’ye özgü koşullar içerisinde biçimlenen bu gerilim her iki düşünce sistematiğini farklı dönemlerde, o dönemin kendi özgün koşullarının dinamiğine göre biçimlendirmiştir. Cumhuriyet ve muhafazakârlık arasında süren mücadelede Cumhuriyetin kurulmasından, çok partili hayata geçişi içerisinde barındıran ve en kritik dönemlerden biri olarak belirginleşen 1923-1960 arası dönemin ilk yarısında (1923-1945) modernist dünya görüşünü hayata geçirmek için cumhuriyet, idari ve hukuki düzenlemelerin yanında, tüm bu atılımları gerçek anlamda gündelik yaşamda hâkim kılmak amacıyla mekânı devrimci bir tavırla şekillendirmiştir. 1945-1960 arası süreç ise cumhuriyet ideolojisi karşısında muhafazakâr ideolojinin güç kazanarak yeniden görünür hale gelmeye başladığı ve muhalefetini sürdürdüğü bir dönem olarak belirmiştir. Her iki dönem içerisinde de ideolojik açıdan mekân stratejik önemde olmuş ve her iki ideolojik kanadın birbirlerine karşı sürdürdükleri mücadelede etkin şekilde kullanılmıştır. Dolayısıyla günümüzde etkileri halen görülen cumhuriyet muhafazakârlık mücadelesinde, en kritik zaman aralığı olarak ortaya çıkan 1923-1960 arası dönem ideolojik ve pratik kırılmaların yaşandığı ve bunların mekân üzerinde izler bıraktığı bir dönem olmuştur. Bu kapsamda makalede, belirlenen zaman aralığı dâhilinde, muhafazakârlık-cumhuriyet mücadelesinin seyri ve bu mücadelede mekânın oynadığı stratejik rol analiz edilmeye çalışılmıştır.
Spatial Face of Struggle Between Republic-Conservatism in the Period of 1923-1960
Gencay SerterThe Republic, which was launched with a revolutionary and modernist initiative, has been in a tense relationship with the conservative thinking. This tension, formed under conditions peculiar to Turkey, has shaped both systems of thought in different periods with regard to the dynamics of the conditions peculiar to the period. During the struggle between republicanism and conservatism, at the first half of the period between 1923-1960, which includes the transition from establishment of the Republic to the multi-party system and comes to the fore as one of the most critical periods, in order to bring the modernist world view into action, beyond the administrative and legal regulations, the Republic shaped the space with a revolutionary attitude to make these initiatives dominant over the daily life. The duration between 1945-1960 has been a period which the conservative ideology became apparent again by gaining strength and continued its opposition. Space has been strategically important in ideological terms in both periods and it was actively used in the campaign of both ideological wings against each other. Accordingly, in the struggle between republicanism and conservatism, whose effects are still apparent, the 1923-1960 period, being the most critical time range, has been a period in which ideological and practical turning points occurred and left their traces on the space. In this context, the course of the struggle between conservatism and republicanism and the strategic role of the space in this struggle within the determined time period was tried to be analysed.
Conservatism is derived from Romanesque words “conservare” and “conservatismus” which means preserve as it is. The definition of conservatism involves; preserve, modest or prudent behaviour, traditional or conformist lifestyle, metathesiophobia or opposite of change but it is difficult to define conservatism as a political term. The main reason for this difficulty is that the definition is based upon the ideology which conservatism struggles with. The scope of conservatism is formed according to the opposing ideology, and its characteristics are different from fundamentalism. In this sense, the definition of conservatism varies depending upon the time and geography, according to the ideological pole which conservatism stands against. Moreover, in this scope, the relationship between conservatism and its counterpart is always dynamic and transitive. So, the definition and contents of conservatism, which appear in the historical scene of the French Revolution, changes according to the conditions of the time and the country where conservatism grows.
The relationship between conservatism and the Republic Revolution, created one of the most radical changes, involving contradictions and transitivities as well. 1923-1960 is the temporal border of this article. This period is one of the most significant chapters in Turkey’s history because the relationship between conservatism and the republic was critical. But in this article the spatial reflection of the relationship between conservatism and the Republic Revolution has been chosen as a problematic.
The dialectic between the ideology and the space has been considered in the intellectual environment since the 1970s with Lefebvre’s highlighted. In Lefebvre’s thought, the space was defined both as a stage and an element used by ideologies for dominating themselves in everyday life as a substructure. As he highlighted in the sentence “what is the meaning of ideology without space” all ideologies aim to reshape the space in order to make their practices dominant over daily life.
Within this context, the Republic emerged with a modernist and revolutionary scoop, but it has been struggling against conservative ideology since it was established. The period 1923-1960 was critical in the conflict between the republic and conservatism, which involved the period from the establishment of the republic to a multi-party system. In the first half of the period (1923-1945), the republic shaped the space in the revolutionary manner, using administrative and legal regulations to get a grip on daily life. The Republic put its spatial implementations into practice in a wide range, from city planning scale to green area design scale, especially in the capital city of Ankara. Changes on a national and international scale and the economic inability of the young Republic prevented modernist practices from spreading over a wide geographical area.
Conservatism became visible and continued its opposition by using rural areas from 1945-1960. This period started with the de-renouncement of CHP’s revolutionary attitude and was finalised with the selection of the Democrat Party. The Democrat Party, which defined itself as a democrat and conservative party, used space to make dominant it’s ideology on daily life like in the previous period. Moreover, another difference from the early period of the Republic, the Democrat Party chose a liberal model for the economy.
In addition to this, the Democrat Party used space as a field to accomplish the liberal model and at the same tıme conservatism to transform society.
As it can be seen, the period 1923-1960, was the most critical in the period of struggle between conservatism and the republic, which contains ideological and political clashes. In this article, the evolution of struggle between conservatism and the republic and the strategic role of the space in this struggle are analised for the period of 1923-1960.