NATIONALISM AND LIVING TOGETHER ACCORDING TO CEMIL MERIC

As a concept that has been influencing Islamic world since 19th century and forming ideological basis of Republic of Turkey, nationalism has become a style of thinking formed according to conditions specific to each society and has been interpreted in different ways in social sciences literature as per the meaning given to the concept of nation. According to Cemil Meric who defines himself as a hermit worker of thought devoted his life to Turkish culture, affecting societies nearly as a religion, nationalism is a flexible notion embracing various tendencies from narrow and reactionary chauvinism to progressive and liberal orientation open to universality and responsible for the fights in our day. The international physical borders have lost their meaning the globalization process and the rapid development of communication technologies, and have led to anticipation that the nationalist movements that peaked in the nineteenth century will lose their power and influence in society. Although some of the predictions of globalization theorists have been realized, it seems that these expectations have been wasted when it comes to nationalism, and it is seen that in all societies nationalism is regarded as a superior value and virtue. In this study, nationalism and nation-state thinking of Cemil Meric are aimed to be researched. In this respect, thoughts of Cemil Meric related to the ideology of nationalism which follows a course from Ottomanism to Pan-Islamism and from socialism to nationalism which can be accepted as intellectual progress phases in meditation world, all of his published works and his works written down after his death will be studied and tried to be understood. It is considered that analysis of the role of Nationalism Ideology from the perspective of Cemil Meric will contribute to our understanding about the process we live in and exploration of the codes of living together in the chaos and conflicts that we experience in local, regional and global level.