As it must be disclaimed, the book ‘A revolutionary Approach to The Religion Problem’ is in its undeveloped, primitive form as self-criticized by the Peoples Leader, himself. These writings are not completely representative of the current stand of the PKK regarding the revolutionary approach to religion. There have been many developments released as part of defense writings ever since, due to constraints. Overall, the writings should be taken with a pinch of salt, as we continue to translate and analyze the topic.
Now, we will evaluate the relationship between Turkishness and Islam in the aspect of today. As is known, from the 17th century and the start of the 18th, capitalism awakened society; with the French Revolution, bourgeois developments are spread to the whole of Europe.
For this reason, the process of the decline of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, which started before, accelerated in this century and entered a period of a complete decline. It first entered a period of pause and then a period of decline.
At this stage, the West now has an obvious advantage. The influence of the West on the East in general, and on the Ottoman Empire in particular, increases. Therefore, the Ottoman empire loses its former opportunities for exploitation and accumulation of power. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly conservative. Particularly, the pressure on Anatolia, Kurdistan, Arabia, and the Armenian people is becoming layered. They want to collect more taxes, recruit more warriors. These are only possible with relentless oppression.
The process of submission to the West is also developing. Now Turkishness and Turkish sovereignty begin to develop within the Ottomans. From the sultans to all their bureaucrats, most of them are of Christian origin, and they have a false Islamization. Among them, fake viziers like Sokullu emerge. Their successors, especially in the 19th century, and the empire were rather weak. The Balkan peoples, the Christian peoples, quickly turned to national awakening under the influence of capitalism, albeit in an ideological framework based on religious foundations, ie churches.
In this sense, both national and religious orientations are actually new, because their national churches are also fighting against Ottoman Islamism. Their emergence is national. At the same time, the consciousness of nationalism was awakened by the influence of the West. They are also fighting against this.
In the Balkans, this empire is extremely weak, then ineffective and eventually liquidated. In this case, if the empire is partly influential on the peoples of the East, the peoples of Islam, it is because of Islam itself. In particular, the Ottoman Empire played a major role in the late adoption of these peoples from the influence of capitalism. The Turkish sovereign coming under the Western influence only strengthens in the 19th century. From the middle of the century began to semi-colonialization. Borrowing is an important factor in this.
Instead of education according to Islamic principles, education starts according to Western principles. Duality has started in education. The East-West conflict has started.
The subservience to the West is developed in the Empire, Sultanate, and bureaucrats. There is a compradorization (mediator of commercial affairs between the peoples who used to be prohibited from all kinds of relations with foreigners and colonial countries). Minorities have been significantly compradorized. This process will reveal differences in the Turkish approach to Islam, especially in the approach to Turkish sovereignty. This leads to the clash of secularists and naturist Islamists which picks up speed in the mid-century.
The JON Turks emerge. They attempt to reconcile Islam with the West: they cannot afford a serious Islamic reform. Islam is something that doesn’t have reform and reformism, there is no need. Although the West says you can start reforms today, the truth of Islam is different. The interests of the Turkish sovereigns are now aligned with the Western colonialist states, the capitalist states, and in particular with the British and the French. They are afraid of Russian tsarism.
They are afraid of the national uprising of the peoples. Russian Tsarism is a bit like this, it provokes peoples of Slavic origin and peoples of Christian origin. This danger leads the Ottoman state to seek refuge in Westerners.
In the 1820s, as in the rebellion of Mehmet Ali in Egypt, the rebellion of the eastern peoples began. There are riots from wall to wall throughout Kurdistan. When faced with such revolts in the east, the empire almost surrenders to the West. It’s been based on the British for a long time.
By the end of the 19th century, Germany was born as a fresh power and the empire was based on German imperialism. Turkishness, Turkish sovereigns are now becoming the instrument of capitalist-imperialist states.
From the earlier, reactionary, conservative and false representation of Islam, this time turns to the most conservative representation of Western ideology- which they call positivism- that pushes Islam to the second plan. Those who do not take into account the imperialist characteristics, who accept surrender until the end, who see all their economic, political and national interests in surrendering to the West, tend to be the most conservative representatives of Western ideologies.
The Jonturk ideology represents a stage in concretizing the effects of Westernization. It also implies submission to the West, alienation from Eastern societies, seeing their interests in capitalist colonial states, enduring them, taking advantage of the relationships and contradictions between them, and thus attempting to prolong their lives. Being the most conservative representation of the feudal civilization century, completely reactionary, dogmatic, conservative, false Islamic features; the Ottoman Empire had now come under the influence of the Western imperialism. The empire was now taking a non-progressive conservative ideology aiming to create a Turkish nationalism. This is one of the most dangerous forms of nationalism, the progressive aspect is very small.
This ideological-political structure does not accept the form of imperialism, it is also disconnected from the Eastern reality and reacts against it. Adding freemasonry to this, they further developed the wealth in the Ottoman Empire, which was important to the Jews, in capitalism. These are especially important for lenders who hold capital. They are effective in linking the empire to the West, declining from Islam, and deciding the most reactionary nationalism. All this leads to the formation of Turkish nationalism in a reactionary and very distorted manner, and to a significant extent to the growth of the West and the Zionism-freemasonry that had to develop at that time.
This becomes further strengthened during the İttihat-ı Terakki movement, which becomes an official ideology in the formation of the Republic of Turkey. Mustafa Kemal opposes the Islamic framework that has ruled them for a thousand years and is secular to the end. To the end, he is the owner of a Western, conservative, extreme chauvinist, nationalist value judgments. This was the most chauvinistic Turkish nationalism.
The Turkish phrase, “One Turk is worth the whole World,” represents Turkism has been transformed into a religion like Judaism. An understanding of clanism superior to all other tribes was formed; Since it is formed on a weak basis, the philosophy of the whole world is hostile to Turkishness, which is also present in Judaism.
The understanding that Turkish is superior to all people stems from its weakness and this leads them to chauvinistic nationalism. Chauvinistic nationalism is the ideological dough of this nation, this nationalism shaped the Republic of Turkey an undemocratic loss from the start.
Ataturk views the Socialist Bolshevik Revolution as a bogeyman, but he still wants to keep himself alive as a highly distinguished tribe that has isolated itself from the world.
