Atilla ilhan as a Figure of the Turish Left

Abstract

Atilla ilhan, who is more widely known with his novels, poems and dissertations in Turkish Literature, has gained a place in leftist thought as a political character by means of his literary works. Ilhan's active participation within leftist thought/movement was quite short during the 1940's, through which reading leftist poets and writers was deemed as a guilt and he was declared as "leftist" by the state as he engaged in such an activity. By the effect of his French experience after his escape from the repressive regime, he tended towards Kemalism and placed it into the center of his thinking. Other significant determinant of his thought is dialectic methodology shaped by his experience in France. By means of this methodology, which is derived from the idea that all opposite ideas contain/supersede each other, ilhan believes that leftist thought would possibly be framed by Kemalism. In other words, he believes that Kemalism and leftist thought cover/supersede each other. With this thought in mind, he dedicates himself to combining society under the new and inclusive Kemalist idea. This is nothing but a new kind of Kemalist reading that addresses to all social segments including antiimperialist leftists, Islamists and nationalists without any socialist implication.