YENİ LİSAN, ESKİ TARZ: ZİYA GÖKALP’İN KOŞMA VE DESTANLARI

The movements for Turkism and purification in tongue (the ideology that aims at purifying the language from foreigner words), caused the emerging of the idea of creating a national literature in the end of nineteenth century. The movement of New Language is systematized and addressed by The Magazine of Young Pens. In the beginnings, this magazine had been published by Ali Canip Yontem and Omer Seyfettin. Afterwards, the workings for a new literature were accelerated by Ziya Gokalp once he became one of the co-editor of the magazine where the idea of Turkism was developed by the Young Pens on the grounds of the concepts such nationality and ethnicity. For, Folk literature that bears more national and ethic elements coincide in great extent with the movement of New Language. The pro-reform writers and poets of that period, they believed in requirements rescue and nationalization Turkish language from the influence of foreign elements. In this regard they interested in folk language (Istanbul Turkish). Ziya Gokalp drew attention to the relationship between the language, literature and identity. He interested in not only folk language but also literary data which was performed by folk for ages. In this study, “New Language” movement will be discussed around the epics and koshmas of Ziya Gokalp, these texts will be examined in terms of genres and forms and it will be discussed the contribution of Gokalp to “National Literature” in the context of “Turanism” and “Turkism”. Ziya Gokalp gives special attention to the epic also with the effect of being a sociologist, so that epic keeps the traces of national consciousness and cultural memory which is shared by folk as common ethnic, linguistic, and traditional background. Kızıl Elma which is one of Ziya Goklap’s book, it refers both a specific tradition and an ideology within the following titles Altın Destan, Ergenekon, Esnaf Destanı, Balkanlar Destanı, Kızıl Destan. The aforementioned tradition is epic saga tradition, and the ideology is Turan ideology. Koshma which is the most commonly used by the minstrel, has been an important transmission material for Ziya Gokalp to carry out his ideas. He wrote not only classic koshma text but also showing the mystical folk poetry feature ones. The following titles which are in Gokalp’s Kızıl Elma book, are affined to classic koshmas: “Kendine Doğru”, “Ötüken Ülkesi”, “Hayat Yolunda”, “Yeni Attila”, “Osman Gazi Kurultayda”, “Durma Vur”, “Şehit Haremi”, “Yeşil Boncuk”, “Altın Yurt”, “Akkurum” and “Meşhede Doğru” and the following ones are affined to hymns: “Tevhid”, “Türk’ün Tekbiri”, “İlahi”, “Asker Duası”. However he wrote some of his koshmas under the effect of mystical folk poetry in terms of content he exceeded the limits of traditional ones. Gokalp believed that both the folk literature and folk language is the most important dynamics of the establishment of “New Language”. He attached importance to folk’s original cultural material. So these thoughts are appear in his koshmas and epics which he wrote them by using folk language and literature. Ziya Gokalp was distinguished from other innovative poet because he used types and forms of traditional folk literature. Additionally he wrote all his poems with syllabic meter as in the tradition of folk poetry. The old Turkic legends, the mystical folk poetry, the composes of minstrels and the creations of anonymous folk literature, they were been the inspiration of Gokalp. Although Gokalp was in a movement which called "new" he preferred to use the old traditional creations of literature of folk. In other words he made the traditional ones actual.Gokalp used the ideology of “Turan” to give national stir to Ottoman society but he also expressed that the realistic ideology was “Turkeyism”. His poems were the most lush and powerful sound of “Turkism”. In this regard his poems also contributed to the “National Turk Literature” which he built on folk language and literature. Gokalp’s epics and koshmas which he tried to enrich and heroic and mystical elements deserve a versatile evaluate because they provide an ideal conceptual framework of the national consciousness and the “New Language” movement. It could be said that there was a social renewal in this period (the period of Tanzimat and “Millî Edebiyat”) language creates an identity and the identity creates a national consciousness with literary capital of folk, epic and traditional forms which belong to folk culture. It appears that Ziya Gokalp had undertaken an important mission in that renewal period with his works which were fed by folk literature and language.