A Breath of Philosophy: Reading the Homelanding of Philosophy in Anatolia through the Presidential Amblem

It is important to follow the Seljuk-Ottoman and Republic of Turkey cultural continuity in order to understand and update the Turkish Mind and the vision of Islam that developed outside the religious visions put forward by the Arab and Persian Minds in the Islamic world. We emphasize that this process started with the Seljuk Sultans Tuğrul Bey and Sultan Alparslan; that a different political paradigm was transferred with Osman, the founding sultan of the Ottoman Empire; that with Yavuz Sultan Selim, as a medium-sized state, the political and religious sovereignty in the Islamic world was gathered in one hand; that with Mehmet the Conqueror, it was declared to the whole world; and that with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, it is claimed to continue in the Republic of Turkey.  Those who have been following our writings know that we call this period the "believer period", that is, the period before Islam, the system brought by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), adopted religious teachings (Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, Mazdekism) and Shamanism cultural traditions that emerged from different presentations of the belief in the Sky / Root / One God.  It is appropriate to call the period after the Turks accepted the way and method of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the "believer and Muslim period". We argue that the symbols on the presidential uniform constitute some of the political reflections of this, and that their metaphysical basis can be read in the context of the doctrine of the unity of being. 

The Presidential Forsu of the Republic of Turkey and its Symbolic Value

In modern times, the effort to understand what the state is based on the social contract can increase the efficiency of understanding the state by placing it in history, that is, by giving it a spiritual dimension. The sixteen stars on the presidential uniform indicate that the state is the embodiment of spirituality and essence in history. Identities are the manifestations of the same essence and intention in different times and places. If we remember that, philosophically speaking, inniyya in its broadest sense means "essence, essence and substance" as well as "identity and body", the philosophical foundations of the Presidential Forsu, the highest symbol representing the office of the presidency, which was finalized with a directive in 1925, can also emerge.  The fors, which is placed wherever the President is present; on the flagpole, on the desk, on the office car, has been in use since 1922. The symbol consisting of a sun and 16 stars around it is called the Presidential Coat of Arms, and the adaptation of this coat of arms to the upper left corner of the Turkish flag is called the Presidential Forsu. 

The fact that the number of stars in the coat of arms is 16 and that they refer to the Turkish states established in history has been a matter of debate among historians since the 1960s, although not in the early period of the Republic. It is rumored that the determination of the number of 16 Turkish states, independent of the coat of arms, was taken up by a committee during Atatürk's time." It would be beyond the scope of this article to go into the debates about the shape and significance of the uniform, whether the sun and stars in the emblem have a meaning, and if so, when and with what motives this meaning was made, and why there are only 16 Turkish states.

I am currently preparing for the Erol Güngör symposium in Konya on April 28th, which will focus on the geography of Anatolia where the Republic of Turkey was founded. I once again realized how much effort he put into understanding this secret in cultural continuity, because understanding this secret means understanding the prevention of the Anatolian Turkish state from disintegrating just like the Genghis empire or Timur Bey's empire. 

The descendants of the Oghuzes who first came to Anatolia and then to Rumelia with Sultan Alparslan founded the Seljuk-Ottoman State and the Republic of Turkey. Understanding the political genius and secret of the Osmanids, a continuation of the state founded by the Seljuks Tuğrul and Çağrı Beys, will contribute to a better understanding of the historical foundations of the founding philosophy of the Republic of Turkey. 

Glorious History Syndrome?

This is what we actually call "Re-establishing Philosophy in Anatolia". While trying to follow the line of Turkish Sociology and social psychology through Ziya Gökalp, Mümtaz Turhan, Erol Güngör and Yılmaz Özakpınar, it is necessary to update the determinations about what the Turks have done in History, which we can call an attempt to read a four thousand year history in a holistic way by following the trace of the Turkish lineage outside Turkey. Erol Güngör's bringing up the thesis that Oghuz Kagan was Mete Yabgu/Han (209-174 B.C.E.) and the possibility of Alp Er Tunga, who is mentioned in Şehnâmede and Dîvân-ı Lügati't -Türk, is, in our opinion, not to reinforce the glorious history syndrome and to create a kind of "shelter", but to know what has been done in the past and to be in an effort to exceed the level of contemporary civilization.  

Thus, Güngör, through a holistic reading of Turkish history, emphasizes that the Turks put their seal on the bosom of Asia with the monuments of Bilge Kagan, Kültiğin, Tonyukuk and Orkhun; that Mahmut of Kashgarlı was the pinnacle of knowledge and wisdom in his ancestral homeland of Turkistan; that Alparslan made Anatolia an eternal homeland; and that Mehmed the Conqueror was the recipient of the highest praise by conquering Istanbul. 

In the context of the Seljuk-Ottoman-Turkish Republic cultural continuity, the Turks make the necessary arrangements (Islahat and Tanzimat) to adapt to the new world order that changed with the French Revolution of 1789. Yusuf Akçura analyzes the transitional stages, which we can summarize as Ottomanism, Islamism and Turkishness, in the form of Three Styles of Politics. In addition to this pioneering thinker, Ziya Gökalp, who had a great influence on Erol Göngör as well, sees the first stage of the establishment of the Republic of Turkey as the first stage of regrouping and consolidating the foundations of the new state, the second stage as Oghuz Unity, and the final goal as Turan, and it is seen that the Seljuk and Ottoman accumulation is based on geo-political and geo-cultural aspects. By updating the cultural continuity between the Ergenekon of Ötüken/Turkistan and the Ergenekon of Turkey/Anatolia, a national lore will be born again, a new Orkhun and a new Turfan will be born.

These observations may be seen as "glorious history syndrome" and "utopian and subjective reading". However, we read the term utopia not as a country that does not exist or a dream country, but as preparing environments where the first and founding principles should not be forgotten and can be recreated in the context of the problems experienced. 

To paraphrase Erol Güngör, we want to contribute to the creation of a solid historical consciousness by making comparative and critical readings of objective historical events and subjective historical understanding and bringing them as close to each other as possible.  

Those who read the article on the pre-Islamic foundations of Turkish Metaphysics will recall that we draw attention to all kinds of ideological engagement and its possible risks for an authentic Turkish Nationalism, minimizing the possible effects of political conflicts. In this context, Güngör criticizes those who exclude the cultures and civilizations that ruled in Anatolia before the Turks, who accept the settlement of the Turks in Anatolia as the beginning of Turkish history, and who ignore the pre-Islamic Turkish culture. Because at the end of the fourth century, the Huns crossed the Danube in the West and landed in the Balkans, and entered Anatolia from the Caucasus in the East. They advanced with lightning speed from southern Anatolia to the Mediterranean coast of Syria and Jerusalem. In the fall, they returned to Azerbaijan by the same route, providing informational readiness and mentioning how the Romans were astonished. 

According to him, Turkish history and culture starts from pre-Islamic times, and therefore, unlike Mavi and Nurettin Topçu and similar groups known as Conservative Anatolians, he does not see the Turkish nation as a composite of the peoples who lived in Anatolia. Therefore, he opposes those who ignore Turkish history and culture under the influence of Islam, distances himself from approaches that base Turkishness on biological references such as blood, race and lineage, and resists efforts to Westernize Turkish culture. According to him, Turkish culture has resisted Westernization because Turks have a very old history and culture, and are stronger and more rooted than Western civilization in terms of human values.

In terms of nation, he points to a historical line that articulates the pre-Islamic Turkic period with the Turkic period that was introduced to Islam, a cultural geography that begins in Central Asia and continues in Anatolia and ideally integrates in Turan, which is hardly a better explanation of the dimensions of Philosophy in Anatolia and Turkish Philosophy. 

Why is there no symbol of the Sâfevî State on the Presidential Forse?

To this question you can add, "You talk about Turkish Philosophy and Turkish Philosophy and you care about the Seljuks, but isn't it a contradiction that they presented Persian as the official language?". 

Would Britain and Russia want NATO to expand further? And how about the US Ambassador to Ankara being summoned to the Foreign Ministry and asked about the statement made by the Chiefs of Staff in Syria?

Let's continue with questions and comments about the stars on the uniform of the Republic of Turkey and its establishment as a secular-democratic-legal state: The recent burning of the Qur'an, not in a mosque, but in the embassy of the Republic of Turkey, and to whose mill does this carry water? 

Turkey is after all a secular state, why was Turkey's embassy preferred over another Arab country's embassy? The man says that he is going to carry out the same action and some of the bigwigs in Turkey emphasize that this is about freedom of thought and that the state has stated that it does not agree with the content of the action in question. There is no point in asking what are the chances of the same action being carried out with other holy books, a quick search will show that such an attempt to carry out such an action with the Torah was thwarted before it could be carried out. Israeli officials say we warned them, while others say the Muslim community there prevented it. When the same person carried out the same act in Denmark, the Council of Europe said that Denmark does not take into account the problem of hate speech in the exercise of freedom of expression. 

In other words, the aim here was different, and it was likely to be a part of the operations against Turkey. Let's continue with the question-commentary: Will the US, Germany and the UK overlap or diverge on Finland and Sweden's membership? 

Which global powers want to end the tensions in Turkey and the southeast, especially with the Damascus administration? After Iraq and Syria, who are the ones who want to increase potential problems by triggering ethnic mobilization in Iran and then Turkey? 

What are you asking, brother, you asked, does the summoning of the US Ambassador to Ankara after the visit of the US Chief of Staff to Syria give the answer to this question?  

Turkish, Russian, Persian Mind: Chaos-Kosmos

The fact that Turkey, Iran, Syria and Russia are negotiating for regional peace in order to break the impact of this mobility can be seen as the cooperation of Russian, Turkish and Persian minds that have been influential in the region for centuries. Iraq and Syria are in a chaotic environment, and these talks are important in order to prevent the attempt to establish a new state through Hatay by adding Turkey to the south. Amed is a term dating back to the Assyrians, it corresponds to the area within the city walls today, but social masses are being mobilized through sports; remember the resolution process, which we call the thaw process, and the trench clashes. 

In addition, when we consider that Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias announced his arrival in Istanbul over the weekend to attend mass at the Greek Patriarchate of Fener with the words "I will travel to Constantinople" and used the "ecumenical" claim for the Patriarchate, but this was not reported in the press, the meetings between Russian, Persian and Turkish officials become more important. 

At the same time, relations with Egypt should be improved as soon as possible, because there can be no peace in the Middle East without Syria and no war without Egypt. Looking at Egypt's Mamluk and Ottoman past, the effectiveness of the Turkish Mind can be updated. 

If you ask where is the Chinese Mind, the project of revamping the Silk Road to reach London was established without a hitch with Marmaray, but is its influence in China breaking down with the Ukraine-Russia conflict, or will there be a new Ukrainian experience with the Taiwan-China tension? And where is the British mind in these tensions?

Keep these questions in the back of your mind. Please consider the above article as a mental gymnastics and historical background in this context.