Türkiye ve Japonya Modernleşme Deneyimlerinin Karşılaştırılması: Sedat Veyis Örnek’in Doktora Tezi
Comparison of Turkey and Japan Modernization Experiences: Sedat Veyis Örnek's Ph.D. Thesis

Summary/Abstract: Sedat Veyis Örnek analyses the traces of modernisation of Turkey and Japan on the basis of institutional reforms in his dissertation titled “Religious Cultural and Social Reforms in New Turkey (1920-1938): Comparison with Japanese Modernisation”, which was written in 1960 in Tubingen University. The dissertation highlights the accomplishments of the modernisation process in Turkey. The dissertation has five chapters which focus on cultural and social reforms in Turkey, religious reforms, secularism, Japanese modernisation, and the comparison between Turkey and Japan in sequence. In the first chapter of the dissertation how the reforms regarding the dress code, alphabet, official holidays and calendar were carried out and the adoption of Swiss civil law is explained in detail. In the the second chapter of the dissertation titled as “Religious Reforms” the meaning of the Caliphate, the Ottoman Sultanate, the functions of the madrasah and their abolition process is explained. The third chapter of the dissertation emphasises the meaning of secularism within the historical context of Turkey. The fourth chapter of the dissertation examines the process of modernisation of Japan. Örnek evaluates the cultural history of Japan by separating it into two periods: the first period is thought to be under the influence of China and the second period under the influence of the West. During the first period, Örnek draws attention particularly to the spread of Buddhism, adoption of the Chinese alphabet as the official alphabet and the feudal rule. He underlines the significant turning points of the second period under the influence of the West pointing at the importance attributed to the western type of education and the investments made to western technology, while the modernisation process was always in harmony with the traditions and even utilising the traditional social structure. The fifth chapter, which is the last one, is devoted to the comparison between modernisation in Turkey and Japan. In this chapter, two countries is compared and contrasted in cultural, social, religious and political terms. The point, Örnek especially emphasises as the success of the Turkish case is the rupture in the traditional social structure and the construction of a modern western society. Japan, in contrast, developed in terms of technology whereas Örnek argues that the traditional social structure remains.

• Details
• Contents