Occupation Sociologist Role Sociologist Name Niyazi Berkes | Spouse Mediha Hanim Nationality Turkish Cypriot Education University of Chicago | |
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Notable works The Development of Secularism in the Turkish Revolution, Turkey’s Coming of Age Died December 18, 1988, Hythe, United Kingdom Books The Development of Secularism in Turkey | ||
Niyazi Berkes (21 October 1908 – 18 December 1988) was a Turkish Cypriot sociologist.
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Biography
Berkes was born in Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus, on 21 September 1908, shortly after the Young Turk Revolution in Turkey. He started his secondary education in Nicosia. During his education, he later, went to Istanbul and graduated from Istanbul Erkek Lisesi (Istanbul Lycée, or Istanbul Boys' High School ) in 1928. He began his university years studying law, but transferred to philosophy in hopes of broader intellectual engagements. In 1931, Berkes graduated from the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Literature of Istanbul University. He struggled to find a professorship immediately after graduating as he lacked patronage in universities and the Ministry of Education. Recommended by a friend, he applied to a position at the People's House in Ankara. There he was exposed to the ideology of Kemalism, which at the time, allowed for much intellectual debate regarding the construction of a new Turkey.
In 1935, he then became an assistant at the same faculty. In the same year, he had gone to United States and he had studied sociology at the University of Chicago until 1939. In 1939 he returned to Turkey and as an associate professor of sociology he attended to the Faculty of Languages, History and Geography of Ankara University which had just opened a Philosophy Department. He had worked there until 1945. In 1952, he was appointed visiting professor at the Institute of Islamic Studies, the McGill University in Canada. In 1956, he became professor in the same university. He retired from McGill in 1975 and settled in England. Berkes wrote no more books after his retirement but continued to write for the Turkish press. He died on 18 December 1988 in Hythe in England.
Contributions
Berkes is a well-known Turkish sociologist, primarily known for his studies relating to the historical and social evolution of Turkey, such as the Development of Secularism in the Turkish Revolution, considered his magnum opus. In addition to his works reflecting his views and ideas on theoretical sociology, he researched the transition of Turkey from the Ottoman era.