The Importance of Child Education in the Context of Establishing a New Nation and New Society in Bekir ÇOBANZADE’s Works

Abstract

The idea of establishing a new nation and new society reflected in Bekir Sıtkı ÇOBANZADE’s ideology and poetry is an extension of İsmail Bey Gaspıralı’s national renaissance and rebirth movement. The concept of national renaissance and rebirth initiated by the Tercüman newspaper primarily influenced the children, who represented the new society that the Crimean Tatar people, seeking to return to their roots and escape Russian imperialism, aimed to establish. The Usûl-u Cedit education system was used to transform young Tatar children into heroic Turkish and Muslim people fighting against Russian imperialism. This system strengthened the rebirth process of Crimean Tatar children who were weakened by Russian imperialism. During this process, in 1905, Çobanzade initiated the Yaş Tatar movement along with young people like Numan Celebi Cihan and Hasan Mirza Cergeyev. In his poem “Anan Kayda,” published here, he aimed to raise Crimean Tatar children under Russian imperialism into children who would fight against fate and the Russification policy within the poetics of the New Nation and New Society to be established. For the Crimean Tatar people, avoiding the loss of their true selves, the only way out is to create an enlightened and educated segment built on their ideals and national identity. Therefore, in his poems, Çobanzade created a child prototype. The most well-known of these prototypes is a girl named Esma. The poet designed the political panorama of the era through Esma. He desired to raise a new nation and new society that were free from the calamities and oppression the people were facing.