Abstract:

Losing the sovereignty, which continued approximately five centuries under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, in the Balkans had been a big trauma for Turks along with the Balkan Wars. The transformation of the region at issue, as the sharing area of the nation-states due to the historical assertions, is the source of the instability in the region. The same problems are in the basis of the region's instability in today. Loss of the Balkans, accepted as the presence reason of the Ottoman Empire, systematic carnage of Muslim Turkish population, emigration and assimilation policies, had created a "wounded conscious". Gaining more importance of Turkism in public opinion and politics, is parallel to the catastrophic defeat, created by the Balkan Wars and in this state, the concept of homeland had also transformed. The concept of "memalik", expressing the lands under the rule of the Ottoman Empire in the classical age, had changed parallel to the political and social developments, besides this, "the idea of "homeland" was borned related with the seeking of identity. The qualification of "dârü'l-harb", expressing the canonic land, changed within modernization and left his place to a secular theme, "homeland". Besides this, the concept of Turan, starting to be popular while gaining a political content, is contemporary with Balkan Wars. Loss of the Balkans, accepted as the presence philosophy of the empire, and consecutive loss of the lands had motivated the Ottoman intellectuals to create an imaginary homeland. In this essay, social campaign in the chaotic environment due to the Balkan Wars and the seek of national identity have been examined, the meanings of the concept of homeland have been examined

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