Özet:

An author, sociologist, poet, thinker, politician and Turkologist, Ziya Gökalp, who left deep traces in Turkish science, intellectual, literary and political life, is a versatile and influential intellectual in Turkish history. He had numerous ideas and works on many subjects from literature to history, sociology and education. One of his ideas was for improving the position of Ottoman women in the family and social life. Having a reformist attitude, Gökalp had a drawn a slightly different model of woman and family from the traditional understanding: “The Nuclear Family”. However, this did not mean for women to forget about their roles of femininity, maternity and companionship, that is, their home. He demanded rights for women to receive education, have a profession, take part in social gatherings and gain equality in inheritance and divorce. But was he sincere in these demands? Were his behaviour and approach towards his spouse and children polite, compassionate and considerate and fair enough as to support those ideas? Based on the letters Gökalp sent to his family when he was in Malta and Lemnos, the present study aims to reveal to some extent how he performed as a spouse and father and his ideas about education of women and small children and the importance of family.