Akademik Dil ve Edebiyat Dergisi

Öz

In this study, Ahmet Şevket Bohça's novel Belki, which was published in Zafer newspaper between November 17, 1969 and April 10, 1970, will be analyzed in the context of political criticism. The event time of the novel is the İsmet İnönü period of what is called the Single Party Period in Turkish political history. The Republican period novels show a canonical characteristic. Belki draws attention as a non-canonical novel. The Republican People's Party and its administration are evaluated through different novel characters, especially from the views of the religious and nationalist parts of the society. In the novel, the corruption of the administrators belonging to this party, their oppressive attitudes that ignore the people and see themselves as superior to the people, their violation of the rights of individuals and the law, and the identity crisis caused by the gaps opened in the human soul by this political period are shown and criticized. It is also pointed out that the modernization process and Westernization cause people to become rootless by ignoring the past. It is pointed out that this rootlessness has created people who are confused about who they are and what they should do, who are indecisive, unable to unite, unresponsive and lethargic. According to the author's point of view, the reasons for new political searches against the Single Party Rule in Turkish political history are presented to the reader through the transformation story of Ulvi, the protagonist of the novel.