A PERSPECTIVE ON THE TURKISH WAR OF INDEPENDENCE THROUGH THE LENS OF THE QURAN

Greetings to those who seek the truth and rejoice when they find it!

Today, I would like to introduce the late Prof. Dr. Yaşar Nuri Öztürk’s work titled “A PERSPECTIVE ON THE TURKISH WAR OF INDEPENDENCE THROUGH THE LENS OF THE QURAN” based on the promotional text on the back cover of this beautiful book.

To elaborate:

This book is a summary of the late Prof. Dr. Yaşar Nuri Öztürk’s yet-unpublished, three-volume magnum opus, “THE QUR’ANIC DIMENSIONS OF THE TURKISH WAR OF INDEPENDENCE” which he referred to as "one of my greatest works”.

The core thesis of this book revolves around a CRITICALLY VITAL QUESTION. 

This question has never been asked throughout the 103 years that have passed from 1923, the founding year of the Republic of Turkiye, until today in 2026—and because it was left unasked, it has brought a thousand kinds of trouble upon us :

Here is this CRITICALLY VITAL QUESTION :

“IS THERE A CONTRADICTION AND A CONFLICT BETWEEN THE ISLAMIC HERITAGE AND THE ATATÜRK HERITAGE?

 In other words ;

“IS THERE A CONTRADICTION AND A CONFLICT BETWEEN THE MUHAMMADAN HERITAGE AND THE MUSTAFA KEMAL HERITAGE?”

This book is the FIRST WORK to answer this question with a resounding "NO, ABSOLUTELY NOT!" and to prove this with concrete religious (Islamic) and historical documents.

In Turkiye, the "Dynasticist Religionists" (Saltanat Dincileri) on one hand, and, the irreligious factions hostile to religion and devout believers on the other, are working in COLLABORATION with the crusader imperialists—who have historically been enemies of the Kalimat ash-Shahada (the Islamic declaration of faith)—to COLLAPSE the Republic of Turkiye.

These WITLESS religionist and irreligious factions within us have BY NO MEANSacquired this capability through their own intellect. 

For, their capacity, horizon, vision, wisdom and background would NEVER be sufficient for this.

These religionist and irreligious factions in our country have historically relied on TWO MAJOR SOURCES OF POWER:

1. Every kind of unlimited support provided by the crusader imperialists to damage and destroy the heritage of Atatürk and the Republic of Turkiye.
2. The inadequacies, lack of foresight, and occasionally the sheer foolishnessof those who claim to be the defenders of the Republic and Atatürk (namely, the so-called Kemalists, Ataturkists, secularists, and leftists).

According to Farid Wajdi and Tantawi Jawhari, two of Egypt's greatest Islamic scholars and Quranic commentators (mufassir), the Turkish War of Independence is one of the greatest miracles in history. With this nature, it should be counted among the extraordinary acts in the history of prophets.

The Qur'an has only one enemy: OPPRESSION / INJUSTICE (Zulum).

(فلا عدوان إلا على الظالمين = "There is no hostility except against the oppressors" - Qur'an, Al-Baqarah: 193)

The Müdâfaa-i Hukûk (DEFENSE OF RIGHTS) movement also had only one enemy: OPPRESSION / INJUSTICE. 

At this point, let us remember what Müdâfaa-i Hukûk signifies:

Concept	Historical Definition & Context
Müdâfaa-i Hukûk(Defense of Rights)	The general name of the regional national resistance societies and the civil/civilian movements established all over Anatolia during the Turkish War of Independence to defend our homeland and the rights of our nation against the British, French, Italian, and Greek occupations.

We can summarize the concept of MÜDÂFAA-İ HUKÛK (DEFENSE OF RIGHTS) in its simplest form under three fundamental pillars:

• Its Purpose: To announce the Turkish nation's rights to independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity to the world through LEGAL and MILITARYmeans.
• Its Character: Beginning initially as regional and civilian congresses, it formed the first organized resistance structure of the people against these occupying enemy armies.
• Its Result: At the Sivas Congress, all these regional societies were unified under the banner of the Anatolia and Rumelia Defense of Rights Society (ARMHC), allowing our WAR OF INDEPENDENCE to be managed and commanded from a single staff center.

In short, MÜDÂFAA-İ HUKÛK (DEFENSE OF RIGHTS) is the institutionalized form of the Turkish nation's will to "seek justice and defend its homeland" while rejecting occupation and captivity. 

It forms the cornerstone of today's Republic of Turkiye. 

The very term Müdâfaa-i Hukûk (DEFENSE OF RIGHTS) is an explicit expression of being against oppression. 

In Anatolia's struggle for liberation and enlightenment, neither RACE, nor MONEY, nor REGION, nor COLOR, nor even RELIGION was put forward as the target or the justification of the war. 

The sole justification was LAW/RIGHTS (Hukûk) and the DEFENSE OF LAW.

Contrary to the assertions of the Dynasticist Religionists, the Qur'an:

• NEVER PERMITS A WAR OF AGGRESSION for TERRITORIAL OCCUPATION and EXPANSION. 
• NEVER PERMITS WAR TO SPREAD RELIGION (MISSIONARY WORK).

What is DYNASTICIST RELIGIONISM (Saltanat Dinciliği) then?

It is the purposefully wrong interpretation, understanding and propagation of religion (ISLAM) crafted and used by those who distort, twist, and exploit it with the aim of transforming the people's form of governance FROM THE QURANIC SYSTEM OF ALLEGIENCE (Bay'ah—meaning a governance system based on an oath of loyalty tied to a social contract and an electoral process) INTO A TYRANNICAL AND DESPOTIC HEREDITARY MONARCHY (meaning a dynastical reigning being passed down from father to son). 

According to Islam in the Qur'an, there is only one justification for war, and that is BEING SUBJECTED TO OPPRESSION and INJUSTICE. 

If there is oppression, war becomes a duty of humanity. This humane obligation cannot be evaded. Those who flee from it lose their dignity. 

This is exactly the understanding of war held by the Müdâfaa-i Hukûk (DEFENSE OF RIGHTS) mindset.

Müdâfaa-i Hukûk (DEFENSE OF RIGHTS) is, above all, the ideology of the ANATOLIAN PEOPLES' war of independence and liberation. 

But it is also the creative ideology of the ANATOLIAN ENLIGHTENMENT REVOLUTIONS. 

Furthermore, Müdâfaa-i Hukûk (DEFENSE OF RIGHTS) is the creative pioneer of the ENLIGHTENMENT IDEAL OF THE ENTIRE ISLAMIC WORLD.

I hope you find, acquire, and read this invaluable and eye-opening book with the hope of benefitting from it to the fullest (hüsn-i istifade).

Sincerely,

Abdullah Erdemli

Lucerne - Switzerland