Iqbal and the Turkic World.

Byline: Professor. Dr. Darkhan Kydyrali

It is known that in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the reformist movements had a significant impact on the spiritual and cultural development of the Muslim peoples of the East. In Muslim countries such as Egypt, Iran, and India, it became a reform movement of "Tajdid and Islah". In this context, the great thinker Muhammad Iqbal was the leader of the national awakening of Indian Muslims at that time. Although he was in India, Iqbal wrote about the unity and values of the Turkic-Muslim world through his poems. Poems of "Rumi of the 20th century" on national liberation were in a similar spirit to the poems of Turkish poets such as Mehmet Akif Ersoy and Ziya Gokalp. It should be noted that Iqbal's poems in support of the Ottoman Turks became the backbone of his anti-colonial poetry. Therefore, during World War I and the Turkish national liberation struggle, Indian Muslims sent financial aid to Turkiye.

In particular, his poem "Martyr of Tripoli" published in 1911, caused a great reaction in the Ottoman Empire. At the beginning of the twentieth century, as many Muslim countries became more concerned about security, Pakistan's founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, stressed the need to improve relations with Turkiye. Therefore, the Muslims of India intensified their support for the Republic of Turkiye. At the same time, the spiritual leader of India, Iqbal, also glorified the heroism of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in his poems. Following the example of Ataturk, Iqbal sought to give a new impetus to his nation. Along the way, he helped lay the foundations for a new state within the framework of democracy and social justice.

Ataturk's figure in Iqbal's works was an example of the ideas of Indian Muslims. "Today, Turkiye is the only Muslim country that has woken up from a dogmatic slumber," he said. "Among Muslim countries, only Turkiye sought the right to intellectual freedom. Only Turkiye has achieved the dreams." Iqbal tried to present Ataturk's reforms and heroism to Indian Muslims against the British Empire. In 1922, in he wrote a poem "Dedication to Kemal Pasha". Thus, Iqbal inspired his people with Ataturk's victory in the struggle for national liberation in the struggle against British imperialism. Iqbal's poems glorifying the victory of the Turks further strengthened the friendship between the peoples of Turkiye and Indian Muslims. And when the state of Pakistan was established in 1947, Turkiye was...