Center-Periphery Cleavage in Ottomans and in Turkey

All societies have centers regarding their institutional frameworks. In Middle Eastern societies efforts for constituting centers were weak and short-lived. However, Ottoman State had a strong center that allowed the survival of the system for more than six centuries. Ottoman State achieved this through a complex system. First of all, Ottoman bureaucracy consisted of well-educated elite largely recruited at an early age from religious minority groups via devshirme system. Bureaucracy’s loyalty to the Palace was very high and they had their own bureaucratic culture. By tımar system, Ottomans were able to control agricultural production and imposed taxes on producers in order to prevent the evolution of a rich feudal or bourgeois class. The center had its privileges and was weakly connected to the peripheral subjects (teba or reaya). The first reason of the center-periphery cleavage was the existence of duality in lifestyles (urban and nomadic). While central elements had urban resident lifestyle, among peripheral elements (especially among Turkic population) nomadic life was widespread. Secondly, the center was afraid of the emergence of a new class, feudal family or clan that would threaten its position and that is why it imposed heavy burdens (tax, forced military etc.) on the periphery. According to Şerif Mardin, center and periphery was loosely related in the Ottoman system. Center had its own lifestyle, culture and world based on rationalism whereas periphery was involved in religious brotherhoods and other heterodoxy institutions in order not to be alone in the system. In a sense, Mardin saw these institutions as pre-modern civil society organizations.

Starting from the 19^th century Ottoman modernization reforms aimed at establishing a nation-state by integrating periphery to the center with the center’s rules. Non-Muslim population’s integration to the system tried to be realized by the adoption citizenship rights (Tanzimat and Islahat reforms). Although it was partially achieved, the territorial losses of the state and the weakening of the non-Muslim population both in quantity and quality, helped the state to achieve this more or less. Later, Turkish Republic also by making population exchanges and Turkification efforts tried to strengthen its nation-state project. The integration of the peripheral Muslim elements (especially Kurds) was a more difficult task. Ottomanism, Islamism and later Turkish nationalism were three main ideologies used for integrating the periphery into the system. During the National Struggle, Islamism and Turkish nationalism were successfully used but after the establishment of a modern, secular state both Turkish nationalism and secularism created problems in the peripheral world. Turkish nationalism was challenged by Kurdish nationalism although other ethnic elements of the state accepted civic Turkishness ideology of the state. Secularism on the other hand created problems among the pious peripheral segments that involved in heterodoxy institutions. Turkish State in a sense inherited Ottoman tradition of center-periphery cleavage and although center rightist political parties (also leftist parties in the 1970s and 1980s) tried to solve this problem by a populist rhetoric and political program, today still Turkish state has center-periphery clash in its political agenda (closure case against JDP, secularism concerns, Kurdish separatism etc.).

Ozan Örmeci

The Godfather: Comparison Between Corleone Family and Business Firms

The series of Godfather is known as one of the best movies in the world and has become a world classic in cinema. The first movie was elected as the best movie ever made by the votes of the members of Imdb.com (Internet Movie Database), largest and most popular website on the net. The movies were adopted from the best-seller novel of Mario Puzo. All three movies were directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The first movie was made in 1972, the second one was in 1974 and third one was in 1990. The story helped to define how the world views organized crime in America, framing the aspects of violence that are natural in the underworld with an importance on family, respect, and honor. The Godfather is a sample of all stories of immigrant families who are trying, over the course of generations, to fit into the American life. The story develops around the main character Vito Corleone, who came to U.S from Corleone, Sicily and became a chief of an organized crime family in the 1940s. He is a man who rules with quiet persuasion, asking those who wish favors from him for their loyalty and dealing unkindly with those who cross him. When other criminals try to involve his organization to the drug trade, Corleone resists and the shield of power that he has built around his family is threatened. He must defend his family and pass control of his empire to one of his three sons. In the series of Godfather, there are a lot of characters who had important parts in the story.

Vito Corleone: First of all he is from Sicily/Italy and he is the founder and the don of Corleone family. He was emigrated from Italy to New York/USA in the early twentieth century when he was a little child because of blood feud (vendetta) problems of his family in Sicily. In New York, he stepped into the world of mafia. When we look at Vito Corleone, we can easily see a man who has some aims and ideals. His main objective is to make the Corleone family as the most powerful crime family in the world. If we look at the characteristics of Vito Corleone, he is serious, cold-blooded and tough in business life. He organizes everybody and everything carefully. He can organize the family perfectly because of having good leadership qualities and high respect over other members. In his early years in America, Corleone suffered a lot from poverty and decided to become an important man by using all means. Thus, he first killed the local mafia leader of Italian ghetto, Don Fanucci, and established his own crime family. He wanted his children to become important men too and had a special interest towards Michael, his intelligent but a bit headstrong youngest son. Although he grew in America, Vito Corleone saw himself as a Sicilian more than an American.

Michael Corleone: He is the youngest son of Vito Corleone. Michael went to the Second World War and served his country contrary to the advices of his father. He fought bravely in the war for US Army and gained medals from the military. Unlike his father and big brother Sonny, he saw himself as an American and thus, wanted to fight for the American Army. Because of war, he stayed away from his family and from family business for many years. When his brother Sonny died and Vito Godfather was semi-retired after the assassination attempt towards him, he started to take control of the business of the family. His father also helped him to become the new don of the family. In the earlier period of his leadership, everybody thought that he is too young and he cannot control the business of the family properly. However, he surprised everyone by keeping his family together and making it as the most powerful crime family in New York again. He had a process of transformation from an independent, romantic young man into a serious mafia leader and businessman leading his family.

Santino (Sonny) Corleone: He is the first son of Vito Corleone. He is controlling and executing the businesses of Corleone family with his father. We can say that he is second man in the family. Unlike his father, he is very aggressive and hot blooded. He can act emotionally without thinking consequences rationally. He is also serious, strong-minded and powerful. He was making preparations to take the businesses of Corleone family from his father. However, he was killed unfairly by other crime families with the help of Connie Corleone’s husband. So, he lost the chance of taking the businesses of the family. Vito Corleone also did not believe that he would be a good leader because he was not a rational man and he had some weaknesses such as being a womanizer and not being able to control his lust.

Tom Hagen: Vito Corleone adopted Tom Hagen when he was an orphan child having friendship with Sonny. In the early times, he was consultant (consigliere) of the family. He had law education and also become the lawyer of the family. He was a smart and hard-working man and also a good lawyer. He was the right hand of Vito Corleone but during Michael’s leadership his role in the family decreased since Michael thought that was Tom Hagen was a good choice in the times of peace, not at the times of war.

Frederico “Fredo” Corleone: He is the second child of Vito Corleone. He does not have an active role in the family. Therefore, he is sent to a hotel in Las Vegas under the supervision of another crime family. He had an illness when he was a child that is why he is not very smart. Vito Corleone does not give him important roles in the family. He later made cooperation with enemies of Michael Corleone in order to become the leader of the family but was sent to death by his younger brother because of his treason to the family.

Kay Adams Corleone: She is the second wife of Michael. She is against the illegal businesses that Corleone family runs. Every time, she advises Michael to quit these illegal businesses. She is a decisive person. Sometimes she rebels to Michael. Michael tries to escape from the illegal world gradually but Kay insists him to escape immediately. That is why, they had many discussions, fights and they eventually divorced from each other.

Connie Corleone: She is the daughter of Vito Corleone. She is sometimes aggressive and she behaves unconsciously especially after killing of his husband. His husband Carlo Rizzi caused the death of Sonny Corleone and Michael ordered his death. However, Connie did not approve Michael’s behavior and rebelled to him.

Pete Clemenza: He executes the businesses of the family in the one part of New York under the name of Vito Corleone. He is one of the capos of the family. He deals with executions and all other illegal businesses.

Salvadore Tessio (Selly): His business is very similar to Pete Clemenza. He also executes the businesses of the family in the other part of New York.

Luca Brasi: He works independently but he is Vito Corleone’s favorite hit man. Vito Corleone trusts him so much. However, he was killed by the other crime families. He is a cold-blooded killer but he is very loyal to Vito Corleone.

Carlo Rizzi: He is the husband of Connie Corleone. He helps Barzini family to kill Sonny Corleone. After death of Sonny, Michael learns that Carlo Rizzi helped Barzini to kill Sonny. So, he was killed by Michael.

Emilio Barzini: He is the head of Barzini family and his family is the one of the main enemies of Corleone family.

Phillip Tattaglia: He is the head of Tattaglia family and his family is the one of the main enemies of Corleone family.

Hyman Roth: He is a Jewish businessman. He behaves as a good friend to Michael Corleone but he does not want the Corleone family be powerful.

Vincent Corleone: He is Sonny Corleone’s son from his mistress. He belongs to the third generation of the family. He first became the right hand of Michael Corleone and at the end of the third part; he became the new leader of the family.

THE CORLEONE FAMILY ORGANIZATION

There is a hierarchical organization in the family. The most important thing for the family is loyalty. The head of the Corleone family is Vito Corleone who is the Godfather (don or boss). As we can understand from the name of “Godfather” he is identified with god. He is the most powerful man in the family like the god. We can see him as the owner of a company. He makes the final decisions like a boss and he is responsible for the family. In a sense like a boss, he owns the family. Corleone family is like a strongly hierarchical family firm. In hierarchical family firms, there is strong a hierarchy like in the Corleone Family and the orders of the boss are not questioned. Workers, employers of the company see him like a god (maybe a similarity could be seen with Japanese firms too) and we can say the same thing for Vito Corleone. His leadership is strongly legitimate and he is widely respected. We can also think of Vito Corleone as the CEO of Corleone crime firm because he actively engages in the family business and takes the important decisions. The final word is always belonged to him.

The second important role is the place of sottocapo or underboss, which refers to a man just under godfather and its equivalent, is Chief Organizational Officer (COO). COO helps the CEO in managing the company. In the Corleone family, Sonny Corleone is the COO of the family and he deals with important family issues. He helps his father in taking decisions. The third one is Consigliere which is equivalent to a consultant (advisor) of a company. Consultants give advices to Sottocapo and Godfather. In Corleone family, the consigliere is Tom Hagen who is an expert in legal matters. Under these three positions there are capos that have a responsibility for controlling the zones, which are given by the godfather. They work like the department managers of the company. Capos deal with different things. For example, Pete Clemenza deals with executions whereas the other capo Tessio is responsible for other businesses of the family including relations with other families and bootlegging. Like the department managers, capos are specialized in their jobs and rule their department under the supervision of the top three. Under top three and caporegimes, there are some assassins, mobsters, soldiers and associates working for the family. They do not have important positions and they mostly do the orders of their capos. Dirty jobs are often handled by them. Sometimes, they even take the blame of a crime for saving important names of the family. We can resemble them to workers of a company. There are also many other small workers having jobs in different investments of the family such as prostitutes etc.

The strategy of the family is to become the most powerful crime family in New York and in America. Like a business company they have to compete with their rivals in order to achieve this goal. The only difference can be the way that they follow to reach their aims. Unlike competing companies, mafia families use violent methods to achieve their goals. They kill people and do illegal jobs like prostitution, selling drugs and bootlegging. The organization of the family is highly hierarchical and not democratic at all. People who are in important positions are privileged and have the right to say the final word in family business. We can say that in this respect mafia families resemble to companies because in companies too there is no democracy. Workers or low level employees do not have right to take part in decisions and they can only contribute to their firms by finishing jobs that are assigned to them. In many companies, you must have good relations with the boss if you want to rise to be in administrative positions. A difference between crime families and companies is the criterion for success. If you want to rise in a mafia family, you must be the relatives of the Godfather and be successful in your job. However, in a company success can be enough for rising. In the family, members must be careful for looking after themselves so we can see that there is cooperation between them. This is like the cooperation between the employees of a company. We can see this situation between the mafia families too. Sometimes they make alliances against a common enemy and act together. This condition resembles us that there is cooperation between companies like merging or joint ventures. The family is well-connected; members are strongly tied to each other. When any member of the family betrays the family, the punishment will be death. Every mistake is punished severely by the family often by death. The companies in the real life will not accept any mistakes similarly. However, punishment methods are very different. An employee may get fired or his position can be lowered because of his mistake. Another similarity between companies and mafia families is that they both want to increase their shares and get bigger. Mafia families like companies make investments in different cities and countries. Both groups also try to have political power and influencing the decisions of politicians. Mafia families do this by money or by blackmail whereas companies use civil society organizations to shape government’s decisions. Sometimes enemies of a crime family or a company can take initiative to weaken their rival. For instance, if a company becomes a monopoly, other firms seek to destroy this company by legal instruments to survive in economics. Similarly, if a family becomes the leader of all families, other families are disturbed and they try to destroy the leader family. So, rivals of Corleone family, Tattaglia and Barzini families come together to destroy Corleone family.

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES

Economic, political and global forces affect organizations. Therefore, these forces should be under control. If we look at the Godfather trilogy, we can realize that the family wants to control these powers. Thus, the family does some attempts to take these powers under control. As we know Corleone family deal with some illegal businesses. Corleone family donates high amounts of money to associations, benevolent institutions and charity houses because they do not want their illegal businesses to be followed by government. In order to take the support of Italian people in America, they make investments in areas where there are many Italian-American citizens. Asa a result of this, Corleone family seems to be legal and takes support of people. The family gives justice when the legal system seems not to work efficiently. For instance, when the daughter of Mr. Bonasera is beaten and raped by two toughs and the legal system does nothing about, Vito Corleone provides justice by ordering the punishment of these guys.

The family also makes good relations with senators with the help of these devotes. So, the government does not investigate or follow the illegal businesses of the family and the family takes some political power. Some senators like Pat Geary in the Godfather Part 2, even helps the family to make investments in other countries. In the movies, Senator Geary encourages crime families to invest in Cuba. Sometimes, the family uses blackmail in order to convince political figures. Political support is crucial for a crime family because if the government takes a clear decision to destroy the family, the family would not have a chance to survive. However, an important mafia boss like Vito Corleone creates connections with political leaders and strengthens the legal position of the family. Companies also create connections with the government. By establishing and engaging in civil society organizations they want to get political power. They also pay important amount of taxes to government and expect government to help them in making new investments. Political support is very important both for crime families and companies.

The family has so much economic power. The family takes this economic power from selling big amounts of drugs, by collecting tributes from neighborhoods, by bootlegging and prostitution. The family also has many legal businesses. For instance, Corleone family owns an oil company. During Michael’s leadership, the family gets legalized day by day and invests more in legal businesses. Companies own only legal businesses and differ from mafia families. Also, when both mafia families and companies get bigger and increase their ties with political institutions, they become indestructible.

Ozan Örmeci

From Iliad and Gilgamesh to Antigone and Republic: Changing Ethics in the Ancient World

Ethics as a dictionary definition means “a set of principles of right conduct” or “a theory or a system of moral values”[1]. Starting from the emergence of life on earth, human beings have always tried to create rules, norms to determine the right and wrong actions, thoughts from each other. When we look at the world history, we can easily notice that rules and norms of different time periods were very different from each other and there are many examples of behaviors which were first thought to be wrong but later approved by most of the people. In this assignment, I aim to make an analysis of changing ethics conception between ancient texts like Iliad and Gilgamesh versus Sophocles’ Antigone and Plato’s Republic in order to show the differences taking place between different time periods concerning ethics and settled thinking patterns. I will first shortly summarize each work and try to find some analysis that can be useful for us. Later, I am going to compare and contrast these works in order to show the differences in their conception of ethics. I will conclude my paper with my own ideas related to the topic.

It is accepted that famous Sumerian epic Gilgamesh was written around 2000 BC. Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, is a creature of two-thirds God and one-third human. Gilgamesh is a hero and a strong king in the eyes of his people but he does not hesitate to oppress his people. In order to get rid of Gilgamesh’s despotism, people complain about his behaviors to God Anu, the chief god of the city, to help them. In response, Anu creates a wild creature called Enkidu who has the power of dozens of animals. Although Enkidu is very powerful, he lacks humane qualities. They decide to send a beautiful woman to seduce and weaken Enkidu. Enkidu enters to city during a festival when Gilgamesh was about to use his first-night right to have sexual intercourse with new brides on the first day. Enkidu opposes to Gilgamesh and they start to fight in a very violent way. Finally, Gilgamesh was able to beat Enkidu. They embrace each other after the fight and become good friends that respect each other. Later, Gilgamesh proposes Enkidu a great adventure to go to Cedar Forest and to kill “Humbaba the Terrible”, the guardian of the Cedar Forest. They finally find Humbaba and begin to fight. They continue to fight and finally beat Humbaba. Humbaba begs for his life but Gilgamesh kills him. Before dying, Humbaba curses Enkidu. Gilgamesh and Enkidu return to their village with success and huge reputation. Gilgamesh’s widespread fame attracts the sexual attention of goddess Ishtar. She asks Gilgamesh to become her lover. However, Gilgamesh refuses this proposal by insulting her and listing her human lovers. Ishtar goes to his father, Anu and begs him to let her have the Bull of Heaven in order take revenge from Gilgamesh. Enkidu and Gilgamesh by fighting together again kill the Bull and save the city. Enkidu begins to insult Ishtar and threatens her with death. After all these insults and violence, Gods decide to punish someone. A great demon is sent to kill Enkidu. After suffering 12 days, Enkidu at last dies in pain. Gilgamesh becomes so sad after Enkidu’s death, he orders all Uruk citizens not to become silent and mourn after Enkidu’s death. Gilgamesh in pain begins to think of death. He decides to find Utnapishtim, the only immortal human in the world who was a king before the Flood, in order to learn the secret of immortality. However, his efforts fail and he returns to his city without finding the secret of immortality.

From the historical documents we know that the famous Trojan War between the Myceneans (Greeks) and the Trojans took place around 1200 BC. Around 750-675 BC, the famous ancient Greek writer Homer composed his masterpieces the Iliad and the Odysseus. In the beginning of the book, we see a dispute between Achilles and Agamemnon over the return of Chryseis to her father. Later, Zeus sends a dream commanding Agamemnon to attack Troy. At the same time, Paris runs out with his love beautiful Helen and Menelaus gets very angry to him since he plans to marry with her. Helen becomes the Helen of Troy and Menelaus convinces Agamemnon to declare a war against the Troy because of his anger. Agamemnon accepts this request with pleasure since he wants to expand his territories and leave an unforgettable name. Achilles is the best fighter amongst the Greeks. He is unbeatable except for his weakness at his heels. Hector on the other hand, who is the son of Troy’s kind Priam and the elder brother of Prince Paris, is a very strong warrior. Achilles does not like Agamemnon but he accepts to fight since it would be the greatest war ever made and he incredibly wants his name to be remembered as the best fighter even after centuries. At the beginning of the war, Achilles and his Myrmidons easily invade the Trojan beach since they are great warriors. Zeus forbids the gods to take part in the battle and the battle goes on for years with the death of many people. Achilles falls in love with enslaved Trojan royal family member Briseis. He argues with Agamemnon over the subject of Briseis. Achilles’ decision not to fight with the Trojans affects the morale of Greek soldiers badly and the Trojans begin to resist. However, one day in the battle Hector kills Achilles’ cousin Patroclus by thinking that it was Achilles. Achilles gets very angry and swears to kill Hector and destroy the Troy. Finally, the big moment comes and Achilles and Hector, two greatest warriors, begin to fight. Achilles beats and kills Hector. The dying Hector had begged that his body be given back for burial: Achilles drags the corpse to the ships behind his chariot. Later, Thetis is sent to Achilles to ask him to return the body of Hector. Iris persuades Priam to face a visit to the Greek camp. Priam returns with Hector's body and the promise of an armistice of twelve days. Priam teaches Achilles that even enemies can respect each other. With the death of Hector, Greeks show their superiority and gain morale. Odysseus comes up with the plan of Trojan horse, a large hollow wooden figure of a horse (filled with Greek soldiers) which Greeks would leave it outside of Troy. Since Greeks’ problem is to pass over the great walls of the Troy, everybody understands that this plan might help them to go inside. Greeks deliberately act like they will withdraw from the Troy. Trojans take the horse inside as thinking it was a gift from Greeks to their Gods. At the night however, Achilles, Odysseus and other soldiers go out of the Trojan horse and destroy the city of Troy. Both Agamemnon and king Priam die in the battle inside the city walls. Paris first time shows courage and kills the invincible Achilles by shooting him with arrows from his heels. Achilles dies in the hands of his beloved Briseis.

An important work in the ancient Greek literature is with no doubt Sophocles’ Antigone. Sophocles (496-406 BC) is a Greek dramatist known with his masterpieces like Ajax, Oedipus Rex, and Oedipus at Colonus. In Antigone, the protagonist of the tragedy is a woman named Antigone. Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus, sister of Ismene, Eteocles and Polynices. Antigone is about a woman’s desperate search for justice and her courage against the laws of the state for her family honor and love. In the story, we see that Antigone’s brothers Eteocles and Polynices fall down in a war but the king of Thebes, Creon, does not allow a funeral for Polynices whom he accuses as being a traitor. We see Antigone in great pains in the beginning of the story[2]. Antigone talks with Ismene about this injustice taking place and says that they should do something. Ismene however, gets afraid of transgressing the law. “New we two left; and what will be the end of us, If we transgress the law and defy our king? O think, Antigone; we are women; it is not for us to fight against men; our rulers are stronger than we, And we must obey in this…” (Sophocles, pg 128). Antigone unlike Ismene thinks that she could oppose to the decision of the ruler if it is wrong and then decides to bury his brother Polynices’ corpse without Ismene’s help. Antigone successfully does this and the sentry later explains the situation to Creon. “She was burying the man with her own hands, and that’s the truth” (Sophocles, pg 137). Antigone, after being captured, admits what she has done and accepts the punishment. She thinks that the order did not come from God and it is not justice what Creon is doing. Antigone bravely challenges the laws of the state and uses her right to objection which we see in today’s democracies. “What law of heaven have I transgressed? What god can save me now? If this is God’s will, I shall learn my lesson in death; but if my enemies are wrong, I wish them no worse punishment than mine” (Sophocles, pg 150). Antigone character is very important since we can accept her as the first feminist character in world history, who resisted against inequality between men and women and like other men tried to use her right to oppose to the decisions of the government.

Lastly, I want to talk about Socrates and Plato in the light of Plato’s Republic. Plato (427 BC-377 BC) was one of the earlier and most important philosophers of the world and is also known as the founder of “The Academy”. The son of wealthy and influential Athenian parents, Plato began his philosophical career as a disciple of Socrates. Socrates was both the tutor and the hero of Plato and he played a great role in Plato’s formation of ideas. Plato used Socrates as the main figure in his works and expressed his views from the mouth of Socrates. We can claim that Socrates represents Plato in his works. Plato’s most famous works are “The Republic” and “Five Dialogues”. Plato, in his famous work The Republic, develops his view on justice (dikaiosuné) on the level of individual and state. He also draws us a picture of his utopian state and the ideal man. In Plato’s ideal state there are three main classes: the first class is the class of Guardians (Rulers, Auxiliaries), the second class consists of artisans, workers, farmers, businessman and the third class refers to slaves who are not accepted as citizens. Guardians are the golden class of Plato’s ideal society. In his idea, rulers should exercise the supreme authority and deal with the philosophical aspect of political life whereas auxiliaries should deal with military, police and executive duties. Plato believes in the supremacy of “true” knowledge and his dream is to live in a society ruled by philosophers who have the greatest capacity of producing knowledge. Plato thinks that after an effective education starting from a young age, selected and trained Guardians can achieve control over themselves and think of the welfare of the community instead of their self-profit. In the case of the individual, we see again the importance of harmonious functioning. As I said before, Plato completely believes in the rule of reason. So, his ideal just man is a person who always makes rational decisions and suppresses his instincts and emotions. He claims that there are three important parts in our minds: reason, spirit and the desire and appetite. Plato believes that we have to use these three parts with harmony in making decisions. His ideal justice requires always the use of reason before spirit and desire. With Plato we see the dominance of elitism over democracy. We know that Plato witnessed to the execution of Socrates because of his non-conforming views to the Athenian democracy.

When we analyze Gilgamesh and Iliad on the one side against Antigone and Republic, we can notice many differences between these two sides considering their mentality. Iliad and Gilgamesh portray warriors and kings as heroes and deal more with the power side of the politics. War for them is a natural thing which must be welcomed for glory. Achilles for instance is a brave and charismatic character who fights for reputation. Gilgamesh is a cruel king but since he is a great and powerful king being able to defeat everyone, people respect him. Two kings Priam and Agamemnon do not consider war like a disaster and see this as a natural outcome of rival politics. The ethics conception is based on courage and military skills rather than justice. We still see humane feelings such as friendship (Gilgamesh and Enkidu) and love (Achilles and Briseis) but these were portrayed as weakness rather than virtues. All the main characters in these two works are great warriors or kings who are powerful man. In a sense, ethics is identified with being strong and brave.

However, in ancient Greek works like Antigone and Republic we see a great difference. . Antigone also tells us a very important thing for the nature of politics in the ancient Greece. Although there were kings, at least some people had a democratic understanding of resistance similar to passive resistance which became famous with Mahatma Gandhi and they were aware of the fact that whether the legitimacy of rulers comes from God or elections, citizens should have the right to oppose to the decisions of the government in a democratic way. However, similar to some democratic countries of today, there was capital punishment in ancient Greece in the time of Sophocles and Antigone was sent to death in the story. Moreover, Antigone is a clear proof of ancient Greek understanding of individual liberty and the nature of the state. State is nothing but an institution established by people to facilitate their lives by ruling themselves and state should work in the favor of citizens. Sophocles’ tragedy can be considered as a criticism towards the statist ideology which forgets that the state is nothing but an institution organized by people. So, we can say that in ancient Greece at least for intellectual people like Sophocles, the protection of individual liberties was important and there were reactions against the authoritarian state. In Antigone, ethics is more related with democracy and human rights in addition to courage. Courage is reflected not as a military success but rather as being able to object to the state for own rights. Thus, there is a fundamental difference between these two period’s works. In Plato too, we see that ethics is formed around the concepts like knowledge and virtue. Plato openly claims that the society should be ruled by people who have most knowledge because in democracy the majority could take wrong decisions since they have less knowledge. Plato believes in the supremacy of wisdom and the rule of wise people who are virtuous. Thus, his ethics conception is derived from these two criterions: wisdom and virtue. For Plato, the hero is Socrates who accepts the death penalty because of defending his views which are rejected by the system. Thus, we can find a parallel between all works considering the aspect of courage. Gilgamesh does not fear from anything and he engages in fights courageously. Achilles is a great warrior who never escapes from a fight and loves challenging other people. Antigone and Socrates are brave enough to accept the cruel punishment for their ideas and deeds. All important characters have the notion of courage.

However, considering Iliad and Gilgamesh we see that courage is thought as a soldier type action which is related to wars. Achilles kills Hector and Gilgamesh and Enkidu kill Humbaba for instance. However, in Antigone and Republic, courage is thought as being courageous enough to oppose to the state for thoughts and rights and have a more democratic, libertarian understanding. Courage has always been a part of ancient ethics and cowardice was seen as a defect. However, we see that in changing ethics courage finds new meanings over time. Moreover, a war in the ancient text was considered as outside of the ethics conception like a very normal thing. Politics is considered as a power game which is played in that way. Ethics are considered as the rule of the stronger, norms of the side who won the war. However, in Antigone and Republic although wars are still admitted, there are no phrases showing that war is great thing that should be welcomed. Rather, writers like Sophocles and Plato focus on reason and democratic rights. Justice is something that we should find with reasoning and philosophizing rather than defeating our enemies. This type of ethics is criticized by Sophocles and Plato rather than being exalted.

In my opinion, it is very normal that ethics conception differs over time. For instance, although for ancient Greek civilization slavery is natural thing, today it is seen as a very immoral thing and it is banned. Likewise, in the future many things that exist today would be considered as harmful and unethical in my opinion. Human beings and ideas always develop although we do not always go progressively. For instance, although European civilization was highly developed, they did not prevent Hitler to start a world war in the 1940’s. That is why we see that there can always be some turning backs. But, now we have such things as Universal Declaration of Human Rights who can be accepted as a valid source in all countries. Ethical norms develop and some conditions are now seen as objective in everywhere. However, we can still find many differences between different countries and cultures in ethical formation. Cultural factors like education and religion I think contribute a lot to the formation of ethics. In the time of Gilgamesh and Iliad, since there were huge wars and mythology considered war as a normal thing, writers judged this as a normal part of the life. However, with the developing mentalities and ethics conception in ancient Greek democracies, we can notice that ideas and ethics have changed and become more democratic. Finally, in my opinion, it is normal that we see a change in the ethics conception between these works since they were written in different time periods. Although people in the 1930’s were talking about social Darwinism, now we talk about positive discrimination rights. Ideas and humanity are always in motion…

BIBLIOGRAPHY

- Homer, 1995, “The Iliad”, New York: Penguin Books

- Plato, 1992, “The Republic”, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company

- Sophocles, 1974, “The Theban Plays”, London: Penguin Books

- The Epic of Gilgamesh”, 1989, California: Stanford University Press

- Dictionary.com, http://www.dictionary.com

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[1] Definition from Dictionary.com (http://www.dictionary.com)

[2] “O Ismene, what do you think? Our two dear brothers… Creon has given funeral honors to one, And not to the other; nothing but shame and ignominy. Eteocles has been buried, they tell me, in state, With all honorable observances due to the dead. But Polynices, just as unhappily fallen – the Order, Says he is not to be buried, not to be mourned…” (Sophocles, pg 127).

Ozan Örmeci