One can reject radical nationalism, jingoism and chauvinism; but he has to admit that patriotism is necessary. Homeland, that is, where you belong, is a necessity of existence. It is not possible to live without being attached to a homeland. Just as it is not possible not to be in a place and not to have a sense of time, such political structures are least common denominators for human beings. The inevitability of political structures is even ingrained in our psychology. The fact that we use human-made institutions as if they are subjects proves this. “What does religion say about it?” Statements such as “the state is doing this…”, “Turkish people are like this…” are the basis for our individualization and internalization of political structures.
Socrates and Plato, the unyielding defenders of universal thought and the ideal good, were patriots. Much information about Socrates is controversial, but even his enemies will admit that he fought for his state, Athens. Plato also did his military service properly in Athens. Even though military service is compulsory, these philosophers have done their service properly and without being offended, and they have considered serving for their country as a necessity of being human. The homeland has a right over us like the nature that raised us. Homeland should not be confused with government or country. While the homeland is the name of cultural identity, the country is a body with political borders; Government means the people who hold the power.
We use homeland to mean cultural identity, that is, the accumulation by connection of people. Since each individual is a product of culture, everyone has a homeland. Everyone’s homeland is the identity of their culture. We usually call the pieces of land homeland, but the piece of land is the projection of the homeland on the earth. Just as we cannot show an ideal in the outside world or observe a concept, the homeland has an intangible side that we cannot observe. Yet by pointing to the land, we evoke homeland.
Just as the individual mobilizes to defend his body, he must also mobilize to defend his homeland, which is his macro body. This mobilization is in its own interest, because it is the homeland, which is the superstructure, and the great body of which it is a part. Sacrificing for the country? An individual saves his own body through sacrificing his finger, arm, cyst or tumor, a sacrifice can be made for the country as well. However, this sacrifice must be from the heart of the individual. Involuntary, forced sacrifice, like taking a body part by force, is attempted murder. At that time, neither the individual, the country nor the humanity remains.