Atatürk’s reforms and revolutions

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s Revolutions, Atatürk’s Principles (Turkish: Atatürk Devrimleri) are a series of political, legal, cultural, social and economic major drastic progressive changes that were designed to modernize the new Republic of Turkey into a democratic, social, constitutional and secular nation-state. They were implemented under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal.

The depth, breadth and impacts of these changes and the progressivism in them  elevate them to a level importance that these changes deserve to be categorized as revolutions.

One may think that  some accomplishments given in the list below , such as introduction of  Commercial Law,  do not seem to be major accomplishments. However, a closer look into these reveals that  since they are introduced first time and had no predecessors before and the progressive impact  they caused are sufficient enough to classify them as revolutions.

Atatürk was a military genius, a charismatic leader, also a comprehensive reformer in his life. It was important at the time for the Republic of Turkey to be modernized in order to progress towards the level of contemporary civilizations and to be an active member of the culturally developed communities. Mustafa Kemal modernized the life of his country.

Atatürk introduced reforms which he considered of vital importance for the salvation and survival of his people between 1924-1938. These reforms were enthusiastically welcomed by the Turkish people.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s Revolutions

Atatürk undertook a series of reforms to raise Turkey to a level of modern civilized country. These reforms can be grouped under five basic titles.

1. Political Reforms

The Sultanate was abolished (1st November 1922)

The Republic was declared (29 October 1923)

Abolishment of the caliph (3 March 1924)

2. Social Reforms

Recognition of equal rights of men and women (1926 – 1934). The legal position of women and their place in society in the new republic was greatly improved (for example the active and passive voting right at national and local elections).

Reform of Headgear and Dress (25 November 1925)

Closure of mausoleums and dervish lodges, closing of sacred tombs as places of worship. (30 November 1925)

The surname law(21 June 1934)

Adoption of the solar calendar and changing Friday (the Moslem holy day) into a weekday and Sunday becoming the official day of rest of the week (1925)

International numeric system was introduced. ( 1928)

Adoption of international hours and measurements (1925 – 1931)

The nicknames and personal titles were abolished (26 November 1934)

3. Legal Reforms

Abolishment of the religious courts (1924 – 1937)

Implementation of secular law structure nationwide by adoption of Turkish Civil Code and Swiss civil laws (1924 – 1937).  Penal Statute Book and the Trade Law Book were also introduced.

The liberation of the women of Turkey by giving them political and social rights.

a) Rights brought with “Medeni Kanun” (Civilized Law) (1926)

b) Rights for women to be elected for the parliament.

4. Reforms in the fields of education and culture

Unification of education. Abolition of Medreses, renovations of school programs according to contemporary and national needs, opening of new universities. (3 March 1924)

Adoption of new Turkish alphabet and purification of Turkish language from foreign words (1 November 1928)

Establishment of Turkish Language and History Institutions (1931 – 1932)

Regulation of the university education (31 May 1933)

Innovations in fine arts

5. Economic Reforms

Abolition of tithe

Encouragement of the farmers

Establishment of model farms

Establishment of industrial facilities, and putting into effect a law for Incentives for the Industry

Putting into effect Ist and IInd Development Plans (1933-1937), to develop transportation networks

FOR DETAILS READ BELOW;

Founder of the Republic

“Sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the people.”

October 29, 1923 is a fateful date in Turkish history. On that date. Mustafa Kemal Pasha, the liberator of his country, proclaimed the Republic of Turkey. The new homogeneous nation-state stood in sharp contrast to the multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire out of whose ashes it arose. The dynasty and theocratic Ottoman system, with its Sultanate and Caliphate, thus came to and end. Atatürk’s Turkey dedicated itself to the sovereignty of the national will – to the creation of, in President’s words, “the state of the people “.

The Republic swiftly moved to put an end to the so-called “Capitulations “, the special rights and previledges that the Ottomans had granted to some European powers.

The New Turkey’s ideology was, and remains, “Kemalism”, later known as “Atatürkism”. Its basic principles stress the republican form of government representing the power of electorate, secular administration, nationalism, mixed economy with state participation in many of the vital sectors, and modernization. Atatürkism introduced to Turkey the process of parliamentary and participatory democracy.

The first Moslem nation to become a Republic, Turkey has served since the early 1920s as a model for Moslem and non-Moslem nations in the emerging world.

Legal Transformation

“We must liberate our concepts of justice, our laws and legal institutions from the bonds which hold a tight grip on us although they are incompatible with the needs of our century.”

Between 1926 and 1930, the Turkish Republic achieved a legal transformation which might have required decades in most other countries. Religious laws were abolished, and a secular system of jurisprudence introduced. The concepts, the texts and contexts of the laws were made harmonious with the progressive thrust of Atatürk’s Turkey. ” The nation”, Atatürk said, ” has placed its faith in the precept that all laws should be inspired by actual needs here on earth as a basic fact of national life.”

Among the far-reaching changes were the new Civil Code, Penal Code, and Business Law, based on the Swiss, Italian and German models respectively.

The new legal system made all citizens – men and women, rich and poor – equal before the law. It gave Turkey a firm foundation for a society of justice and equal rights.

Social Reforms

“The major challenge facing us is to elevate our national life to the highest level of civilization and prosperity.”

Atatürk’s aim was to modernize Turkish life in order to give his nation a new sense of dignity, equality, and happiness. After more than three centuries of high achievement, the Ottoman Empire had declined from the 17th to the early 20th Century: With Sultans presiding over a social and economic system mired in backwardness, the Ottoman state had become hopelessly outmoded for the modern times. Atatürk resolved to lead his country out of the crumbling past into a brave new future.

In his program of modernization, secular government and education played a major role. Making religious faith a matter of individual conscience, he created a truly secular system in Turkey, where the vast Moslem majority and the small Christian and Jewish minorities are free to practice their faith. As a result of Atatürk’s reforms, Turkey -unlike scores of other countries- has fully secular institutions.

The leader of modern Turkey aspired to freedom and equality for all. When he proclaimed the Republic, he announced that ” the new Turkish State is a state of the people and a state by the people.” Having established a populist and egalitarian system, he later observed: “We are a nation without classes or special privilidges.” He also stressed the paramount importance of the peasants, who had long been neglected in the Ottoman times: ” The true owner and master of Turkey is the peasant who is the real producer.”

To give his nation a modern outlook, Atatürk introduced many reforms: European hats replaced the fez; women stopped wearing the veil; all citizens took surnames; and the Islamic calendar gave way to the Western calendar. A vast transformation took place in the urban and rural life. It can be said that few nations have ever experienced anything comparable to the social change in Atatürk’s Turkey.

The realism and pragmatism of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was the basis for the Turkish ideology known as “Six Arrows”, the root of which was Atatürk’s insistence upon Turkish independence. His social platform customized for his people, the beliefs in secularism. He believed solidly in the sovereignty of his people and addressed corruption and promoted direct representation in government. His social reforms put in place a safeguard against totalitarianism. He promoted education more than had ever been done in Turkish history, believing it was key to maintaining independence. By 1926, he established a penal code and changed laws regarding women’s rights which gave women equality with men. When he insisted men dispense with wearing a fez for westernized hats, he didn’t enforce women giving up the veil and heavy clothes. He pragmatically allowed the women around him to modernize their attire which slowly brought about change in women’s mode of dress.

Economic Growth

“In order to raise our new Turkey to the level that she is worthy of, we must, under all circumstances, attach the highest importance to the national economy.”

When the Turkish Republic came into being in 1923, it lacked capital, industry, and know-how. Successive wars had decimated manpower, agricultural production stood at a low level, and the huge foreign debts of the defunct Ottoman state confronted the new Republic.

President Atatürk swiftly moved to initiate a dynamic program of economic development. ” Our nation,” he stated, ” has crushed the enemy forces. But to achieve independence we must observe the following rule: National sovereignty should be supported by financial independence. The only power that will propel us to this goal is the economy. No matter how mighty they are, political and military victories cannot endure unless they are crowned by economic triumphs.”

With determination and vigor, Atatürk’s Turkey undertook agricultural expansion, industrial growth, and technological advancement. In mining, transportation, manufacturing, banking, exports, social services, housing, communications, energy, mechanization, and other vital areas, many strides were taken. Within the decade, the gross national product increased five-fold.

Turkey’s economic development during Atatürk’s Presidency was impressive in absolute figures and in comparison to other countries. The synthesis that evolved at that time -state enterprises and private initiative active in both industrial and agricultural growth- serves as the basis of the economic structure not only for Turkey but also in dozen countries.

The economic policies of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk have been the core of the agricultural industrialization of Turkey as well as stimulating the growth and increase in business in manufacturing, mining, and shipping as well as trade nationally and globally. Tourism is also one of Turkey’s thriving industries. Atatürk’s economic policies was significant in elevating the status of Turkey internationally as well as among the Turkish people.

The New Language

“The cornerstone of education is an easy system of reading and writing. The hey to this is the new Turkish alphabet based on the Latin script.”

The most difficult change in any society is probably a language reform. Most nations never attempt it; those who do, usually prefer a gradual approach. Under Atatürk’s Leadership, Turkey undertook the modern world’s swiftest and most extensive language reform. In 1928, when he decided that the Arabic script, which had been used by the Turks for a thousand years, should be replaced with the Latin alphabet. He asked the experts: ” How long would it take ?” Most of them replied: ” At least five years.” ” We shall do it,” Atatürk said,” within five months”

As the 1920s came to an end, Turkey had fully and functionally adopted, with its 29 letters (8 vowels and 21 consonants), has none of the complexities of the Arabic script, which was ill-suited to the Turkish language. The language reform enabled children and adults to read and write within a few months, and to study Western languages with greater effectiveness.

Thousands of words, and some grammatical devices, from the Arabic and Persian, held a tight grip over Ottoman Turkish. In the early 1930s, Atatürk spearheaded the movement to eliminate these borrowings. To replace the loan words from foreign languages, large number of original words, which had been in use in the earlier centuries, where revived, and provincial expressions and new coinages were introduced. The transformation met with unparalleled success: In the 1920s, the written language consisted of more than 80 percent Arabic, Persian, and French words; by the early 1980s the ratio had declined to a mere 10 percent.

Atatürk’s language reform -encompassing the script, grammar and vocabulary- stands as one of the most far-reaching in history. It has overhauled Turkish culture and education.

Women’s Rights

“Everything we see in the world is the creative work of women.”

With abiding faith in the vital importance of women in society, Atatürk launched many reforms to give Turkish women equal rights and opportunities. The new Civil Code, adopted in 1926, abolished polygamy and recognized the equal rights of women in divorce, custody, and inheritance. The entire educational system from the grade school to the university became coeducational. Atatürk greatly admired the support that the national liberation struggle received from women and praised their many contributions: ” In Turkish society, women have not lagged behind men in science, scholarship, and culture. Perhaps they have even gone further ahead.” He gave women the same opportunities as men, including full political rights. In the mid-1930s, 18 women, among them a villager, were elected to the national parliament. Later, Turkey had the world’s first women supreme court justice.

In all walks of life, Atatürk’s Turkey has produced tens of thousands of well-educated women who participate in national life as doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, writers, administrators, executives, and creative artists.

Strides in Education

“The governments most creative and significant duty is education.”

Atatürk regarded education as the force that would galvanize the nation into social and economic development. For this reason, he once said that, after the War of Independence, he would have liked to serve as Minister of Education. As President of the Republic, he spared no effort to stimulate and expand education at all levels and for all segments of the society.

Turkey initiated a most ambitious program of schooling children and adults. From grade school to graduate school, education was made free, secular, and co-educational. Primary education was declared compulsory. The armed forces implemented an extensive program of literacy. Atatürk heralded “The Army of Enlightenment”. With pencil or chalk in hand, he personally instructed children and adults in schoolrooms, parks, and other places. Literacy which had been less than 9 percent in 1923 rose to more than 33 percent by 1938.

Women’s education was very close to Atatürk’s hearth. In 1922, even before proclaiming the Republic, he vowed: ” We shall emphasize putting our women’s secondary and higher education on an equal footing with men.”

To give impetus to science and scholarship, Atatürk transformed the University of Istanbul (founded in the mid-15th century) into a modern university in 1933. A few years later, the University of Ankara became into being. Today, Turkey has major universities all over the country. Except for Europe and North America she has one of the world’s highest ratios of university graduates to population.

Atatürk’s Works on Turkish History

Following the reform of the script, which was meant to be a kind of nationalism in the cultural field, Atatürk concentrated his attention on history. He established the Turkish Historical Society in 1931. Here, Turkey’s history was thoroughly examined and evaluated.

The New Calendar, Weights and Measures, Holidays and Surname Laws and many other reforms were achieved as well. An example of this is the Weekend Act of 1924, the International Time and Calendar System of 1925, the Obligation Law and Commercial Law of 1926, the System of Measures 1933 and the Surname Act, 1934. According to the law passed by the Grand National Assembly in 1932 Turks took surnames and the Nation’s leader was given the surname of Atatürk, “Father of the Turks”.

Culture and the Arts

“We shall make the expansion and rise of Turkish culture in every era the mainstay of the Republic.”

Among the prominent statesmen of the 20th Century few articulated the supreme importance of culture as did Atatürk who stated: ” Culture is the foundation of the Turkish Republic.” His view of culture encompassed the nation’s creative legacy as well as the best values of world civilization. It stressed personal and universal humanism. ” Culture,” he said, ” is a basic element in being a person worthy of humanity,” and described Turkey’s ideological thrust as ” a creation of patriotism blended with a lofty humanist ideal.”

To creat the best synthesis, Atatürk underlined the need for the utilization of all the viable elements in the national heritage, including the ancient indigenous cultures, and the arts and techniques of the entire world civilization, past and present. He gave impetus to the study of the earlier civilizations of Anatolia – including Hittite, Phrygian, Lydian, and others. Pre-islamic culture of the Turks became the subject of extensive research which proved that, long before their Seljuk and Ottoman Empires, the Turks had already created a civilization of their own. Atatürk also stressed the folk arts of the countryside as the wellspring of Turkish creativity.

The visual and plastic arts (whose development had been arrested by some bigoted Ottoman officials who claimed that the depiction of the human form was idolatry) flourished during Atatürk’s Presidency. Many museums were opened. Architecture gained new vigor. Classical Western music, opera and ballet as well as the theater took impressive strides. Several hundred “People’s Houses” and the ” People’s Rooms” all over Turkey gave local people and youngsters a wide variety of artistic activities, sports, and other cultural affairs. Book and magazine publication enjoyed a boom. Film industry started to grow. In all walks of cultural life, Atatürk’s inspiration created an upsurge.

Atatürk’s Turkey is living proof of this ideal – a country rich in its own national culture, open to the heritage of world civilization, and at home in the endowments of the modern technological age.

Secularist Reforms

In 1922 the new nationalist regime abolished the Ottoman sultanate, and in 1924 it abolished the caliphate, which the Ottoman sultanate had held for centuries. Thus, for the first time in Islamic history, no ruler claimed the spiritual leadership of Islam; this was still the case in the late 1980s. The withdrawal of Turkey, heir to the Ottoman Empire, as the presumptive leader of the world Muslim community was symbolic of the change in Turkey’s relation to Islam.

Secularism or laicism (Laiklik in Turkish) was one of the “Six Arrows” of Atatürk’s blueprint for modern Turkey; these founding principles of the republic, usually referred to as Atatürkism or Kemalism, were the basis for many of the early republican reforms. As Islam had formed the identity of the Ottoman Empire and its subjects, so secularism molded the new Turkish nation and its citizens.

Establishment of secularism in Turkey was a process of distinguishing church from state or the religious from the nonreligious spheres of life. In the Ottoman Empire, all spheres of life were theoretically ruled by religious law, and religious organizations did not exist apart from the state.

The reforms bearing directly on religion were numerous. They included the abolition of the caliphate; abolition of the office of seyhülislam (Islamic ruler); abolition of the religious hierarchy; closing and confiscation of the dervish lodges, meeting places, and monasteries and outlawing of their rituals and meetings; establishment of government control over the Evkaf, which had been inalienable under Sheriat (Islamic rules); replacement of Sheriat with adapted European legal codes; closing of the religious schools (Medresses); changing from the Islamic to the Western calendar; outlawing the fez for men and frowning on the veil for women, both garments associated with religious tradition; and outlawing the traditional garb of local religious leaders.

The nationalist regime made attempts to give religion a more modern and more national form. The state also supported use of Turkish rather than Arabic at devotions and the substitution of the Turkish word Tanri for the Arabic word Allah. The opposition, however, was strong enough to ensure that Arabic remained the language of prayer. In 1932, for example, the government’s determination that Turkish be used in the call to prayer from the minarets was not well accepted and in 1934 it returned to the Arabic version of the call to prayer. Most notably, the Hagia Sophia (church of the Holy Wisdom, the Byzantine Emperor Justinian’s sixth century basilica, which was converted into a mosque by Mehmed II) was made into a museum.

Peace at Home, Peace in the World

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk – A Man of Peace

“Mankind is a single body and each nation a part of that body. We must never say ‘What does it matter to me if some part of the world is ailing?’ If there is such an illness, we must concern ourselves with it as though we were having that illness.”

A military hero who had won victory after victory against many foreign invaders, Atatürk knew the value of peace and, during his Presidency, did his utmost to secure and strengthen it throughout the world. Few of the giants of the modern times have spoken with Atatürk’s eloquence on the vital need to create a world order based on peace, on the dignity of all human beings, and on the constructive interdependence of all nations. He stated, immediately after the Turkish War of Independence, that “peace is the most effective way for nations to attain prosperity and happiness.” Later as he concluded treaties of friendship and created regional ententes, he affirmed: ” Turks are the friends of all civilized nations.” The new Turkey established cordial relations with all countries, including those powers which had tried a few years earlier to wipe the Turks off the map. She did not pursue a policy of expansionism, and never engaged in any act contrary to peaceful co-existence. Atatürk signed pacts with Greece, Rumania and Yugoslavia in the Balkans, and with Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan in the East. He maintained friendly relations with the Soviet Union, the United States, England, Germany, Italy, France, and all other states. In the early 1930s, he and the Greek Premier Venizelos initiated and signed a treaty of peace and cooperation.

In 1932, the League of Nations invited Turkey to become a member. Many of Atatürk’s ideas and ideals presaged the principles enshrined in the League of Nations and the United Nations.” As clearly as I see daybreak, I have the vision of the rise of the oppressed nations to their independence… If lasting peace is sought, it is essential to adopt international measures to improve the lot of the masses. Mankind’s well-being should take the place of hunger and oppression… Citizens of the world should be educated in such a way that they shall no longer feel envy, avarice and vengefulness.”

In recognition of Atatürk’s untiring efforts to build peace, the League of Nations paid tribute to him at his death in November 1938 as ” a genius international peacemaker”. In 1981, on the occasion of the Centennial of his birth, the United Nations and UNESCO honored the memory of the great Turkish Statesman who abhorred war – ” Unless the life of the nation faces peril, war is a crime,” – and expressed his faith in organized peace:” If war were to break out, nations would rush to join their armed forces and national resources. The swiftest and most effective measure is to establish an international organization which would prove to the aggressor that its aggression cannot pay.”

His creation of modern Turkey and his contribution to the world have made Atatürk an historic figure of enduring influence.

Atatürk exhibited enormous forward thinking in terms of his foreign policies. He maintained peaceful relations that would give Turkey world recognition as an important diplomatic country. But, he also defined the Turkish culture of respect, order and duty. One of his acts which points to his diplomacy was when, shortly before his death in 1938, as representatives of the Lausanne Treaty met in Montreaux in 1936, a new convention was drawn giving Turkey the right to fortify the Straits and to close them to belligerent warships.

ATATÜRK DECLARES; The Turkish Revolution

What is the Turkish Revolution? This revolution refers to a wider change than the word “ Revolution “ first suggests. Today, our country is governed in the best way that has abolished all the others that were practiced in many centuries.

The bond among the individuals that the nation suggests for its existence has changed its form and essential character, in other words, the nation has instituted its unity by the bond of “Turkish Nationality” instead of the bond of religion and sect.

The nation acknowledges the fact that science and the means that can be a nation’s reason of existence and power in the international struggle, can only be found in contemporary civilization, as a solid principle.

These changes that our great nation has performed in the course of its life are in summary one of the most magnificent revolutions that is much deeper than any revolution. 1925 ( M. E. I. S. D. I, p. 28 )

The real revolutionaries are those who know how to penetrate the true tendency in the souls and conscience of the people they want to direct to the revolution of progress. I would like to take this opportunity to stress that the true owner of the political and social revolutions, and the wonders Turkish nation performed in the last years, is the nation itself. It is you. If this progress and capacity hadn’t existed, nothing would have been sufficient to create it. Undoubtedly, the impossibility of taking a society which is at a certain level of civilization to a much higher level in no time is obvious. This is the main principle of the revolutions we’ve made and we are still making. It is definitely essential to get rid of the mentality that cannot accept it. Until now, there have been many that have this mentality that benumbs and rusts society’s mind. The fabricated nonsense in the minds will surely be expelled. Unless it is completely expelled, it is impossible restore the mind to its true light. 1925 ( Atatürk’s B. N., p. 92 – 93 )

A destructed country on the edge of the cliff … Bloody battles against many enemies … Year long war … And then, a new motherland, a new society, a new government that are esteemed at home and abroad, and continuous revolutions to reach these goals … Here is a summary of the Turkish revolution. 1935 ( Atatürk’s S. D. I, p. 365 )

Which one should be preferred for Turkey, gradual or sudden progress? There are two ways. One of them, as you all know, is the way of the French Revolution: Regimes would change, counter revolutions against revolutions would be made, a century and a half would pass while the left thrashing the right, the right stomping on the left …. Does this nation have that much blood in its veins and that long time to wait? 1922 ( İsmail Habib Sevük, For Atatürk, p. 73 )

The law of the revolution is superior to the existing law. As long as we are not killed and the movement started in our minds is not suffocated, the revolution we have started will not stop even for a single moment. 1923 ( İsmail Arar, Atatürk’s İzmit Press Conference, P. 56 )

The revolution is as bright, as hot and as far from us as the sun. I always find my direction using this sun, and go forward, forward, forward until it is too scorching and bright to get any closer. Then I stop, and redirect myself using the sun. ( Ahmet Cevat Emre, Huhit Magazine, Year : 4, Issue : 48, 1932, p.2 )

There are some periods in a nation’s history when all the physical and moral forces must be united and aimed at the same direction to reach certain goals. In recent years, our nation perceived the important results of such a movement of unity.

All the nationalist and republican forces must unite their power to defend the revolution and the country against internal and external threats.

Forces of the same kind must unit in the same manner. 1931 (Atatürk’ün S.D. III, P. 90)

Let all the world know that there is only one side, that I am on the side of the republic, the political and social revolution. On this matter, I do not even want to think that any citizen of the new Turkish Republic feels any different. 1924 ( Atatürk’s S. D. II, p. 189 )

Those with fresh ideas are those with the real ideas who see and perceive the right path. This is the main desire and the point of view of the nation we all must comply to. 1925 ( Mustafa Selim İmece, Atatürk’s S. D. K. and I. S. , p. 17 )

Friends, for the revolutions we have made and we are still making, we follow the light and the enlightened; our goal and skill is to enlighten the illiterate and encourage them to walk with us to reach the light. It would not only be ignorance, but also treachery to resort to a referendum which would hinder us from taking our republic to the level of contemporary civilization. In a country where 80 % of the population is illiterate, revolutions can not be decided by plebiscites!…1984 (Bâki Vandemir, Yerli, yabancı 80 imza Atatürk’ü Anlatıyor, P. 172)

We will perform all the requirements of the republic trusting the nation’s sharpness and capacity to progress, and never suspecting its determination. We know that we face many hindrances and difficulties. We will solve all of these problems one by one with determination and faith, and the unbeatable power of the love of the nation. It is that love of the nation, which is the source of never-ending power, fire and endurance in our hearts in spite of everything. 1924 ( Atatürk’s S. D. II, p. 166 )

Our nation is a self sacrificing one for its motherland, independence and freedom; This is a fact it has proven. Our nation is also jealously protective of the revolutions it has made. No one, no power can keep a nation that has such inbred virtues in its heart from treading the right path it walks on. 1924 ( Atatürk’s B. N., p. 84 )

As the height of the sun of revolution that rose on the horizon of Turkey, increased spreading its warmth, the heart of Turkish nation filled with the warmest love towards the world’s great and worthy feats, and all the principles of progress have been fully adopted. 1923 ( Atatürk’s T. T. B. IV, p.560 )

The obstacles that want to slow down the social and intellectual pace of our nation which is capable of every progress and maturity must absolutely be eliminated. 1924 ( Atatürk’s B. N., p. 86 )

We have made a great revolution. We have carried the country from one era to a new one. We have broken many old institutions. Those institutions have thousands of followers. We must not forget that they are waiting for the right time and opportunity. Even the most advanced democracies have employed hard measures to protect the regime, and we need the measures that protect the revolution even more than them. 1925 ( Avni Doğan, Independence, Establishment and Afterwards, p. 165 )

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Atatürk’s Supplementary (Complementary) Principles

Although Atatürk’s principles are classified under 6, all of them are parts must be considered as a whole and all the volunteers of Atatürk must know and believe, live and support all of them.  Not to believe even one of them is not to believe all. And then one cannot be regarded as volunteer of Atatürk.

Her ne kadar Atatürk ilkeleri altı başlık altında sınıflandırılsa da, o ilkelerin hepsi bir bütün olarak düşünülmeli ve tüm Atatürk sevdalıları bunların tamamını bilmeli ve inanmalı, yaşamalı ve desteklemelidir. Bunlardan birine bile inanmamak hepsine inanmamak demektir. Ve o zaman kişi Atatürkçü sayılamaz.

The supplementary principles of Atatürk are binding and complementary issues which are not written and produced but borned from the apllications of the main principles.

Atatürk’ün tamamlayıcı, bütünleyici ilkeleri, yazılı olmayan veya üretilmemiş ancak ana ilkelerin uygulanmasından doğmuş bağlayıcı, bütünleyici ilkelerdir.

All these certain supplementary issues are related with being independence, sovereign, native, national, and all these principles are, again,  parts of democracy, secularism, rationalism, civilization and Turkishness. And while carriying out all these, principles are related with loving mankind and whole Nation and high tolerance.

Tüm bu ilkeler bağımsızlıkla, egemenlikle, yerli ve milli olmakla alakalıdır ve tüm bu ilkeler yine demokrasi, laiklik, akılcılık, çağdaşlaşma ve Türklüğün parçalarıdır. Tüm bunlara ek olarak bu ilkeler insanlığı ve bütün ulusu sevmekle ve yüce hoşgörü ile alakalıdır.

As seen these supplementary principles are both helper of main ones and also these are parts of the common humanity values. That’s why, these must be accepted just like the main ones.

Görüldüğü gibi bu tamamlayıcı ilkeler hem ana ilkelerin yardımcısı hem de yüksek insanlık değerlerinin parçalarıdır. Bu nedenle ana ilkeler gibi bu tamamlayıcı ilkeler de kabul edilip benimsenmelidir.

Below, supplementary principles are faithfully listed as regarded to the common acceptance.

Aşağıda, genel kabule göre tanzim edilmiş tamamlayıcı ilkelerin tam listesi mevcuttur.

1. National sovereignty (Milli egemenlik)

This principle is the main, target and indispensable of all. It supports especially Republicanism. National sovereignty principle means nation to chose her managers and appoint her future herself freely. The source of sovereignty based on national willpower. If there is no national willpower, that means all other supplementary and main principles are futile, short-lived and fake.

Bu ilke tüm ilkelerin esası, hedefi, vazgeçilmezidir. Bu ilke Cumhuriyetçilik ilkesini destekler. Milli egemenlik ilkesi milletin kendi yöneticilerini kendisinin ve hür olarak seçmesi ve geleceğine yön vermesi demektir. Egemenliğin kaynağı milli iradedir. Milli irade yoksa tüm tamamlayıcı ve ana ilkeler beyhude, kısa ömürlü ve sahte demektir.

2. National independence (Milli bağımsızlık)

This principle is related with nations survivability and means being free, independence and self-contained in every kind of issues of the nation. This concept includes economy, politics, art, Agriculture, industry, sports, education etc. It also needs to refuse all pressures and constricts. At the same time this principle requires to be brave enough to appoint her future herself. It is unacceptable to leave this rule even temporary or partly and therefore this is one of the vital principles. Essentially this principle is related with Nationalism and can be summarized with sayings of Atatürk “either independence or death”.

Bu ilke ulusun bekasıyla alakalıdır ve ulusu ilgilendiren tüm alanlarda hür ve bağımsız olmak ve kendi kendisine yetmek demektir. Bu prensip ekonomiyi, siyaseti, sanat, tarım, endüstri, spor, eğitim gibi tüm alanları kapsar. Bu ilke aynı zamanda tüm baskı ve sınırlamaları da reddetmeyi gerektirir. Aynı zamanda bu ilke, milletin geleceğini kendisi tayin edecek kadar cesur olmasını gerektirir. Bu ilkenin geçici veya kısmen terki kabul edilemez ve bu yüzden bu ilke hayati ilkelerden birisidir. Esasen bu ilke Milliyetçilik ilkesiyle alakalıdır ve Atatürk’ün “Ya istiklal ya ölüm” özdeyişiyle özetlenebilir.

3. National unity and solidarity, integrity (Milli birlik ve beraberlik, ülke bütünlüğü)

All of the principles’ aim is being one and powerful, developing and progressing, sharing the same future, living the happiness and griefs all together. This principle, while related with Nationalism, requires and realizes, living together in free motherland, collaborating, keeping common ideals, loving each other and keeping integrity of homeland.

Tüm ilkeler, bir ve güçlü olmayı, ilerleme ve gelişmeyi, bir bütün olarak aynı geleceği, mutluluk ve kederleri paylaşmayı amaçlar. Bu ilke, Milliyetçilikle alakalıyken, vatan topraklarında birlikte yaşamayı, işbirliğini, ortak hedeflerin muhafaza edilmesini, birbirini sevmeyi ve vatanın bütünlüğünü muhafaza etmeyi ister ve gerçekleştirir.

4. Peace at home, peace in the World (Yurtta barış, dünyada barış)

This principle means to prefer, support and follow peace but this doesn’t mean despite everything. The main issue is being independent and sovereign and if the peace can guarantee this, only then all the peace efforts can be supported. And this independent must be not only in military issues but also in every issues of the nation like art, sport, industry etc. This principle requires to be ready, powerful, informed and volunteer to defense the country and at the same time requires to be prepared against not only in motherland but also abroad. The final aim of this principle is the peace to be applicable all around the World.

Bu ilke barışı tercih etmek, desteklemek ve takip etmek demektir ama bu her şeye rağmen değildir. Esas unsur bağımsız ve egemen olmaktır ve barış bunu garantilerse ancak o zaman barış çabaları desteklenebilir. Ve bu bağımsızlık sadece askeri alanda değil aynı zamanda sanat, spor, sanayi gibi milleti ilgilendiren tüm alanlardadır. Bu ilke ülke savunmasında hazır, güçlü, bilgili ve istekli olmayı gerektirir ve aynı zamanda sadece yurt içine değil yurt dışına da karşı hazır olmayı gerektirir. Bu ilkenin nihai amacı barışın dünyanın her yerinde uygulanabilir olmasıdır.

5. Rationalism and scientific (Akılcılık ve bilimsellik) (Scientificism and Rationalism)
   

Leaving ruthless beliefs, superstitions, blinded habits and negative approaches to the mind, instead accepting modern and scientific works based on the law (nature) of life and the legitimacy based on the power are the basics of this principle. It also means accepting objectively mind and knowledge as  guides  to life. It is especially related with Secularism because the huge obstacles in front of the brains are religious ones. Truths emerge from the rationalism, modern sciences helps dominance of scientific ideas. Revolutions were performed by rationalism and scientific. All of the law, education, economic and social life were organized by under the leadership of mind and science.

Köhne inanış, batıl inanç, körelmiş alışkanlıklar ve akla ters yaklaşımları terk, bunun yerine hayatın doğasından kaynaklanan modern ve bilimsel çalışmalar ile güce dayalı meşruluğu kabul bu ilkenin temelleridir.  Bu aynı zamanda objektif akıl ve bilimi hayata rehber edinmeyi kabul etmek demektir. İlke özellikle laiklikle alakalıdır çünkü akılların önündeki en büyük engeller dini olanlardır. Gerçekler akılcılıkla ortaya çıkar, Modern bilimler bilimsel fikirlerin egemen olmasına yardım eder. İnkılaplar akılcılık ve bilimsellikle yapılmıştır. Tüm Yasalar, eğitim, ekonomik ve sosyal hayat akıl ve bilimin önderliğinde teşkil edilmiştir.

6. Modernity and westernization (Çağdaşlık ve batılılaşma)

This principle means, by keeping national culture, individuality, spirit and history, struggle to be modern and civilized. The critical issue under this subject is this modernization must be native, harmless, friendly. Otherwise losing native individuality but gaining technology and foreign copy cultures can’t be accepted. This principle is especially related with Reformism. Reformism requires both personal and national reforms. Hence, all institutions, state bodies and citizens must be volunteer to advance on the road of civilization just to be protected against being slave or prisoner to other nations and cultures.

Bu ilke milli kültür, benlik, ruh ve tarihi muhafaza ederken, modern ve medeni olmaya çalışmayı ifade eder. Bu başlık altındaki en kritik konu medenileşmenin yerli, zararsız, dostane olmasıdır. Aksi takdirde milli benliği kaybetmek ama teknolojiye ve yabancı kopya kültürlere sahip olmak kabul edilemez. Bu ilke aslen inkılapçılık ilkesiyle bağlantılıdır. İnkılapçılık hem ferdi hem devlet çapında reformları gerektirir. Yani, tüm kurumlar, devlet organları ve vatandaşlar diğer devlet ve kültürlere köle veya esir olmamak için medeniyet yolunda ilerlemeye gönüllü olmalıdır.

7. Love of human and humanity (İnsanı ve insanlığı sevmek) (Humanitarianism)

Tolerance means complaisance, humility and sobriety. These are also the main orders of all religions. To forgive small faults, always be calm, respect other ideas, solve problems by talking are the basics of this principle. This rule is also necessary between single person and the people or government. This principle doesn’t mean forgive endlessly. Unlikely, punishing crimes is vital, but on the other hand pity is the supreme morality. Loving human and humanity based on the fondness. And this is the fundamental of society. The Turkish revolution is hümanist and it adopts loving humanity as a basic rule. Therefore, revolutions are long lasting and comprehensive. And that’s why, revolutions are adopted in a very short time by all the nation.

Tolerans, hoşgörü, tevazu ve itidal demektir. Bunlar aynı zamanda tüm dinlerin de temel emirleridir. Küçük hataları affetmek, daima sakin olmak, diğer fikirlere saygı göstermek, meseleleri konuşarak çözmek bu ilkenin temelleridir. Bu kaide aynı zamanda tek fert ve toplum veya devlet arasında da gereklidir. Bu ilke sınırsız affetmek değildir. Aksine suçları cezalandırmak hayatidir, fakat diğer taraftan merhamet yüce ahlaktır. İnsanı ve insanlığı sevmek şefkat tabanlıdır. Ve bu toplumun temelidir. Türk inkılabı uzun ömürlü ve kapsamlıdır. Ve bu nedenle devrimler kısa zamanda tüm ulusça kabullenilmiştir.

Bakınız; Atatürk İlkeleri İngilizce

Bu yazı Atatürk’ün bütünleyici ilkeleri İngilizce ilk olarak şu sitede yayınlanmıştır Ataturkicimizde.com. Yazının kaynağı bu sitedir.

Kemal Atatürk
PRESIDENT OF TURKEY
WRITTEN BY: Norman Itzkowitz

BORN; 1881 Thessaloníki, Greece

DIED; November 10, 1938 (aged 57), Istanbul, Turkey

TITLE / OFFICE; President, Turkey (1923-1937)

ROLE IN;

World War I
Gallipoli Campaign
Greco-Turkish Wars
Balkan Wars
Treaty Of Sèvres
Greco-Turkish War
First Balkan War
Lausanne Conference

Kemal Atatürk, (Turkish: “Kemal, Father of Turks”), original name Mustafa Kemal, also called Mustafa Kemal Paṣa, (born 1881, Salonika [now Thessaloníki], Greece—died November 10, 1938, Istanbul, Turkey), soldier, statesman, and reformer who was the founder and first president (1923–38) of the Republic of Turkey. He modernized the country’s legal and educational systems and encouraged the adoption of a European way of life, with Turkish written in the Latin alphabet and with citizens adopting European-style names.

One of the great figures of the 20th century, Atatürk rescued the surviving Turkish remnant of the defeated Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I. He galvanized his people against invading Greek forces who sought to impose the Allied will upon the war-weary Turks and repulsed aggression by British, French, and Italian troops. Through these struggles, he founded the modern Republic of Turkey, for which he is still revered by the Turks. He succeeded in restoring to his people pride in their Turkishness, coupled with a new sense of accomplishment as their nation was brought into the modern world. Over the next two decades, Atatürk created a modern state that would grow under his successors into a viable democracy. (For a more complete discussion of this period in Turkish history, see Turkey, history of: The emergence of the modern Turkish state.)

Early Life And Education

Atatürk was born in 1881 in Salonika, then a thriving port of the Ottoman Empire, and was given the name Mustafa. His father, Ali Riza, had been a lieutenant in a local militia unit during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, indicating that his origins were within the Ottoman ruling class, if only marginally. Mustafa’s mother, Zübeyde Hanım, came from a farming community west of Salonika.

Ali Riza died when Mustafa was seven years old, but he nevertheless had a significant influence on the development of his son’s personality. At Mustafa’s birth, Ali Riza hung his sword over his son’s cradle, dedicating him to military service. Most important, Ali Riza saw to it that his son’s earliest education was carried out in a modern secular school, rather than in the religious school Zübeyde Hanım would have preferred. In this way Ali Riza set his son on the path of modernization. This was something for which Mustafa always felt indebted to his father.

After Ali Riza’s death, Zübeyde Hanım moved to her step-brother’s farm outside Salonika. Concerned that Mustafa might grow up uneducated, she sent him back to Salonika, where he enrolled in a secular school that would have prepared him for a bureaucratic career. Mustafa became enamoured of the uniforms worn by the military cadets in his neighbourhood. He determined to enter upon a military career. Against his mother’s wishes, Mustafa took the examination for entrance to the military secondary school.

At the secondary school, Mustafa received the nickname of Kemal, meaning “The Perfect One,” from his mathematics teacher; he was thereafter known as Mustafa Kemal. In 1895 he progressed to the military school in Monastir (now Bitola, Macedonia). He made several new friends, including Ali Fethi (Okyar), who would later join him in the creation and development of the Turkish republic.

Having completed his education at Monastir, Mustafa Kemal entered the War College in Istanbul in March 1899. He enjoyed the freedom and sophistication of the city, to which he was introduced by his new friend and classmate Ali Fuat (Cebesoy).

There was a good deal of political dissent in the air at the War College, directed against the despotism of Sultan Abdülhamid II. Mustafa Kemal remained aloof from it until his third year, when he became involved in the production of a clandestine newspaper. His activities were uncovered, but he was allowed to complete the course, graduating as a second lieutenant in 1902 and ranking in the top 10 of his class of more than 450 students. He then entered the General Staff College, graduating in 1905 as a captain and ranking fifth out of a class of 57; he was one of the empire’s leading young officers.

Military Career

Mustafa Kemal’s career almost ended soon after his graduation when it was discovered that he and several friends were meeting to read about and discuss political abuses within the empire. A government spy infiltrated their group and informed on them. A cloud of suspicion hung over their heads that was not to be lifted for years. The group was broken up and its members assigned to remote areas of the empire. Mustafa Kemal and Ali Faut were sent to the Fifth Army in Damascus, where Mustafa Kemal was angered by the way corrupt officials were treating the local people. Becoming involved again in antigovernment activities, he helped found a short-lived secret group called the Society for Fatherland and Freedom.

Nevertheless, in September 1907 Mustafa Kemal was declared loyal and reassigned to Salonika, which was awash with subversive activity. He joined the dominant antigovernment group, the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), which had ties to the nationalist and reformist Young Turk movement.

In July 1908 an insurrection broke out in Macedonia. The sultan was forced to reinstate the constitution of 1876, which limited his powers and reestablished a representative government. The hero of this “Young Turk Revolution” was Enver (Enver Paşa), who later became Mustafa Kemal’s greatest rival; the two men came to dislike each other thoroughly.

In 1909 two elements within the revolutionary movement came to the fore. One group favoured decentralization, with harmony and cooperation between the Muslims and the non-Muslims. The other, headed by the CUP, advocated centralization and Turkish control. An insurrection spearheaded by reactionary troops broke out on the night of April 12–13, 1909. The revolution that had restored the constitution in 1908 was in danger. Military officers and troops from Salonika, among whom Enver played a leading role, marched on Istanbul. They arrived at the capital on April 23, and by the next day they had the situation well in hand. The CUP took control and forced Abdülhamid II to abdicate.

Enver was thus in the ascendancy. Mustafa Kemal felt that the military, having gained its political ends, should refrain from interfering in politics. He urged those officers who wanted political careers to resign their commissions. This served only to increase the hostility of Enver and other CUP leaders toward him. Mustafa Kemal turned his attention from politics to military matters. He translated German infantry training manuals into Turkish. From his staff position he criticized the state of the army’s training. His reputation among serious military officers was growing. This activity also brought him into contact with many of the rising young officers. A feeling of mutual respect developed between Mustafa Kemal and some of these officers, who were later to flock to his support in the creation of the Turkish nation.

The CUP, however, was fed up with him, and he was transferred to field command and then sent to observe French army maneuvers in Picardy. Although consistently denied promotion, Mustafa Kemal did not lose faith in himself. In late 1911 the Italians attacked Libya, then an Ottoman province, and Mustafa Kemal went there immediately to fight. Malaria and trouble with his eyes required him to leave the front for treatment in Vienna.

In October 1912, while Mustafa Kemal was in Vienna, the First Balkan War broke out. He was assigned to the defense of the Gallipoli Peninsula, an area of strategic importance with respect to the Dardanelles. Within two months the Ottoman Empire lost most of its territory in Europe, including Monastir and Salonika, places for which Mustafa Kemal had special affection. Among the refugees who poured into Istanbul were his mother, sister, and stepfather.

The Second Balkan War, of short duration (June–July 1913), saw the Ottomans regain part of their lost territory. Relations were renewed with Bulgaria. Mustafa Kemal’s former schoolmate Ali Fethi was named ambassador, and Mustafa Kemal accompanied him to Sofia as military attaché. There he was promoted to lieutenant colonel.

Mustafa Kemal complained of Enver’s close ties to Germany and predicted German defeat in an international conflict. Once World War I broke out, however, and the Ottoman Empire entered on the side of the Central Powers, he sought a military command. Enver made him cool his heels in Sofia but finally gave him command of the 19th Division, which was being organized in the Gallipoli Peninsula. It was here that the Allies attempted their ill-fated landings, giving Mustafa Kemal the opportunity to throw them back and thwart their attempt to force the Dardanelles (February 1915–January 1916). During the battle, Mustafa Kemal was hit by a piece of shrapnel, which lodged in the watch he carried in his breast pocket and thus failed to cause him serious injury. His success at Gallipoli thrust Mustafa Kemal onto the world scene. He was hailed as the “Saviour of Istanbul” and was promoted to colonel on June 1, 1915.

In 1916 Mustafa Kemal was assigned to the Russian front and promoted to general, acquiring the title of pasha. He was the only Turkish general to win any victories over the Russians on the Eastern Front. Later that year, he took over the command of the Second Army in southeastern Anatolia. There he met Colonel İsmet (İnönü), who would become his closest ally in building the Turkish republic.

The outbreak of the Russian Revolution in March 1917 made Mustafa Kemal available for service in the Ottoman provinces of Syria and Iraq, on which the British were advancing from their base in Egypt. He was appointed to the command of the Seventh Army in Syria, but he was appalled by the sad state of the army. Resigning his post, he returned without permission to Istanbul. He was placed on leave for three months and then assigned to accompany Crown Prince Mehmed Vahideddin on a state visit to Germany.

On his return to Istanbul, Mustafa Kemal fell ill with kidney problems, most probably related to gonorrhea, which it is believed he had contracted earlier. (His physical problems would later require him to have a personal physician in constant attendance throughout his years as president of the Turkish republic.) He went to Vienna for treatment and then to Carlsbad to recuperate. While he was in Carlsbad, Sultan Mehmed V died, and Vahideddin assumed the throne as Mehmed VI. Mustafa Kemal was recalled to Istanbul in June 1918.

Through Enver’s machinations, the sultan assigned Mustafa Kemal to command the collapsing Ottoman forces in Syria. He found the situation there worse than he had imagined and withdrew northward to save the lives of as many of his soldiers as possible.

Fighting was halted by the Armistice of Mudros (October 30, 1918). Shortly afterward, Enver and other leaders of the CUP fled to Germany, leaving the sultan to lead the government. To ensure the continuation of his rule, Mehmed VI was willing to cooperate with the Allies, who assumed control of the government.

The Nationalist Movement And The War For Independence

The Allies did not wait for a peace treaty to begin claiming Ottoman territory. Early in December 1918, Allied troops occupied sections of Istanbul and set up an Allied military administration. On February 8, 1919, the French general Franchet d’Espèrey entered the city on a white horse, emulating Mehmed the Conqueror’s entrance in 1453 but signifying that Ottoman sovereignty over the imperial city was over. The Allies made plans to incorporate the provinces of eastern Anatolia into an independent Armenian state. French troops advanced into Cilicia in the southeast. Greece and Italy put forward competing claims for southwestern Anatolia. The Italians occupied Marmaris, Antalya, and Burdur, and on May 15, 1919, Greek troops landed at Izmir and began a drive into the interior of Anatolia, killing Turkish inhabitants and ravaging the countryside. Allied statesmen seemed to be abandoning Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points in favour of the old imperialist views set down in the secret treaties and contained in their own secret ambitions.

Meanwhile, Mustafa Kemal’s armies had been disbanded. He returned to Istanbul on November 13, 1919, just as ships of the Allied fleet sailed up the Bosporus. This scene, as well as the city’s occupation by British, French, and Italian troops, left a lasting impression on Mustafa Kemal. He was determined to oust them. He began meeting with selected friends to formulate a policy to save Turkey. Among these friends were Ali Fuat and Rauf (Orbay), the Ottoman naval hero. Ali Fuat was stationed in Anatolia and knew the situation there intimately. He and Mustafa Kemal developed a plan for an Anatolian national movement centred on Ankara.

In various parts of Anatolia, Turks had already taken matters into their own hands, calling themselves associations for the defense of rights and organizing paramilitary units. They began to come into armed conflict with local non-Muslims, and it appeared that they might soon do so against the occupying forces as well.

Fearing anarchy, the Allies urged the sultan to restore order in Anatolia. The grand vizier recommended Mustafa Kemal as a loyal officer who could be sent to Anatolia as inspector general of the Third Army. Mustafa Kemal contrived to get his orders written in such a way as to give him extraordinarily extensive powers. These included the authority to issue orders throughout Anatolia and to command obedience from provincial governors.

Modern Turkish history may be said to begin on the morning of May 19, 1919, with Mustafa Kemal’s landing at Samsun, on the Black Sea coast of Anatolia. So psychologically meaningful was this date for Mustafa Kemal that, when in later life he was asked to provide his date of birth for an encyclopaedia article, he gave it as May 19, 1919. Abandoning his official reason for being in Anatolia—to restore order—he headed inland for Amasya. There he told a cheering crowd that the sultan was the prisoner of the Allies and that he had come to prevent the nation from slipping through the fingers of its people. This became his message to the Turks of Anatolia.

The Allies pressured the sultan to recall Mustafa Kemal, who ignored all communications from Istanbul. The sultan dismissed him and telegraphed all provincial governors, instructing them to ignore Mustafa Kemal’s orders. Imperial orders for his arrest were circulated.

Mustafa Kemal avoided dismissal from the army by officially resigning late on the evening of July 7. As a civilian, he pressed on with his retinue from Sivas to Erzurum, where General Kâzim Karabekir, commander of the XV Army Corps of 18,000 men, was headquartered. At this critical moment, when Mustafa Kemal had no military support or official status, Kâzim threw in his lot with Mustafa Kemal, placing his troops at Mustafa Kemal’s disposal. This was a crucial turning point in the struggle for independence.

Kâzim had called for a congress of all defense-of-rights associations to be held in Erzurum on July 23, 1919. Mustafa Kemal was elected head of the Erzurum Congress and thereby gained an official status. The congress drafted a document covering the six eastern provinces of the empire. Later known as the National Pact, it affirmed the inviolability of the Ottoman “frontiers”—that is, all the Ottoman lands inhabited by Turks when the Armistice of Mudros was signed. It also created a provisional government, revoked the special status arrangements for the minorities of the Ottoman Empire (the capitulations), and set up a steering committee, which then elected Mustafa Kemal as head.

Mustafa Kemal sought to extend the National Pact to the entire Ottoman-Muslim population of the empire. To that end, he called a national congress that met in Sivas and ratified the pact. He exposed attempts by the sultan’s government to arrest him and to disrupt the Sivas Congress. The grand vizier in Istanbul was driven from office. The new government, which was sympathetic to the nationalist movement, restored Mustafa Kemal’s military rank and decorations.

Unconvinced of the sultan’s ability to rid the country of the Allied occupation, Mustafa Kemal established the seat of his provisional government in Ankara, 300 miles (480 km) from Istanbul. There he would be safer from both the sultan and the Allies. This proved a wise decision. On March 16, 1920, in Istanbul, the Allies arrested leading nationalist sympathizers, including Rauf, and sent them to Malta.

The conciliatory Istanbul government fell and was replaced by reactionaries who dissolved the parliament and pressured the religious dignitaries into declaring Mustafa Kemal and his associates infidels worthy of being shot on sight. The die was cast—it would be the sultan’s government or Mustafa Kemal’s.

Many prominent Turks escaped from Istanbul to Ankara, including İsmet and, after him, Fevzi (Çakmak), the sultan’s war minister. Fevzi became Mustafa Kemal’s chief of the general staff. New elections were held, and a parliament, called the Grand National Assembly (GNA), met in Ankara on April 23, 1920. The assembly elected Mustafa Kemal as its president.

In June 1920 the Allies handed the sultan the Treaty of Sèvres, which he signed on August 10, 1920. By the provisions of this treaty, the Ottoman state was greatly reduced in size, with Greece one of the major beneficiaries. Armenia was declared independent. Mustafa Kemal repudiated the treaty. Having received military aid from the Soviet Union, he set out to drive the Greeks from Anatolia and Thrace and to subdue the new Armenian state.

As the war against the Greeks started to go well for Mustafa Kemal’s forces, France and Italy negotiated with the nationalist government in Ankara. They withdrew their troops from Anatolia. This left the Armenians in southeastern Anatolia without the protection of the French troops. With the French and Italians out of the picture, Kâzim then moved against the Armenian state. He was assisted by the Bolsheviks, who had established relations with the government of the GNA. Deserting their Armenian protégés, the Russians supplied the nationalists with weapons and ammunition and joined the assault on the Armenian Socialist Republic, which had been their own creation. This combined attack was too much for the Armenians, who were crushed in October and November 1920; they surrendered early in November. By the treaties of Alexandropol (December 3, 1920) and Moscow (March 16, 1921), the nationalists regained the eastern provinces, as well as the cities of Kars and Ardahan, and the Soviet Union became the first nation to recognize the nationalist government in Ankara. Turkey’s eastern borders were fixed at the Arpa and Aras rivers.

The Greeks were more difficult to overcome, as they continued the advance toward Ankara which had begun in June 1920. By the end of July they had taken Bursa and were pushing on toward Ankara. Ali Fuat was relieved as commander on this front and replaced by İsmet. The Turkish army stood its ground at the İnönü River, north of Kütahya. They threw the Greeks back on January 10, 1921, at the First Battle of the İnönü.

The Greeks did not resume their offensive until March 1921. İsmet again met them at the İnönü River, in a battle that raged from March 27 to April 1. On the evening of April 6–7, 1921, the Greeks broke off the engagement and retreated. In 1934, when the Turks were required by law to take last names, İsmet assumed the surname İnönü in memory of these important victories.

Undaunted, the Greeks launched another offensive on July 13, 1921. İsmet fell back to the Sakarya River, so close to Ankara that the artillery fire could be heard there. Opposition to Mustafa Kemal developed in the GNA, led by Kâzim, who had grown jealous. The opposition demanded that Mustafa Kemal’s powers be curtailed so that a new policy could be developed. In addition they sought to have Mustafa Kemal assume personal direction of the war against the Greeks, anticipating a Greek victory that would result in the destruction of Mustafa Kemal’s stature and charisma. On August 4, Mustafa Kemal agreed, on the condition, which was accepted, that he be granted all the powers assigned to the GNA. He then assumed the role of commander in chief with total authority. He defeated the Greeks at the Battle of the Sakarya (August 23–September 13, 1921) and initiated an offensive (August 26–September 9, 1922) that pushed the Greeks to the sea at Izmir.

With Anatolia rid of most of the Allies, the GNA, at the behest of Mustafa Kemal, voted on November 1, 1922, to abolish the sultanate. This was soon followed by the flight into exile of Sultan Mehmed VI on November 17. The Allies then invited the Ankara government to discussions that resulted in the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne on July 24, 1923. This treaty fixed the European border of Turkey at the Maritsa River in eastern Thrace.

The nationalists occupied Istanbul on October 2. Ankara was named the capital, and on October 29 the Turkish republic was proclaimed. Turkey was now in complete control of its territory and sovereignty.

The Turkish Republic

Mustafa Kemal then embarked upon the reform of his country, his goal being to bring it into the 20th century. His instrument was the Republican People’s Party, formed on August 9, 1923, to replace the defense-of-rights associations. His program was embodied in the party’s “Six Arrows”: republicanism, nationalism, populism, statism (state-owned and state-operated industrialization aimed at making Turkey self-sufficient as a 20th-century industrialized state), secularism, and revolution. The guiding principle was the existence of a permanent state of revolution, meaning continuing change in the state and society.

The caliphate was abolished on March 3, 1924 (since the early 16th century, the Ottoman sultans had laid claim to the title of caliph of the Muslims); the religious schools were dismantled at the same time. Abolition of the religious courts followed on April 8. In 1925, wearing the fez was prohibited—thereafter Turks wore Western-style headdress. Mustafa Kemal went on a speaking tour of Anatolia during which he wore a European-style hat, setting an example for the Turkish people. In Istanbul and elsewhere there was a run on materials for making hats. In the same year, the religious brotherhoods, strongholds of conservatism, were outlawed.

The emancipation of women was encouraged by Mustafa Kemal’s marriage in 1923 to a Western-educated woman, Latife Hanım (they were divorced in 1925), and was set in motion by a number of laws. In December 1934, women were given the vote for parliamentary members and were made eligible to hold parliamentary seats.

Almost overnight the whole system of Islamic law was discarded. From February to June 1926 the Swiss civil code, the Italian penal code, and the German commercial code were adopted wholesale. As a result, women’s emancipation was strengthened by the abolition of polygamy, marriage was made a civil contract, and divorce was recognized as a civil action.

A reform of truly revolutionary proportions was the replacement of the Arabic script—in which the Ottoman Turkish language had been written for centuries—by the Latin alphabet. This took place officially in November 1928, setting Turkey on the path to achieving one of the highest literacy rates in the Middle East. Once again Mustafa Kemal went into the countryside, and with chalk and a blackboard he demonstrated the new alphabet to the Turkish people and explained how the letters should be pronounced. Education benefited from this reform, as the youth of Turkey, cut off from the past with its emphasis on religion, were encouraged to take advantage of new educational opportunities that gave access to the Western scientific and humanistic traditions.

Another important step was the adoption of surnames or family names, which was decreed by the GNA in 1934. The assembly gave Mustafa Kemal the name Atatürk (“Father of the Turks”).

After having settled Turkey firmly within its national borders and set it on the path of modernization, Atatürk sought to develop his country’s foreign policy in similar fashion. First and foremost, he decided that Turkey would not pursue any irredentist claims except for the eventual incorporation of the Alexandretta region, which he felt was included within the boundaries set by the National Pact. He settled matters with Great Britain in a treaty signed on June 5, 1926. It called for Turkey to renounce its claims to Mosul in return for a 10 percent interest in the oil produced there. Atatürk also sought reconciliation with Greece; this was achieved through a treaty of friendship signed on December 30, 1930. Minority populations were exchanged on both sides, borders were set, and military problems such as naval equality in the eastern Mediterranean were ironed out.

This ambitious program of forced modernization was not accomplished without strain and bloodshed. In February 1925 the Kurds of southwestern Anatolia raised the banner of revolt in the name of Islam. It took two months to put the revolt down; its leader Şeyh Said was then hanged. In June 1926 a plot by several disgruntled politicians to assassinate Atatürk was discovered, and the 13 ringleaders were tried and hanged.

There were other trials and executions, but under Atatürk the country was steadfastly steered toward becoming a modern state with a minimum of repression. There was a high degree of consensus among the ruling elite about the goals of the society. As many of those goals were achieved, however, many Turks wished to see a more democratic regime. Atatürk even experimented in 1930 with the creation of an opposition party led by his longtime associate Ali Fethi, but its immediate and overwhelming success caused Atatürk to squash it.

In his later years Atatürk grew more remote from the Turkish people. He had the Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul, formerly a main residence of the sultans, refurbished and spent more time there. Always a heavy drinker who ate little, he began to decline in health. His illness, cirrhosis of the liver, was not diagnosed until too late. He bore the pain of the last few months of his life with great character and dignity, and on November 10, 1938, he died at 9:05 AM in Dolmabahçe. His state funeral was an occasion for enormous outpourings of grief from the Turkish people. His body was transported through Istanbul and from there to Ankara, where it awaited a suitable final resting place. This was constructed years later: a mausoleum in Ankara contains Atatürk’s sarcophagus and a museum devoted to his memory.

Atatürk is omnipresent in Turkey. His portrait is in every home and place of business and on the postage and bank notes. His words are chiseled on important buildings. Statues of him abound. Turkish politicians, regardless of party affiliation, claim to be the inheritors of Atatürk’s mantle, but none has matched his breadth of vision, dedication, and selflessness.

Norman Itzkowitz

source; https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kemal-Ataturk

Bu yazı Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Encyclopedia Brittanica. ilk olarak şu sitede yayınlanmıştır Ataturkicimizde.com. Yazının kaynağı bu sitedir.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) was an army officer who founded an independent Republic of Turkey out of the ruins of the Ottoman Empire. He then served as Turkey’s first president from 1923 until his death in 1938, implementing reforms that rapidly secularized and westernized the country. Under his leadership, the role of Islam in public life shrank drastically, European-style law codes came into being, the office of the sultan was abolished and new language and dress requirements were mandated. But although the country was nominally democratic, Atatürk at times stifled opposition with an authoritarian hand.

Atatürk: The Early Years

Mustafa, who became Mustafa Kemal as a teenager and then Mustafa Kemal Atatürk late in life, was born around 1881 in the city of Salonica (now Thessaloniki, Greece), which at that time was part of the Ottoman Empire. His family was middle-class, Turkish-speaking and Muslim. A good student, Mustafa Kemal attended a series of military schools, including the War College in Istanbul. He was then stationed in Syria and Palestine for a few years before securing a post back in Salonica. In 1911 and 1912, the hard-drinking Mustafa Kemal fought against the Italians in Libya.

Did you know? The Turkish leader known as Atatürk had blue eyes and fair hair. Though he claimed to be descended from Turkish nomads, some historians believe he was at least partly of Balkan ancestry.

During World War I (1914-18), the Ottoman Empire allied itself with Germany and Austria-Hungary. By this time, the aging empire had lost almost all of its territory in Europe and Africa. Moreover, the so-called Young Turk Revolution of 1908 had stripped autocratic powers from the sultan and ushered in an era of parliamentary government. In 1915 Mustafa Kemal distinguished himself throughout the nearly yearlong Gallipoli Peninsula campaign, in which he helped stop a large force of British and French troops from taking Istanbul. He was soon promoted from colonel to brigadier-general and sent to fight in eastern Turkey, Syria and Palestine. An estimated 1.5 million Armenians died and others were expelled during the war and its aftermath, but Mustafa Kemal has not been linked to the perpetration of the genocide.

Atatürk Takes Power

Under a punitive postwar peace treaty signed in August 1920, the Allied powers stripped all Arab provinces from the Ottoman Empire, provided for an independent Armenia and an autonomous Kurdistan, put the Greeks in charge of a region surrounding Smyrna (now Izmir) and asserted economic control over what little country remained. However, Mustafa Kemal had already organized an independence movement based in Ankara, the goal of which was to end foreign occupation of the Turkish-speaking areas and to stop them from being partitioned. The sultan’s government in Istanbul sentenced Mustafa Kemal to death in absentia, but it failed to prevent him from building up both military and popular support. With the help of money and weapons from Soviet Russia, his troops crushed the Armenians in the east and forced the French and Italians to withdraw from the south. He then turned his attention to the Greeks, who had wreaked havoc on the Turkish population during their march to within 50 miles of Ankara.

In August and September 1921, with Mustafa Kemal at the head of the army, the Turks stopped the Greek advance at the Battle of Sakarya. The following August, they launched an offensive that broke the Greek lines and sent them into a full-scale retreat all the way back to Smyrna on the Mediterranean Sea. A fire soon broke out in Smyrna, which, along with looting and rampaging Turkish soldiers, claimed the lives of thousands of Greek and Armenian residents. Roughly 200,000 additional Greeks and Armenians were forced to evacuate on nearby Allied warships, never to return.

Mustafa Kemal next threatened to attack Istanbul, which was being occupied by the British and other Allied powers. Rather than fight, the British agreed to negotiate a new peace treaty and sent invitations to both the sultan’s government in Istanbul and Mustafa Kemal’s government in Ankara. But before the peace conference could begin, the Grand National Assembly in Ankara passed a resolution declaring that the sultan’s rule had already ended. Fearful for his life, the last Ottoman sultan fled his palace in a British ambulance. A new peace treaty was then signed in July 1923 that recognized an independent Turkish state. That October, the Grand National Assembly proclaimed the Republic of Turkey and elected Mustafa Kemal as its first president.

Atatürk as President

Even before he became president, Greece agreed to send some 380,000 Muslims to Turkey in exchange for over 1 million Greek Orthodox practitioners. Meanwhile, under Mustafa Kemal, the forced emigration of Armenians continued. Although Turkey was now almost homogeneously Muslim, Mustafa Kemal deposed the caliph, the theoretical successor to the prophet Muhammad and spiritual leader of the worldwide Muslim community. He also closed all religious courts and schools, prohibited the wearing of headscarves among public sector employees, abolished the ministry of canon law and pious foundations, lifted a ban on alcohol, adopted the Gregorian calendar in place of the Islamic calendar, made Sunday a day of rest instead of Friday, changed the Turkish alphabet from Arabic letters to Roman ones, mandated that the call to prayer be in Turkish rather than Arabic and even forbade the wearing of fez hats.

Mustafa Kemal’s government espoused industrialization and adopted new law codes based on European models. “The civilized world is far ahead of us,” he told an audience in October 1926. “We have no choice but to catch up.” Eight years later, he required all Turks to choose a surname, selecting Atatürk (literally Father Turk) as his own. By that time, Atatürk’s government had joined the League of Nations, improved literacy rates and given women the right to vote, though in practice he essentially imposed single-party rule. He also closed opposition newspapers, suppressed leftist workers’ organizations and bottled up any attempts at Kurdish autonomy.

Turkey After Atatürk

On November 10, 1938, Atatürk, who never had any children, died in his bedroom at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul. He was replaced by İsmet İnönü, prime minister during most of Atatürk’s rule, who continued his policies of secularization and westernization. Even though Atatürk retains iconic status in Turkey today—in fact, insulting his memory is a crime—Islam has reemerged in recent years as a social and political force.

Publisher ; A&E Television Networks

Original Published Date ; December 16, 2009

Last Updated ; August 21, 2018

Source; https://www.history.com/topics/middle-east/kemal-ataturk

Bu yazı Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, History.com ilk olarak şu sitede yayınlanmıştır Ataturkicimizde.com. Yazının kaynağı bu sitedir.

ATATURK’S PRINCIPLES, 

(ATATÜRK İLKELERİ )

1. Republicanism: (Cumhuriyetçilik)

Republicanism is a form of democracy adapted to the shape of government.

(Cumhuriyetçilik, demokrasinin devlet şekline uyarlanmış halidir. )

The Kemalist reforms represent a political revolution; a change from the multinational Ottoman Empire to the establishment of the nation state of Turkey and the realisation of national identity of modern Turkey. Kemalism only recognises a Republican regime for Turkey. Kemalism believes that it is only the republican regime which can best represent the wishes of the people.

(Cumhuriyetçilik: Atatürk devrimleri siyasi nitelik taşır. Çok uluslu bir İmparatorluktan ulus devlete geçiş gerçekleştirilmiş ve böylece modern Türkiye’nin ulusal kimliği oluşturulmuştur. Bu kimliğin oluşmasında, kul nitelikli insanların yurttaş-birey niteliği kazanması önemli bir noktadır. Atatürk bunun yolunu, kısaca halkın kendi kendisini idaresi, yani demokrasi demek olan Cumhuriyet’te görmüştür.)

Atatürk says;

(Atatürk diyor ki)

The most appropriate government, most suitable to the Turkish nation’s nature and traditions, is the Republic. 1924 (Atatürk’s S.D 3, s.74)

Türk milletinin tabiat ve âdetlerine en uygun olan idare Cumhuriyet idaresidir. 1924 (Atatürk’ün S.D. III, S. 74)

The Turkish Republic will be happy, successful and victorious. October 29 1923 (The Speech 2, s.814-815)

Türkiye Cumhuriyeti mesut, muvaffak ve muzaffer olacaktır. 29 Ekim 1923 (Nutuk II, S. 814-15)

Those who think that the Republic established in the mind and consciousness of our army that consists of the great Turkish Nation and its heroic children, and that our principles which are inspired by the spirit of our nation, will be rootened by a removal of a body, are very unfortunate and ill-minded. Those unfortunate people will meet with the treatment that they deserve at the hands of Republic’s justice and mighty claw. This will be their share. One day, my humble body will certainly turn into earth, but the Turkish Republic will survive forever. And the Turkish nation will surely go on marching on the path of civilization with the principles which are guarantors of security and happiness. 1926 (Atatürk’s S.D 3, s.80)

Temeli büyük Türk milletinin ve onun kahraman evlâtlarından mürekkep büyük ordumuzun vicdanında akıl ve şuurunda kurulmuş olan Cumhuriyetimizin ve milletin ruhundan mülhem prensiplerimizin bir vücudun ortadan kaldırılması ile bozulabileceği fikrinde bulunanlar, çok zayıf dimağlı bedbahtlardır. Bu gibi bedbahtların, Cumhuriyetin adalet ve kudret pençesinde lâyık oldukları muameleye maruz kalmaktan başka nasipleri olmaz. Benim naçiz vücudum birgün elbet toprak olacaktır, fakat Türkiye Cumhuriyeti ilelebet yaşıyacaktır. Ve Türk milleti emniyet ve saadetinin kefili olan prensiplerle medeniyet yolunda, tereddütsüz yürümeğe devam edecektir. 1926 (Atatürk’ün S.D. III, S. 80)

2. Populism(Halkçılık)

Populism is a principle that Mustafa Kemal had presented to the Parliament.

(Halkçılık, Mustafa Kemal’in TBMM’ye sunduğu ilkedir. )

Populism: The Kemalist revolution was also a social revolution in term of its content and goals. This was a revolution led by an elite with an orientation towards the people in general. The Kemalist reforms brought about a revolutionary change in the status of women through the adoption of Western codes of law in Turkey, in particular the Swiss Civil Code. Moreover, women received the right to vote in Atatürk stated on a number of occasions that the true rulers of Turkey were the peasants. This was actually a goal rather than a reality in Turkey. In fact, in the official explanation given to the principle of populism it was stated that Kemalism was against class privileges and class distinctions and it recognized no individual, no family, no class and no organization as being above others. Kemalist ideology was, in fact, based on supreme value of Turkish citizenship. A sense of pride associated with this citizenship would give the needed psychological spur to the people to make them work harder and to achieve a sense of unity and national identity.

(Halkçılık: Gerek içeriği gerekse hedefleri açısından bakıldığında, Cumhuriyet Devrimi ayrıca bir sosyal devrim niteliği de taşır. Başta İsviçre Medeni Kanunu olmak üzere, Batı kanunlarının Türkiye’de uygulamaya konulmasıyla birlikte kadınların statüsünde köklü değişiklikler olmuş, 1934 yılında kabul edilen bir kanun ile kadınlar seçme ve seçilme hakkını almışlardır. Atatürk çeşitli ortamlarda, Türkiye’nin gerçek yöneticilerinin köylüler olduğunu söylemiştir. Aslında bu durum Türkiye için bir gerçek olmaktan çok bir hedef niteliğindedir. Halkçılık ilkesi sınıf ayrıcalıklarına ve sınıf farklılıklarına karşı olmak ve hiçbir bireyin, ailenin, sınıfın veya organizasyonun diğerlerinin daha üzerinde olmasını kabul etmemek demektir. Halkçılık, Türk vatandaşlığı olarak ifade edilen bir fikre dayanır. Gurur ile birleşen vatandaşlık fikri, halkın daha fazla çalışması için gerekli psikolojik teşviki sağlar, birlik fikrinin ve ulusal bir kimliğin kazanılmasına yardımcı olur.)

Atatürk says;

(Atatürk diyor ki)

In our opinion: The woman in the era of the republic is an honorable, most esteemed being higher than anything else as she has been throughout Turkish history. ( Perihan Naci Eldeniz, T. T. K. Belleten, Vol. XX, Issue : 80, 1956, p. 740 )

Bizce: Türkiye Cumhuriyet anlamınca kadın, bütün Türk tarihinde olduğu gibi bugün de en muhterem mevkide, her şeyin üstünde yüksek ve şerefli bir mevcudiyettir. (Perihan Naci Eldeniz, T.T.K. Belleten, Cilt: XX, Sayı: 80, 1956, S. 740)

This country was Turkish in the past, is Turkish in the present and will live as Turkish forever. 1923 ( Taha Toros, Atatürk’s Adana Visits, p. 23 )

Bu memleket tarihte Türktü, halde Türktür ve ebediyen Türk olarak yaşayacaktır. 1923 (Taha Toros, Atatürk’ün Adana Seyahatleri, S. 23)

Turk! Be Proud. Work. Trust. ( Afet İnan, About Atatürk H. B., p. 304 )

Türk! Öğün. Çalış. Güven. (Afetinan, Atatürk Hakkında H.B., S. 304)

A Turk is equal to all the world. ( 1925 )

Bir Türk dünyaya bedeldir. (1925)

We strive for peace at home, peace in world. 1931 (Atatürk’s T.T.B.IV, P. 551)

Yurtta barış, dünyada barış için çalışıyoruz. 1931 (Atatürk’ün T.T.B. IV, S. 551)

3. Secularism (Laiklik)

Secularism is the separation of religion and state affairs from each other.

(Laiklik, din ve devlet işlerinin birbirinden ayrılmasıdır. )

Secularism: Kemalist secularism did not merely mean separation of state and religion, but also the separation of religion from educational, cultural and legal affairs. It meant independence of thought and independence of institutions from the dominance of religious thinking and religious institutions. Thus, the Kemalist revolution was also a secularist revolution. Many Kemalist reforms were made to bring about secularism, and others were realised because secularism had been achieved. The Kemalist principle of secularism did not advocate atheism. It was not an anti-God principle. It was a rationalist, anti-clerical secularism. The Kemalist principle of secularism was not against an enlightened Islam, but against an Islam which was opposed to modernisation.

(Laiklik: Laiklik yalnızca devlet ve dinin birbirinden ayrılması anlamına gelmez ayrıca eğitim, kültür ve yasama alanlarının da dinden bağımsız olması anlamını taşır. Laiklik, devletin dini düşünce ve dini kuruluşların etkisinden bağımsız olması, ve genel olarak düşünce özgürlüğü anlamına gelmektedir. Devrimlerin birçoğu laikliği gerçekleştirmek amacıyla yapılmış ve diğerleri ise laikliğe ulaşılmış olması sayesinde gerçekleştirilebilmi ştir. Laiklik ilkesi akılcı ve dini siyasetin dışında tutan bir ilkedir. Osmanlı döneminde matbaanın geciktirilmesinde olduğu gibi dinin yenilikler karşısında nasıl tutucu bir silah haline geldiğini yaşamış olan Türkiye Cumhuriyeti kurucuları açısından dinin din dışı sivil yapı üzerinde yaratabileceği baskıları önlemenin bir aracıdır.)

Atatürk says:

(Atatürk diyor ki)

Religion is a matter of conscience. Everybody is free to obey to the orders of his own conscience. We are full of respect for religion. We are not opposed to the thought or mentality. We are just trying not to mix the State and National Project with the religious operations, and to avoid reactionary activities, intentional or actual. We shall never give any chance to the reactionaries. (Mr. Asaf İlbay is narrating, The Memories of Close Friends, Page 102-103)

Din, bir vicdan meselesidir. Herkes vicdanının emrine uymakta serbesttir. Biz dine saygı gösteririz. Düşünüşe ve düşünceye muhalif değiliz. Biz sadece din işlerini, millet ve devlet işleriyle karıştırmamağa çalışıyor; kaste ve fiile dayanan taassupkâr hareketlerden sakınıyoruz. Gericilere asla fırsat vermeyeceğiz. (Asaf İlbay Anlatıyor, Yakınlarından Hatıralar, S. 102-103)

Our religion is a highly sensible and natural religion. A religion must be compatible with wisdom, science and logic. Our religion is completely compatible with all of these. (1923)

Bizim dinimiz en mâkul ve en tabiî bir dindir. Ve ancak bundan dolayıdır ki son din olmuştur. Bir dinin tabiî olması için akla, fenne, ilme ve mantığa uyması lâzımdır. Bizim dinimiz bunlara tamamen uygundur. (1923)

4. Reformism (Revolutionism): (İnkılapçılık)

Revolutionism is an understanding which gives great importance to the public integration and democratic methods.

(İnkılapçılık, halkla bütünleşmeye ve demokratik yöntemlere büyük önem veren bir anlayıştır. )

Reformism: One of the most important principles that Atatürk formulated was the principle of reformism or revolutionism. This principle meant that Turkey made reforms and that the country replaced traditional institutions with modern institutions. It meant that traditional concepts were eliminated and modern concepts were adopted. The principle of reformism went beyond the recognition of the reforms which were made.

(Devrimcilik: Atatürk’ün ortaya koyduğu en önemli ilkelerden birisi de devrimciliktir. Bu ilkenin anlamı Türkiye’nin devrimler yaparak geleneksel kuruluşlarını modern kuruluşlarla değiştirmiş olmasıdır. Geleneksel kavramların bir kenara itilip modern kavramların benimsenmesi demektir. Devrimcilik ilkesi, yapılmış olan devrimlerin tanınıp kabul edilmelerinin çok ötesine geçmiştir.)

Atatürk says;

(Atatürk diyor ki)

A destructed country on the edge of the cliff … Bloody battles against many enemies … Year long war … And then, a new motherland, a new society, a new government that are esteemed at home and abroad, and continuous revolutions to reach these goals … Here is a summary of the Turkish revolution. 1935 ( Atatürk’s S. D. I, p. 365 )

Uçurum kenarında yıkık bir ülke… Türlü düşmanlarla kanlı boğuşmalar… Yıllarca süren savaş… Ondan sonra, içerde ve dışarda saygı ile tanınan yeni vatan, yeni sosyete, yeni devlet ve bunları başarmak için arasız inkılâplar… İşte Türk genel inkılâbının bir kısa ifadesi… 1935 (Atatürk’ün S.D. I, S. 365)

The law of the revolution is superior to the existing law. As long as we are not killed and the movement started in our minds is not suffocated, the revolution we have started will not stop even for a single moment. 1923 ( İsmail Arar, Atatürk’s İzmit Press Conference, P. 56 )

İnkılâbın kanunu mevcut kanunların üstündedir. Bizi öldürmedikçe, bizim kafalarımızdaki cereyanı boğmadıkça başladığımız inkılâp ve yenilik bir an bile durmayacaktır. Bizden sonraki devirlerde de böyle olacaktır. 1923 (İsmail Arar, Atatürk’ün İzmit Basın Toplantısı, S. 56)

Our nation is a self sacrificing one for its motherland, independence and freedom; This is a fact it has proven. Our nation is also jealously protective of the revolutions it has made. No one, no power can keep a nation that has such inbred virtues in its heart from treading the right path it walks on. 1924 ( Atatürk’s B. N., p. 84 )

Bizim milletimiz vatanı için, hürriyeti ve egemenliği için, hürriyeti ve egemenliği için fedakâr bir halktır; bunu ispat etti. Milletimiz yaptığı inkılâpların kıskanç müdafiidir de. Benliğinde bu faziletler yerleşmiş bir milleti yürümekte olduğu doğru yoldan hiçbir kimse, hiçbir kuvvet alıkoyamaz. 1924 (Atatürk’ün B.N., S. 84)

5. Nationalism: (Milliyetçilik)

Nationalism is one of the social factors that contribute to the wealth such as individual rights and freedoms.

Milliyetçilik, bireyin hak ve özgürlükleri gibi evrensel zenginliğin artmasına katkıda bulunan sosyal yapılardandır.

Nationalism: The Kemalist revolution was also a nationalist revolution. Kemalist nationalism was not racist. It was meant to preserve the independence of the Republic of Turkey and also to help the Republic’s political development. It was a nationalism which respected the right to independence of all other nations. It was a nationalism with a social content. It was not only anti-imperialist, but it was also against the rule of a dynasty or of any particular social class over Turkish society. Kemalist nationalism believes in the principle that the Turkish state is an indivisible whole comprising its territory and people.

(Milliyetçilik: Cumhuriyet devrimi ayrıca milliyetçi bir devrimdir. Bu milliyetçilik ırkçı bir yapıda değildir; yurtseverlikle sınırlıdır. Bu devrimin amacı, Türkiye Cumhuriyetinin bağımsızlığının korunması ve ayrıca Cumhuriyetin siyasal yönden gelişmesidir. Bu milliyetçilik, tüm diğer ulusların bağımsızlık haklarına saygılıdır; sosyal içeriklidir; yalnızca anti – emperyalist olmayıp, aynı zamanda gerek hanedan yönetimine, gerekse herhangi bir sınıfın Türk toplumunu yönetmesine de karşıdır ve nihayet bu milliyetçilik Türk devletinin vatanı ve halkı ile bölünmez bir bütün olduğu ilkesine inanmaktadır.)

Atatürk says;

(Atatürk diyor ki)

We are directly nationalist and Turkish nationalist. The basis of our republic is Turkish society. If the participants of our society are full of Turkish culture, the republic based on that society will be strength as now. ( Elementary Education Publication, Skin: 4, Number: 61, 1940 )

Biz doğrudan doğruya milliyetperveriz ve Türk milliyetçisiyiz. Cumhuriyetimizin dayanağı Türk topluluğudur. Bu topluluğun fertleri ne kadar Türk kültürüyle dolu olursa, o topluluğa dayanan cumhuriyet de o kadar kuvvetli olur. (İlköğretim Mecmuası, Cilt: 4, Sayı:61, 1940)

One of the obvious qualities of nationality is language. He must first speak the Turkish language who says that he belongs to Turkish nationality. If the one does not speak the Turkish language it is not true to believe that person who claims his devotion to Turkish society and culture. ( Taha Toros, Atatürk’s Voyages to Adana, p. g. 39 )

Milliyetin çok bariz vasıflarından biri dildir. Türk milletindenim diyen insan, herşeyden evvel ve mutlaka Türkçe konuşmalıdır. Türkçe konuşmayan bir insan Türk kültürüne, topluluğuna bağlılığını iddia ederse buna inanmak doğru olmaz. (Taha Toros, Atatürk’ün Adana Seyahatleri, S. 39)

How happy he who calls himself as a Turk! ( 1933 )

Ne mutlu Türküm diyene! (1933)

6. Statism (Devletçilik)

Statism is a principle which defines the duties of the government on social, economic and cultural development.

(Devletçilik, toplumun mutluluğunu sağlayıcı toplumsal, ekonomik ve kültürel kalkınmada devletin üstlenmesi gereken görevleri belirleyen bir ilkedir. )

Statism: Kemal Atatürk made clear in his statements and policies that Turkey’s complete modernisation was very much dependent on economic and technological development. The principle of statism was interpreted to mean that the state was to regulate the country’s general economic activity and the state was to engage in areas where private enterprise was not willing to do so, or where private enterprise had proved to be inadequate, or if national interest required it. In the application of the principle of statism, however, the state emerged not only as the principle source of economic activity but also as the owner of the major industries of the country.

(Devletçilik: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk yapmış olduğu açıklamalarda ve politikalarında Türkiye’nin bir bütün olarak modernizasyonunun ekonomik ve teknolojik gelişmeye önemli ölçüde bağlı olduğunu ifade etmiştir. Bu bağlamda, devletçilik ilkesini de devletin, ülkenin genel ekonomik faaliyetlerinin düzenlenmesi ve özel sektörün girmek istemediği veya yetersiz kaldığı ya da ulusal çıkarların gerekli kıldığı alanlara girmesi anlamında yorumlamaktadır. Ancak, devletçilik ilkesinin uygulanmasında, devlet yalnızca ekonomik faaliyetlerin temel kaynağını teşkil etmemiş, aynı zamanda ülkenin büyük sanayi kuruluşlarının da sahibi olmuştur.)

Atatürk says; (Atatürk diyor ki)

What I want is to have home affairs discussed in the Grand National Assembly. There is no affair that could not be discussed at the Grand National Assembly before the eyes of the Turkish nation. 1930 (Asım Us, G.D.D., p. 132)

Benim istediğim sadece memleket işlerinin Büyük Millet Meclisinde açıkça münakaşa edilmesidir. Büyük Millet Meclisinde Türk milletinin gözü önünde açıkça konuşulamayacak hiçbir iş yoktur. 1930 (Asım Us, G.D.D., S. 132)

The nation has no master. What is essential, is to give service. He, who serves the nation, becomes its master. 1921 (Atatürk’s S.D. I. P. 195)

Millete efendilik yoktur. Hizmet etme vardır. Bu millete hizmet eden, onun efendisi olur. 1921 (Atatürk’ün S.D. I, S. 195)

It is not our principle to pursue day-to-day politics by time wasting and benumbing speeches on promises we are not in the state to realize. 1931 (Atatürk’s T.T.B IV, p. 552)

Yapmak iktidarında olmadığımız işleri uyuşturucu, oyalayıcı sözlerle yaparız diyerek millete karşı gündelik siyaset takip etmek prensibimiz değildir. 1931 (Atatürk’ün T.T.B. IV, S. 552)

BAKINIZ; Atatük’ün bütünleyici ilkeleri (İngilizce) 

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The most important factor concerning directly the vitality, enhancement or poverty of a nation is the economical situation of the nation. (1930)

We are absolutely in compelled to ascribe the first and foremost importance to the economy to enhance our new Turkey properly. Our age is entirely an economic epoch, nothing else. (February 1923)

If the political and military victories are not supported by the economical victories, they cannot be permanent and evaporate within a short time.

The real master of Turkey is the actual producer, the villager. Therefore, the villager deserved more prosperity, welfare and happiness than the others. Therefore the Economical Policy of the Turkish Grand National Assembly addresses this main purpose. (1 March 1922)

Beside the personal endeavors and activities as the essential, one of our principals is to render the state active in the enterprises that are to the general benefit of the nation, especially in the economic field, in order to achieve a prosperous and well-cultivated country.

History has found and listed many military and social causes when seeking the reasons for the enhancement and degradation of nations. Doubtlessly, all these reasons have an effect on social developments. But the economy of the nation is directly concerned and related with the enhancement and degradation of the nation. This reality, which has been clearly proven by history and experience has clearly made itself felt in our national life and national history. As a matter of fact, if Turkish history were investigated it could be clearly understood that the reasons of all enhancement and degradation are the matter of economy and nothing else. (1923)

All the successes, victories, defeats, and disasters comprising our history were all concerned and related with the economic conditions of their times. We are obliged to definitely ascribe top priority to our economy to exalt our new Turkey, because our age is an economy epoch, nothing else.

The economic development is the fundamental part of the ideal of a Turkey that is free, independent, more powerful and prosperous. (1937)

The strong character and desire, the fiery nationalism of our nation and the abundance of new economic successes will encompass the Turkish Nation. Friends, the garments my people are now wearing are neither national nor international. Therefore friends, is there a nation without clothes? Friends do you agree to describe our nation such as? Is there any sense in showing the world a valuable jewel covered with mud? It is necessary and natural to get rid of the mud to show the jewel. If there is a need for a cover to protect the jewel will it not be necessary to make it of gold or platinum? Is indecision correct before this clear reality? If anybody is to make us indecisive, shall we still hesitate to decide they are idiots and thickheaded?

Friends, there is no need to investigate and revive the old Turkish clothes. The civilized and the international clothes are suitable for us and for our nation. We shall wear them. We shall wear shoes, boots to our feet, trousers on our legs, and waistcoats, shirts, tie, collar, jacket and headgear to complete. I want to say clearly that this headgear is called a hat. Like redingote, bonjour tuxedo, this is our hat!

There are some who say that this is not convenient. Let me tell them that they are very unaware, very ignorant and I want to ask them:

Why is convenient to wear the Greek headgear of fez and why is not convenient to wear a hat? And again I want to remind them and also our nation when and why and what for did they wear the special robes (with full sleeves and long skirts) of the Greek vicars and Jewish rabbis? (1925)

During my visits, I saw that the women friends covered their faces and eyes intensively and carefully, especially in the cities and towns but not in the villages. Male friends, that is because of our egoism. It is necessary to be chaste and careful. But respected Sirs, our women are human beings who are able to think and comprehend like us. If we inspire them with the holy concepts and extipulate our national and moral values, there will be no need to be selfish. Let them show their faces to the world. And let them look at the world carefully. There is nothing to be afraid of. 1925(Atatürk’s G.S., Page 91)

I see the women in some places hide their faces by covering with the cloths like loincloths and turn their back to the men passing near by them or squat down when they see a man. What is the meaning of this? Sirs, does a mother or a daughter of a civilized nation behave wildly like this? This situation is a ridiculous appearance for our nation. This must be corrected promptly. 1925 (Atatürk’s G.S. Page 95)

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Complete independence is a basic to the spirit of our current mission. This mission has been taken up before all nations and history. While taking up this mission, we carefully considered feasibility of carrying it through. However, these considerations resulting in faith and an enhanced view, point to our success. We are the men who took action in such a manner. Due to the mistakes made by predecessors, our nation was living in a so-called independence. All things considered, Turkey’s lagging behind the civilized world is the result of previous faults and their continuation. As a result of repeating these mistakes, certainly the country and the nation may abstain from all dignity, honor and ability to survive. We are a nation that wants to live in dignity and honor. We can’t bear to remain deprived of these features as a result of continuing mistakes. Whether wise or ignorant, all the members of the nation, maybe without understanding in what difficulties they are, are determined to unite around an aim and shed blood forever. This is the point upon which our independence is founded and maintained.

Complete independence means independence and freedom in every field such as politics, economics, judiciary, military, culture, etc… Insufficiency in one of those fields means the total loss of independence of the nation. We don’t believe to be able to reach peace and settlement unless this is provided. 1921 (The Speech 2, s.623-624)

The basic and immortal principle of nations who have reached consciousness of the real contents, large meaning and high value of independence and freedom, is not to let anyone to damage their independence and freedom at any price, to protect them with all their might and if necessary to shed the blood of the last person, thus glorifying human history with such an example. The societies which are always ready to sacrifice everything for this purpose, are the only nations who are thought to worthy of the continuous respect of humanity. 1928 (Atatürk’s S.D 2, s.249)

A nation which risks death for its independence, consoles by making every sacrifice that humanity dignity and honor require from it. And naturally, its place according to friends and foes will be different than another nation’s place which for itself has accepted slavery. 1927 (The Speech I, s.13-14)

What is important, is Turkish nation’s leading a life in dignity and honor. This principle can be provided by only complete independence. No matter how wealthy and prosperous a nation is, if it is deprived of its independence it no longer deserves to be regarded otherwise than as a slave in the eyes of civilized world.

To accept the protectorate of a foreign power is to admit to a lack of all human qualities, to weakness and incapacity. It is not at all thinkable that those who have never been in such a humiliating state will appoint a foreign master out of their own desire.

But the Turk is both dignified and proud; he is also capable and talented. Such a nation will prefer to perish rather than subject itself to the life of a slave.

Therefore Independence or Death! 1919 (The Speech I, s.13)

Our desire is to protect external independence and unconditioned national sovereignty. I am sure you will destruct the heads of those who mean to damage even a portion of our national sovereignty. 1923 (Atatürk’s S.D II, s.71-72)

Everyone must know that when we say we want peace, then we mean that we aspire to complete independence. We have the right and power to warrant this aspiration. We must prefer die in an honored and dignified manner than to be degraded after ten or twenty years. 1923 (Atatürk’s S.D II, s.89)

In order to live, I certainly must remain a son of an independent nation. For this reason, national independence is a matter of vitality for me. If it is required for the sake of the nation and the country, I appreciate with great sensitivity the friendship and political relations that are needed for civilization with each of the nations forming humanity. But I am the bitter enemy of the nations who want to captivate my nation and don’t give up these desires. (23.4.1921)

We, the Turks, are a symbol of independence and freedom during all our history. (The Speech)

No matter how wealthy and prosperous a nation is, if it is deprived of its independence it no longer deserves to be regarded otherwise than as a slave in the eyes of civilized world. (The Speech)

The Turkish nation consists of heroic people of a tribe which stipulates independence for vitality and has been living independently and freely for centuries. This nation hasn’t lived, can’t live and won’t live without independence. (June 21 1922)

Freedom and independence are a part of my character and I am a man who is full of love of independence, which is the greatest and worthiest heritage of my ancestors. My love is known by those who know my family, private and official life from my childhood to this day. Dignity, honesty and humanity are formed in a nation only by having independence and freedom. Personally, I place great importance on the characteristics I have mentioned. In order to claim that I posses these characteristics, my nation must posses them also. I must remain a son of certainly independent nation in order to live. For this reason, national independence is a vital issue.

For the freedom- and independence-loving nations, moments of suffering, and their perpetrators, must always be remembered in order to take warning and to stand ready. The vital and basic principle of nations who have reached consciousness of the real contents, large meaning and high value of the independence and freedom, is not to let anyone to damage their independence and freedom at any price, to protect them with all their might and if necessary to shed the blood of the last person, thus to colorize human history with such an glorious example.

Because of pretending to do great and imaginary things, but not actually realizing them, all the world bore grudge and enmity to us. We did not apply Panislamism. Maybe we said “ we did not or we would”. Then the enemies thought :“Let us kill them at once not to let them apply it”. We did not apply Panturkism. We said “we had, did or would” and again they said, “Let us kill them”. This is a summary of the entire case. (1921)

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Writing history is as important as making history. If the writer does not remain true to the maker, then the unchangeable reality transforms into a confusing matter for humanity. 1931 (Hasan Cemil Çambel, T.T.K. Belleten, Volume: 3, Issue 10, 1939, P. 272)

One does not understands the meaning of history until reaching a mature age. And history can only be written after this age. I really wish that I could spend our remaining lifetime writing history together with a few friends! ( Yusuf Ziya Özer, Ulus Newspaper, 10.XI.1939)

It is not the mind, logical judgement which makes the history but maybe feelings other than these. 1923 (Atatürk’s S.D. II, P. 116)

What a beautiful mirror is history. Humans, especially the people who are not improved by moral teachings can not prevent their essential natures from falling into feelings of avarice even in the presence of the greatest sacred concepts. In the great events which take an important place in history, the attitudes, activities and conducts of the people who are the cause and protagonists of the events show their moral levels clearly. 1915 (Mustafa Kemal, Anafartalar M.A.T. Yay: Uluğ İğdemir, P. 27)

Many people who became famous in history do not have virtues from the national point of view. For example, think about Napoleon, who really had military power, went as far as Moscow and dissolved the French army by dragging it over ruins and fire. His actions were not taken to satisfy the real and national interests of the French nation but to satisfy his own bellicose ambition. He destroyed millions of distinguished sons of France to satisfy his ambition and eventually met his fate well known by all of you. It is possible to examine and compare the greatest and seemingly glorious actions of our Ottoman history from the same point of view, with it’s true nature. 1923 (Atatürk’ün S.D. II, P. 161-162)

The reply he gave upon a law draft preparation for naming either one of the cities Ankara or İstanbul as ‘Atatürk’:

It is not necessary to take a shelter in the foundations of cities to ensure that a name stay in history or spread by word of mouth. History is a coy fairy who doesn’t like to be forced; prefers ideas. (Falih Rıfkı Atay, Babamız Atatürk, P. 135)

Our ancestors who established great states had great and extensive civilizations as well. To research this, examine it carefully and inform the world is an obligation of ours. (Afet İnan, Atatürk Hakkında H.B. P. 297)

The Turkish child will be encouraged as long as he continues to know his ancestor well. (Afet İnan, Atatürk Hakkında H.B. P. 297)

The opinion which introduced Turks to the entire world as a primitive underdeveloped nation has taken hold of us as well. During the time they started an empire and national history from a nomadic tribe consisting of four hundred tents, the Turks’ opinion was at the same center as well. In the first place, we have to teach the nation their history, the fact that they belong to a noble nation, and children of an advanced nation who is the mother of all civilizations. 1930 (Ahmet Hamdi Başar, Atatürk’le 3 Ay, P. 122)

If a nation is great, it will become greater by knowing itself. (Hikmet Bayur, T.D.K., Türk Dili, Belleten, No: 33, 1938, P. 16)

Turkish children’s capability is superior to that of all nations. As long as successes of Turkish capability and power in the history are revealed, all Turkish children will be able to find the necessary sources to make a leap forward in that history. From that history, Turkish children will acquire the idea of independence, think about these great successes, learn about the men who produced wonders, think that they are from the same blood and with this competence they will not humiliate themselves before anybody. (Şemsettin Günaltay, 1951 Olağanüstü Türk Dili Kurultayı, P. 33)

Do you know why we lost the Balkan States? There is only one reason for this. And these are the language institutes founded by Slavic research associations; when they wrote the national histories and awakened the national consciousness of the people living among us , we retreated from the area to Thracian borders in Balkans. (Enver Behnan Şapolyo, 1951 Olağanüstü Dil Kurultayı, P. 54)

Spoken to the members of the Turkish History Association during a meeting:

I am a transitory man, I will die one day, while I am alive, I would like to see the true history of the Turkish nation, whose greatness and capability I believe in, being written. That’s why during these meetings I become ecstatic, forget everything and tire you. Forgive me. 1933 (Uluğ İğdemir, Atatürk ve Tarih, Açılış 1962-1963, M.T.T.B., P. 24)

I like Alemdar Mustafa Pasha and Mustafa Reşit Pasha, but if Alemdar had had a little thorough knowledge he would have proclaimed the Republic. If Mustafa Reşit Pasha’s little thorough knowledge had been combined with Alemdar’s power, I would have entered this history with a different mission. (Enver Behnan Şapolyo, Atatürk ve Milli Mücadele Tarihi, P. 532)

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The republican regime is a form of government with democracy. We establish the Republic, all the necessities of democracy must be applied on the 10th year of the Republic. 1933 (Afet İnan, Atatürk Hakkında B.H, s.251)

The Republic supports freedom of thought. We respect all opinions provided that they are sincere and legal. All convictions are respectable for us. But those opposing us must be equitable to us. 1923 (Atatürk’s S.D 3, s.71)

A Republic is a government that is built on moral virtue. Republic is virtue. 1925 (Atatürk’s S.D 2, s.231)

The most appropriate government, most suitable to the Turkish nation’s nature and traditions, is the Republic. 1924 (Atatürk’s S.D 3, s.74)

The Republic with its new and sound principles, as much as it opens the path for an intact and safe way of future life to Turkish nation, also creates soundness in opinions and spirits and by doing this, it becomes the herald of a new life. 1936 (Atatürk’s S.D 1, s.372)

Today’s government and state organization are formed by our nation itself and its name is Republic. From now on, the separation between the government and nation cannot be mentioned as in the past. The Nation is the government and the government is the nation. As a result, government and its members have fully understood the fact that they are not apart from the nation and that the latter is the master of the country. 1925 (Atatürk’s S.D 2, s.230)

In the last years, the capability, talent and understanding shown by our nation, proved that those who have bad opinions about our nation were imperceptive and in grave error. Our nation with its capability, characteristics and in addition with a new name of its government will be successful in showing itself in the civilized world. The Turkish Republic will prove its right to occupy its place by its achievements.

The Turkish Republic will be happy, successful and victorious. October 29 1923 (The Speech 2, s.814-815)

Those who think that the Republic established in the mind and consciousness of our army that consists of the great Turkish Nation and its heroic children, and that our principles which are inspired by the spirit of our nation, will be rootened by a removal of a body, are very unfortunate and ill-minded. Those unfortunate people will meet with the treatment that they deserve at the hands of Republic’s justice and mighty claw. This will be their share. One day, my humble body will certainly turn into earth, but the Turkish Republic will survive forever. And the Turkish nation will surely go on marching on the path of civilization with the principles which are guarantors of security and happiness. 1926 (Atatürk’s S.D 3, s.80)

Our Republic is not weak as it was thought to be. The Republic was not gained without any price. In order to achieve it, we shed our red blood everywhere. If it is necessary, we are ready to defend our institutions. 1923 (Attar’s S.D 3, s.71)

Do not ever think that coming generations will be surprised by seeing the so-called republicans among those who mercilessly attacked the Republic on its proclamation day. On the contrary, Turkey’s intellectual and republican youth won’t hesitate in analyzing and determining so-called republicans’ real ideas.

They will easily understand that: if one exists whose title is caliph, and governs the rotten dynasty and never minds to get away from the administration, then it does not matter whether the Republic is proclaimed or not, because it is impossible continue its survival in such a situation.

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Considering the world as a whole, be it civilization, life or success, science is the only real leader. Looking for a leader other than science is somnolence, ignorance and straying from the true path. But it is necessary to understand the developments and progress of science at all its levels and to follow up on its developments in time. After thousands of years, today pursuing completely the rules, ordered by the science one thousand, two thousands, thousands of years ago, naturally does not mean we are in the realm of science. 1924 (5-197)

We cannot only close our eyes and think we are the only human beings. We cannot isolate our country from the outer world….To the contrary, as a civilized nation that has achieved progress, we must live above a certain level of civilization. This life is only possible thanks to science. Wherever science will be, we will live there and this shall be embedded in the minds of the individuals of our nation. There are no restrictions and conditions for science.

The progress of nations which insist on protecting some traditions or beliefs that are not based on any logical proofs, will be difficult; perhaps it will never occur. Those nations which cannot overcome the restrictions and conditions of their traditions, will not perceive of life as a logic and real occurrence. They are condemned to live under the sovereignty and yoke of those nations who perceive of life philosophy from a wider perspective. 1922 (5-44)

To be successful, it is necessary to ensure a natural harmony between the mentality and goals of the intelligentsia and the people. In other words, the ideals to be suggested to the people by the intelligentsia should reflect the spirit and conscience of the people. 1923 (5-141)

To approach the people and integrate with them is a duty, which is mostly directed to the intelligentsia. At first, our young people and the intelligentsia should decide in their own minds why they are marching in this path and what they are going to do. Then they have to bring these ideas into an easily acceptable state. Only after this they should offer their ideas to the public. 1923 (5-141:142)

Fanaticism is based on ignorance. Therefore, he who has fanatic inclinations is ignorant. Science overcomes ignorance without doubt; thus it is necessary to enlighten the people. 1923 (37-73)

This nation and this country are in need of science and progress; besides protecting and promoting those who have been educated and gained a diploma, another quite natural issue is that we are obliged to send our children to Europe, America and all over the world so that they can be educated and trained and become acquainted with science and we will send them. Wherever there is science and specialization, wherever there is art we are obliged to keep up and study. For this reason patronage is no more valid. What is valid is necessity. 1923 (37-123)

I never give orders for tasks in the field of science, especially social science. I would like scientists to enlighten me in these fields. Thus, if you have confidence in your knowledge of science, culture, do tell me about it and show me the constructive sides of social sciences and I will pursue them. (28-316)

As a spiritual heritage, I will not leave any verses of the Qu’ran, any dogma or frozen and formed rules behind me. My spiritual heritage is science and the mind. Generations after me will confirm that perhaps we could not reach the goals completely because of serious and deep-rooted difficulties, but they will also confirm that we never gave way to compromises and that we have been guided by the mind and science. (129-13)

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