Perhaps the most progressive of his reforms was introducing co-educational schooling and granting women full suffrage much earlier than many other countries. He oversaw the elimination of polygamy and ensured that women received equal inheritance rights. The results were readily evident: between and , 10 per cent of university graduates were women, while there were eighteen female MPs in the elections. Female MPs in Turkish Parliament, Image via en.
The Dersim massacre in , where some 13, Kurds were slaughtered is a particular black spot on his record. The inability to unify people of different backgrounds perhaps makes him fall behind the other big three as unity was often a big part of their leadership.
We must also remember that Turkey has had four military coups — where the military is supposedly the guardian of Kemalist secular principles.
As well, the recent disastrous failed coup, means that the transition to democracy has been extremely rocky for almost 90 years. 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 This was actually a goal rather than a reality in Turkey. In fact, in the official explanation given to the principle of populism 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 identy.
It meant independence of thought and independence of institutions from the dominance of religious thinking and religious institutions. It was a rationalist, anticlerical secularism. This principle meant that Turkey made reforms and that she 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.
Nationalism: The Kemalist revolution was also a nationalist revolution. Kemalist nationalism was not racist and identified individuals based on citizenship. 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 not only antiimperialist, 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.
The principle of statism was interpreted to mean that the state was to regulate the country's general economic activity and that 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 the 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.
Ataturk quotes and speeches Happy is he who says, "I am a Turk". As they have come, so they will go. Peace at home, peace in the world. I am not ordering you to attack, I am ordering you to die. The future is in the sky. We Turks are a people who, throughout our history, have been the very embodiment of freedom and independence.
Our great ideal is to raise our nation to the highest standard of civilization and prosperity To see me does not necessarily mean to see my face. To understand my thoughts is to have seen me. There are two Mustafa Kemal's. One is the flesh-andbone Mustafa Kemal who now stands before you and who will pass away. The other is you, all of you here who will go to the far corners of our land to spread the ideals which must be defended with your lives if necessary.
I stand for the nation's dreams, and my life's work is to make them come true. Teachers: the new generation will be your devotion. Victory is for those who can say "Victory is mine". Success is for those who can begin saying "I will succeed" and say "I have succeeded" in the end. John F. The sincere tears that people from all classes have shed, are nothing more then the true reflection of this great man - the Father of the modern Turkey.
The sincere tears shed after him by all classes of people is nothing other than an appropriate manifestation to this great hero and modern Turkey's Ata. It sees in him, his historic monument, a powerful figure that will stay as a symbol for all the people who love freedom. Today, Turkish history even more than ever is inseparable from Western and European history. The friendship between our countries that has surpassed hundreds of years, has formed the foundation for this development.
Stipsi Journal If history had a heart, it surely would be jealous of Mustafa Kemal. Tchang Yang Yee Pan Newspaper, On November 10, the entire world, and we Germans as well, remember with praise the life and works of a person to whom we are attached with friendship and respect. Ludwig Erhard, Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany In the life of a nation it is very seldom that changes to such a radical degree were carried out in such a short period of time Without a doubt, those who have done these extraordinary activities have earned the attributes of a great man in the complete sense of the word.
And because of this, Turkey can be proud of itself. Short-link Link Embed. Share from cover. Share from page:. Similar magazines. The Ottomans suffered their final major defeat at Megiddo, where the British restocked up on water supplies. The Ottoman armies were destroyed, and Ataturk was finally given command of the whole Ottoman army, or what was left of it. Understanding the war was lost, Ataturk sent a letter of rage to the Sultan:.
Now, there is nothing left to do but to make peace. Ataturk withdrew to Aleppo and held back all further British attacks, giving way to the Treaty of Mudros.
The middle eastern theatre ended, and the Ottoman Empire surrendered after Ataturk refused to continue fighting. Ataturk was proven right; the Empire was destroyed after joining the World War. The treaty demanded [10] :. To Ataturk, this treaty was worse than death. Turks are an interesting ethnic group in that they are one of the few ethnic groups to have always ruled themselves.
As Napoleon once put it:. For Turks to accept this treaty would be an insult to their ancestors and their past. In the end, he managed to muster 80, men, but he was facing four major combatants on four different fronts against , men [12]. It was suicide. Ataturk, however, was perhaps the most accomplished military leader at the time. He was the only Central Powers commander who was not defeated in the field of battle and was loved by his men.
Ataturk was quick to strike on the Armenians and French forces, ending their threat by He negotiated with the British and used the fact that the British public opposed a war to his advantage. However, the bigger threat was Greece. Greece was opportunistic in their goals and used the fact that the Turks were up in arms as a pretext to establish a Greater Greece, known as the Megali Idea. Ataturk could not defeat them in a battle unless he chose the battleground.
He made a tactical retreat to Ankara, drawing the Greeks further and further away from their supply routes and tired them in the process. At Sakarya, Ataturk unleashed his trap. Nearly 22, out of the , Greek force lost their lives or were captured [14]. Even King Constantine was almost caught by Turkish troops. Ataturk ended the Greek advance and turned the tide of the war.
It was now the Greeks who were on the defensive. In , Ataturk unleashed his final offensive towards Izmir. It was all or nothing. Ataturk, within 2 weeks, liberated Izmir and surrounded the Greek army and captured their most renowned Generals. The Generals were treated with considerable kindness.
Ataturk was also offered to step on a Greek flag in the same area that King Constantine stepped on the Ottoman flag 3 years earlier, but Ataturk refused [16]. He is quoted as saying:. Istanbul was later liberated by Ataturk without firing a single bullet.
The Sultanate was abolished, and the Ottoman Empire came to an end in late Ataturk changed Turkey forever. The Republic of Turkey was founded on 29th October , a year after the Ottoman Empire was disbanded. Ataturk brought in a new radical reform to Turkey known as Kemalism or Ataturkism. Ataturk rejected Turanism, rejected imperialism, and rejected unification through religion or ethnicity. Ataturk instead opted for Civic-Nationalism, a form of nationalism that united people through a common duty to a nation regardless of their background.
Turkish did not mean someone who was ethnically a Turk, but rather as Ataturk said:. Ataturk believed in a parliamentary democracy. Although Ataturk ruled as a benign or benevolent dictator, his end goal was democracy. Ataturk saw himself as the first and last dictator of the Turkish Republic. A dictator that Turkey needs so they may never have a dictator again. Ataturk demanded democracy, but the Turkish people were not educated and ready for it yet. Kemalist populism is not the same as the populism we have today.
Populism in the Kemalist sense was the aim to enable the people to understand the importance of their citizenship and sovereignty. Populism in the Kemalist sense was designed to create a unifying force for the Turkish people to encourage them to work, contribute to their country, and advance.
The most controversial policy of Kemalism is its ardent secularism. Kennedy, he was "one of the greatest figures of our century.
The great man is Ataturk, the idol of the Turks. His original name is Mustafa Kemal, but in his constituents gave him the name Ataturk, which means, "Father of the Turks. His endeavor was to modernize Turkish life; he wanted to give his nation happiness, better life standards and equality. In his view, modernization of the nation and the state could become real by replacing Arab alphabet with Latin alphabet, giving women the right to vote and participate in the congress, and abolishing the Ottoman Empire's sovereignty with a secular government and a contemporary constitution.
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