Ataturk: Father of the Turks - Essay Example

Ataturk in Turkish means “Father of the Turks”. And in this case it is not an exaggeration. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is deservedly d the father of modern Turkey. He is everywhere in the country. His portraits are in government offices in the capital and coffee houses in small towns. His statues and busts are innumerable. You can find them probably in every city square or park. His maxims decorate stadiums, schools, concert halls. You can see them along the roads and in forests even. People still listen to his speeches on radio and television; newsreels with Kemal are regularly demonstrated and are popular as always. To quote Mustafa Kemal is a common courtesy in Turkey. You can hardly find something as culturally significant as the cult of Ataturk in modern Turkey. This is the official cult. His biography is read like hagiography of saints. After more than half a century after his death most of the Turks with bated breath speak about the penetrating gaze of his blue eyes, his tireless energy, strength of mind and indomitable will. This paper is an attempt to research how the legend of Ataturk was born and give the overview of the reforms he carried out. 1. Military and Political Career Mustafa Kemal was born in Thessaloniki in Greece. At that time the area was controlled by the Ottoman Empire. His father was a middle-ranking customs official, his mother - a peasant. After a difficult childhood, lived in poverty due to early death of his father, the boy entered the Salonica Military School, then the Monastir Military High School and in 1889, finally, the Ottoman Military Academy in Istanbul. There, in addition to military disciplines, Kemal studied the works of Rousseau, Voltaire, Hobbes and other philosophers and thinkers that certainly influenced his views. At the age of 20, during training, Kemal and his friends joined a secret revolutionary society - Vatan ve Hürriyet (Motherland and Liberty). Failing to come to understanding with the other members of the society, Kemal left Vatan and joined the Committee of Union and Progress, which has collaborated with the movement of the Young Turks (Turkish bourgeois revolutionary movement, setting a task to replace the sultan’s autocracy with constitutional order). Kemal was personally acquainted with many key figures in the Young Turk movement and was involved in the coup in 1908. At the outbreak of the World War I, Kemal, who despised the Germans, was shocked by the fact that the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire became their ally. However, in spite of the personal views, he skillfully commanded the troops entrusted to him. So, in Gallipoli, in April 1915, he blunted the attack of the British forces several weeks, earning the nickname “Savior of Istanbul”. It was one of the few victories of the Turks in the war. He told his subordinates not only to attack but to die. It is important that the order was not only given but also executed. In 1916 Kemal commanded the 2nd and 3rd armies, stopping the advance of Russian troops in the South Caucasus. In 1918, at the end of the war, he commanded the 7th Army near Aleppo, fighting the last battles with the English, well aware that Turkey lost the war. He was given the Marshal’s rank in 1921 for defeating the Greeks in the battle of Sakaryain in the Greco-Turkish war and became a truly national hero. 2. Social and Political Situation in Turkey after the First World War So, why did Turkey need the reforms forevermore associated with the name of Mustafa Kemal? Kemalism began by using ‘negative history’ (Kaya 62). Turkey has gone through the First World War, partial occupation of the territory, liberation war against the invaders, fall of the Young Turks and final liberation from the sultan’s regime and collapse of the empire. In was the state ravaged by the war and internal contradictions. As the result of the war, Turkey has lost almost all the territories of Eastern Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine. Almost three million men served in the army, which led to a sharp drop in agricultural production. The country was on the verge of collapse. The victorious allies attacked the Ottoman Empire as hungry predators. It seemed to be the fatal blow. Every European country wanted to grab a slice of the territory. The Allies signed a secret agreement to divide the Ottoman Empire. Great Britain decided not to waste time and the Royal Navy anchored in the harbor of Istanbul. During these years of fall, begins to develop a clear understanding of the need to rebuild the country and form a new Turkey. Mustafa Kemal becomes the spokesman of those ambitions. 3. National Liberation Movement At the end of the WW I there was a real danger of extinction of Turkish from the map. However, the Kemalists have turned military defeat into victory, restoring independence of the demoralized, dismembered, impoverished country. The Allies hoped to keep the Sultanate and many in Turkey believed that the Sultanate will survive under the foreign regency. But Kemal wanted to create an independent state and break ties with the imperial relics. Sent to Anatolia in 1919 to suppress the riots, he, instead, organized opposition directed against foreign interests. He formed a provisional government in Anatolia; was elected its President and organized resistance to invaders. The Sultan, in his turn, declared holy war against the nationalists, especially insisting on Kemal’s death penalty. When the Sultan signed the Treaty of Sevres in 1920, allowing the division of the Ottoman Empire by the Allies in exchange for maintaining his power over what is left, almost all the people moved to Kemal’s side. The army of Kemal moved to Istanbul, the Allies asked Greece for help. After 18 months of heavy fighting, in August 1922, the Greeks were defeated. Mustafa Kemal and his associates were well aware of the true position of the country in the world and its real political and military weight. So, on top of the military triumph, Mustafa Kemal refused to continue the war just to keep what, in his opinion, was the Turkish national territory. 4. Presidency On November 1, 1922, the Grand National Assembly abolished the Sultanate of Mehmed VI and on October 29, 1923, Mustafa Kemal was elected the president of the new Turkish Republic. Kemal, in fact, with no hesitations, became a real dictator, outlawing all political parties. His absolute power Kemal used to carry out the reforms, hoping to turn the country into a civilized state. In 1923 the Turkish state adopted a new regime with the president, parliament and constitution. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was granted a decade and a half after the conclusion of the fight for freedom, to complete as he wished the edifice he had invited the Turks to build (Dickes 230). One-party rule of Kemal has been replaced by a multi-party system only after his death. 5. Reforms of Ataturk Unlike many other reformers, the Turkish president was convinced that it was pointless just to renovate the front face of the Turkish building. It was necessary to make fundamental changes of the entire structure of society and culture to help Turkey survive in the postwar world. The problem was formulated and solved by Ataturk with determination and vigor. Reformism pervaded the entire Ataturk era; it stood for an openness to innovation and the acceptance of nonviolent change (Cleveland 177). The word “civilization” was endlessly repeated in his speeches and sounds like a mantra: “We will follow the path of civilization and it will come ... Those who wait behind will be sunk by roaring streams of civilization ... Civilization is such a strong fire, that he who ignores it will be burned and destroyed ... We will be civilized and we will be proud of it...”. There is no doubt that the Kemalists’ “civilization” meant the absolute and uncompromising implementation of the bourgeois social order, lifestyle and culture of Western Europe. Kemalism saved Turkey from a dichotomy that had divided her soul between the East and the West for almost two hundred years (Eren 19). 5.1 Secularism Mustafa Kemal abolished the Caliphate, as well as the Ottoman Sultanate, because of its connection to the past and Islam. The Kemalists have openly challenged Islamic orthodoxy, clearing the way for transformation of the country into a secular state. The ground for this reform has been prepared by wide expansion of advanced, for Turkey, European philosophical and social ideas and increasing violations of religious rites and taboos. The Young Turks officers, for example, considered a matter of honor to drink brandy and eat ham, which was a terrible sin in the eyes of the adherents of Islam. The Young Turk period may be viewed as the one which accelerated the process of ‘conversion’ to Turkism and prepared the ground for Kemalism (Bozdaglioglu 44). The first Ottoman reforms limited the power of the ulema and decreased their influence over law making and education. But theologians have maintained great power and authority. After abolition of the Sultanate and Caliphate, they remained the only institution of the old regime, which had resisted the Kemalists. Kemal abolished the ancient post of Sheikh-ul-Islam - the first ulema in the country, the Ministry of Shariah and closed some religious schools and colleges, and later banned the Sharia courts. The new order was entrenched in the republican constitution. All religious institutions have become a part of the state apparatus. All religious institutions were controlled by the special department, which was in charge of the work of mosques, monasteries; assignment and removal of imams, muezzins, preachers, muftis. Religion was made just a department of the bureaucratic apparatus and ulema turned into government employees. The Koran was translated into Turkish. The call to prayer was heard in the Turkish language, although the attempt to prohibit the Arabic prayers failed (as the Koran was important not only because of its content but also of the mystical sound of unintelligible Arabic words). The Kemalists declared Sunday as a day off, not Friday as before. The Hagia Sophia in Istanbul became a museum. Across the country the authorities resisted birth of new mosques and welcomed closures of old ones. However, the resistance to laicism (secular reforms) has been stronger than expected. When in 1925 the Kurdish uprising began, it was headed by one of the dervish sheikhs, calling to overthrow “godless republic” and restore the Caliphate. The fight sometimes took violent forms. In 1930 Muslim fanatics killed a young army officer Mustafa Fehmi Kubilay. He was surrounded, knocked to the ground and his head was slowly sawed off with a rusty saw, while the crowd cheered Allahu Akbar. Since then, Kubilay is respected as a “saint” of Kemalism (Yavuz 78). The Kemalists dealt with their opponents without mercy as well. They persecuted the dervishes, closed their monasteries, dismissed their orders and prohibited meetings, ceremonies and special clothing. The Penal Code prohibited any political associations on the basis of religion. It was a blow to the very depths, although it has not reached all targets: many dervish orders were at that time highly secret. 5.2 European Clothing Despite the countrywide poverty, Kemal continued to implant the principles of Western civilization. To this end, the Kemalists have decided to introduce into use European clothing. In one of his speeches, Mustafa Kemal explained his intentions to prohibit wearing of the fez by his belief that the fez was the symbol of ignorance of his people, negligence, religious fanaticism and hatred of progress and civilization. And introduction of the European hats, which were used by the entire civilized world, was to demonstrate that the Turkish nation in its mentality was a civilized society. A decree was issued that required the officials to wear suits, “common to all civilized nations of the world” (Tepe 44). A forced change of headwear may seem comical and annoying for modern Europeans. But for Muslims it was a matter of great importance. With the help of clothing Turkish Muslim separated themselves from the infidels. This change of clothing, as it always was in the history, showed the desire of the weak to look like the strong, desire of the backward country to look like the country of the developed world. 5.3 The Civil Law The Swiss civil code, revised according to the needs of Turkey, was adopted in 1926. Some legal reforms were carried out before, during the Tanzimat and the Young Turks. However, in 1926 the secular authorities for the first time dared to invade the sanctuary of ulema - family and religious life. The source of law, instead of the will of Allah, became the formal decision of the National Assembly. Adoption of the Swiss civil code has changed a lot in family relations. It prohibited polygamy, gave women the right to divorce, introduced divorce proceedings, destroyed the legal inequality between men and women. However, conditions of society and established traditions hindered application of new family norms. Mustafa Kemal strongly supported the emancipation of women. Women were admitted to the classrooms of the Istanbul University. They were allowed to be on the decks of ferries that crossed the Bosporus, while previously they had to stay in the cabins; were allowed to ride in the same trams and rail cars as men. In addition to the civil, the country received new codes for all sectors of life. The Criminal Code was influenced by fascist Italy. Sections 141 -142 were used to punish Communists and all leftists. Kemal did not like communists. Thus, Nazim Hikmet, recognized by the whole world, had been imprisoned for many years for his communist ideas. Kemal did not like the Islamists as well. The Kemalists removed the article from the constitution that stated that the religion of the Turkish state was Islam. 5.4 The Alphabet The transformations affected even the Arabic alphabet, really convenient for the Arabic language but not that suitable for Turkish. Temporary introduction of the Latin alphabet for the Turkic languages ​​in the Soviet Union pushed Mustafa Kemal to the same act. The new alphabet has been prepared for several weeks (by that time eighty-ninety percent of the population was illiterate). The National Assembly passed a law that introduces a new Turkish alphabet and prohibited the use of Arabic on January 1, 1929. Introduction of the Latin alphabet strongly facilitated education of the population. Moreover, it marked a new stage, new break with the past and a new smack in the Muslim beliefs. After introduction of the Latin alphabet, the country received a chance to carry out a deeper linguistic reform. Mustafa Kemal founded the Linguistic Society. It has set itself the goal to reduce and eventually remove the Arab and grammatical borrowings, many of which anchored in the Turkish cultural language. Meanwhile, researchers collected “purely Turkish” words from the dialects of other Turkic languages and ancient texts, to find a replacement. When they failed to find, they invented new words. Terms of European origin, also alien to the Turkish language, were welcomed and even imported to fill the gaps after the refusal of Arab and Persian words. In 1934 it was decided to abolish all titles of the old regime and replace them with Mister and Madam. Simultaneously, on January 1, 1935, family names were introduced. Mustafa Kemal received from the Grand National Assembly the family name Ataturk and his closest associate, the future president and leader of the Republican People’s Party, Ismet Pasha got the family name İnönü (the place where he won a major victory over the Greek invaders). 5.5 Support of Private Enterprises In the 20’s the government of Kemal has done a lot in order to support private initiatives. But the socio-economic reality showed that the chosen methods, in their pure form, did not work. The bourgeoisie rushed into trading, housebuilding, speculations, reaping benefits, not thinking about the national interests and development of economy. Economic Congress, convened by the Kemalists in Izmir in 1923, set the task of transition from manufactories and small industry to large factories and plants, development of productive industries, for which the country had raw materials, formation of the State Bank. In the 20’s, the government sought to expand the use of agricultural machinery. To this end, a number of laws were passed that provided incentives to farmers who use agricultural machinery. The government has provided all possible assistance to cooperatives, reduced railway tariffs for transportation of fruits, figs, grain, etc. However, when the financial crisis hit the world, Mustafa Kemal turned to a policy of state regulation of the economy. That practice was called statism. The government nationalized the significant sectors of industry and transport, and, on the other hand, has opened up markets to foreign investors. This policy, in many variations, is now repeated by many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. In the 30’s, Turkey ranked third in the world in terms of industrial development. 6 Consolidation of Society Probably all his reforms pursued one goal - to recover the sense of national pride, undermined in the preceding two centuries by continuous defeats and internal collapses. Everyone in Turkey who read European newspapers of that time, almost always found the word “Turk” used with a touch of disdain. The real challenge was to overcome the consequences of the civil war, nonconformity, ethnic and social conflicts. Mustafa Kemal faced a very difficult task - consolidation of society on the ideas of healthy nationalism. For centuries, the Turkish Empire has played a leading role in world politics. It certainly influenced the mass consciousness, the way of thinking. To overcome the Imperial stereotype, when any Turk considered himself superior to any other Turks in the country, was more complicated than to rebuild the economy even. Mustafa Kemal Pasha so constantly appealed to Turkish national pride, exhorting his people to show the world what Turks could accomplish, that the inscription on the monument in Ankaras Güven Park, “Türk, Çalış, Güven, Öğün!” (Turk, Work, Trust, Be proud!) well summarizes many of his speeches (Karpat 177). During the Young Turk revolution, the main doctrine was Ottomanism, i.e. the desire to turn all the inhabitants of the empire into a single nation. In fact, it was the assimilation of all other peoples of the state by the Turks. Facing stiff resistance to this policy, the Young Turks turned to the concept of Pan-Turkism. In domestic policy Pan-Turkism was still aimed at the assimilation of peoples and in foreign - domination of the Turks over other Turkic peoples from the Bosporus to the Altay. The idea of ​​Pan-Turkism was combined with the enormous influence of ideas of Pan-Islamism, based on the unification of Muslims under the rule of the Sultan-Caliph. Mustafa Kemal separated Turkism from Pan-Turkism. During the liberation war against the occupying forces of the Entente, Mustafa Kemal realized that victory is possible only through the consolidation of the Turkish nation. Loss of the Arabic speaking provinces, resettlement of the Turks from Greece back to Turkey, made the country more homogeneous and created conditions for unification on ethnic grounds (Hostler 198). Thus, the Kemalists refused of the imperial ambitions and recognized the rights of formerly subjugated peoples to decide their own fate. The idea of ​​national unity has played such a significant role that the new Turkish army was able to stop the advance of superior Greek forces and defeat them. A definition of Kemalism might begin with the ideological statement of six “fundamental and unchanging principles” Mustafa Kemal outlined in the Republican People’s Party (RPP) platform of 1931. It stated that the RPP is “republican, nationalist, populist, etatist, secularist and revolutionary (Howard 47). Republicanism meant loyalty to the republican form of government; nationalism and populism were to promote rise of Turkey as a country; etatism – satisfaction by the state and its high authority; laicism - separation of religion from the state; revolutionism - loyalty to the principles of the struggle for independence;. These principles have been implemented during the reign of Ataturk and in modern times. Conclusions Ataturk makes a great impression as a man and as a politician. He is often compared to Peter the Great, another outstanding reformist. Ataturk was born in the Ottoman Empire but dreamt of ​​democracy and parliamentarianism. He totally immersed himself into domestic policy and internal development of the country. His foreign policy was based on mutual respect and can be characterized by one world – peaceful. He could easily move his troops and occupy Athens in the early 20’s. But Ataturk did not go beyond the borders of Thrace. He never wanted to become a trivial invader of someone’s land. The only thought he had was prosperity of his own country. His foreign policy was very balanced. He opposed, for example, the alliance between Turkey and Nazi Germany. He understood that this possible cooperation could involve Turkey in the war. Ataturk was right. In a year after his death Germany launched war. His reforms were unpopular at first but totally proved their effectiveness at short notice. The truth is that the reforms of Mustafa Kemal have many enemies in Turkey - overt and covert. Attempts to prohibit some of his reforms did not stop for a minute. Leftist politicians ever think of the repression suffered by their predecessors and consider Kemal just a strong bourgeois leader. The Islamic world blames him for abolition of the Caliphate. But members of the public still adore their former leader. Mustafa Kemal had accomplishments and human weaknesses. He had a sense of humor, loved women and fun, but kept a cool head in policy. He was respected in society, although his personal life was sometimes scandalous. He died on November 10, 1938, from cirrhosis, at age 57. His early death was a tragedy for Turkey. The outstanding statesman of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk allowed the war-torn country, which lived under the burden of the Sultan and entirely depended on Islamic religious leaders, to become a prosperous bourgeois state, guided by the European norms and standards, with sufficiently developed industry and agriculture. Yes, Ataturk was a man of genius. References Aksan, Virginia. “Ottoman to Turk: Continuity and Change.” International Journal61.1 (2005): 19+. Bozdaglioglu, Yücel. Turkish Foreign Policy and Turkish Identity: A Constructivist Approach. New York: Routledge, 2003. 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