ATATURK'S PRINCIPLES AND REFORMS
Republicanism
In a republican regime, honesty is of crucial importance for both the rulers and the ruled, and the relations of both sides with each other is very important. In this way, the republic will defend itself against interior and exterior dangers with tight measures limited with the principles of the republican regime. This frame must not be overrun. Otherwise a gap between the republic and the nation will occur. The biggest sufferer in this case will be the Republic itself. For this reason a republican regime has to be smart at all times. Freedom and its applications are limited with the rules of democracy in the countries that adopt this system. Nobody has unlimited rights in republics ruled by democracy. The regimes ruled with non-limited rights and laws cannot be classified as democracy or Republic. In democracy and democratic republican rights of the public and individual freedoms are limited with laws and their borders are marked with justice. 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 inTurkey, in particular the Swiss Civil Code. Moreover, women received the right to vote in 1934. 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 senseofunityand national identity.
Secularism
His ideas about religion were not too different from a noble and sincere member of the religious organization. He was never an opponent of religion. He believed that religion was necessary for the public but he was against the replacement of law, logic, mentality with religion. He was opposed to merchants of religion, fundamentalists and those who wanted to rule the public with superstitions. Religion was a holy concept to be kept in the one's conscience. Setting off with these ideas, on January 31, 1923 he said the following: "Our religion is a most natural and logical one and it is for this reason that it is the last of religions. In order for a religion to be natural it must co-exist with science, knowledge and logic. Our religion completely complies with these prerequisites. Above, we defined that secularity is the separation of State and religious affairs but this does not mean that everybody can do everything about religion without the interference of the State. Moreover, State power may be used for any belief system. In this case the freedom of conscience will be obliterated for believers and non-believers." Atatürk was aware of the very big problems to be eliminated in order to flee from being an undeveloped society. For him, every contemporary attempt had to include the principle of secularism. Sultanate, caliphate, sharia, religious education and capitulations had to be obliterated. The ideas people create relevant to themselves and their environment are partially in the form of BELİEF and partially KNOWLEDGE.
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.
Nationalism
Turkish people were changed to a nation from being a religious community by Atatürk. Atatürk's confidence in the Nation was unlimited. He defended the idea that every revolution would be achieved with the Nation but not despite the Nation. His belief was that every novelty would exist eternally only if it adapted by the Nation. He kept repeating that whoever identified himself as a "Turk" within the boundaries of the country represented the "Turkish Nation" and that the Nation would be called so. Sovereignity will unconditionally belong to the nation No power, external or internal strength would be able to confiscate this from the hands of the Nation. The nation would be educated to sacrifice their lives when necessary.
Statism
Kemal Atatürk made clear in his statements and policies that Turkey's complete modernization 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.
ATATURK'S REFORMS
The New Language
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 "
The Clothing Reform
With the clothing reform, women stopped wearing veils; they started to wear modern women 's clothing. Men started to wear hats rather than the fez.
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 dire
y 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.Woman's Right
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.
Ataturk'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.
