ATATüRK'S REFORMS

'Ataturk's reforms' (Turkish: ''Atatürk Devrimleri'' or ''Atatürk İnkılapları'') were a series of significant political, legal, cultural, social and economic changes that were implemented under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the early years of the Turkish Republic.
Ataturk and his Republican People's Party (comprised of graduates of the Tanzimat-era modern schools, who formed the nation's elite) applied their western-inspired modernisation to all areas of government.^[1]
Central to the reforms was the belief that Turkish society would have to Westernise itself both politically and culturally in order to modernise.^[2]
Reform began with the modernisation of the Turkish constitution, including the adaptation of European laws and jurisprudence to the needs of the new republic. This was followed by a thorough secularisation and modernisation of the administration, with particular focus on the education system. The development of industry was promoted by strategies such as import substitution and the founding of state enterprises and state banks.
The fundamental nature of Ataturk's reforms, and the fact that they were implemented during the single party period, suggests that the process could more accurately be described as a revolution rather than just a series of reforms.

Contents

Political reforms

Secularism

Popular sovereignty

Milestones

Social reforms

Dress code

Women rights

Milestones

Legal reforms

Milestones

Educational reforms

Unification

Modernization

Milestones

Economic reforms

Milestones

Criticism

Effectiveness

External links

See also

Notes

Political reforms

When the republic was established the Ottoman Empire was still in existence, with its heritage of religious and dynastic authority. Ataturk's political reforms involved a number of institutional changes. The dynasty was abolished by the Ankara Government, but among the people (though less among the elite), its tradition and cultural symbols remained active. However very carefully planned political change began to affect the complex system developed in the Ottoman Empire. ^[3] The reforms included, foremost, paving the way for the proclamation of the republic, the abolition of the powers of the Ottoman Dynasty which had ruled since 1383, and ordering the last members of the dynasty to leave the country, on November 1, 1922. The proclamation of the new Turkish state as a republic on October 29, 1923, gave the Turkish nation the right to exercise popular sovereignty by representative democracy. Also during this process, the Caliphate (the nominal leadership of all Muslims in the world) held by the Ottoman Sultan since 1517 was abolished on March 3, 1924.
Not only were all the social institutions of Turkish Society reorganized but also all social and political values and ideology of the state were replaced as well.^[4] To understand the reason behind the military apex one has to remember that reforms occurred in the interwar period. The military occupied 16.9% of the professions, while today this is only 3 %.

Secularism

Funeral; Reforms included the establishment of the Ministry for Religious Affairs to ensure the "active neutrality" of the state in regard to religion.

The precursors for the secular reforms can be found in the measures and proposals of the Ottoman Empire (Tanzimat, first constitutional and second constitutional era). The Ottomans' failure to embrace the Arab populus was one source of political tension. It was said the reforms, "alienated a segment of its society," and as "the state's hostility to religion became clear,… Islam thus became a political tool in the hands of Arab populace." (see Countercoup (1909)) This factored in the Arab Revolt. Ataturk's reforms thus aimed to escape from the old mistake. Rather than having an Islam emerging solely from opposition to the Kermalist state, have a Kemalist socialization imbibed by a more pluralistic Islam. The changes toward secularism did not happen overnight in the framework of the new republic. It had a narrative originating from the Ottoman Empire's political experience, a narrative which continues during the 21th century, with a Turkish Islam rooted in Sufism, particularly Naqshbandi Sufi orders, and punctuated by frontier conditions of Turkey. Whether the results were "pluralistic" and "liberal" by chance or by plan is debated.
The changes included abolition of the office of caliphate held by the Ottomans since 1517, achieved on March 3, 1924, which followed the abolition of the religious education system and the introduction of a national education system on March 3, 1924. Closure of the Islamic courts and the abolition of Islamic canon law gave way to transfer to a secular law structure by adoption from the Swiss Civil Code and other laws.
The Ataturks reforms were not anti-Islamic. Reforms included the establishment of Ministry for Religious Affairs, with the duty of “to execute the works concerning the beliefs, worship, and ethics of Islam, enlighten the public about their religion, and administer the sacred worshipping places.” Reforms visualized a state which stood at equal distance ("active neutrality" rather than "passive neutrality") from every religion, neither promoting nor condemning any set of religious beliefs. Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı become responsible for selection of appropriate policies through careful analysis and evaluation.

Popular sovereignty

The Ottoman Empire was a religious empire, but one in which the populace enjoyed some autonomy. See Millet (Ottoman Empire) Official positions included an elected Communal Council, a Chief Rabbi, religious courts, etc. The social decisions were based on religious affiliation and in some cases decisions were taken by religious interpretation.
Ataturk's reforms forced the Religious affairs out of politics, in favor of popular sovereignty. The Ottoman Communal structure was seen as a religious entity (governed by religious doctrines), and government cut the support to these structures. As a result communal structure was changed. With the worsening economic situation, many of the rich families who had donated to the community foundations, schools, hospitals, etc., lost their wealth or emigrated. Without government support the religious communities tried to adjust to the new way, but many failed. However, the same state acted firmly against acts of anti-religious feelings (anti-Semitism), and announced the equality and right of all Turkish citizens to the protection of the Republic. Kemalist reforms even forced a change in the call of prayer from Arabic to Turkish. The politics removed the chance of forming policies based on religion but such as in the Izmir's Jews case, today people with firm religious background are looking for viable ways to continue to enjoy the tolerance of their country without specific government support ^[5].
The Turkish Constitution of 1924 gave high importance to the sovereignty and independence of the Turkish state. The system created a government (Prime Minister) and a President, but with the executive and legislative power left at the unicameral Grand National Assembly^[6]. The political system included from one side Ataturk (the reformers) and from the other side was Turkey. Opposition formed from reformers constantly pursuing their goal at the parliament which represented Turkey. Ataturk and revolutionaries had to discuss the reforms that they wanted to pursue as the final executive decision was on the Assembly. The classic form of separation of power was largely cosmetic. In this structure the single party had forced through its revolutionary policies through the Grand National Assembly, but every reform was discussed. The elections were representative of social change which helped Ataturk to measure the results of his reforms. Through this form, at least at the legislative level, democracy flourished and give away to true multi-party elections in 1945.

Milestones

On November 1, 1922	Abolition of the office of the Ottoman Sultan.
On October 29, 1923	Proclamation of the Republic - Republic of Turkey.
On March 3, 1924	Abolition of the office of Caliphate held by the Ottoman Caliphate.

Social reforms

Dress code

Mustafa Kemal regarded the fez (in Turkish "fes", which Sultan Mahmud II had originally introduced to the Ottoman Empire's dress code in 1826) as a symbol of feudalism and banned it, encouraging Turkish men to wear European attire, although that dress had no connection to the establishment of a democracy or secular values. Notwithstanding the strong Islamic proscription against alcoholic beverages, he encouraged domestic production of alcohol and established a state-owned spirits industry, thereby questioning the extent to which his reforms were truly "secular" in inspiration, as opposed to simply forcing Turkish society to become more like Western society. He was known to have an appreciation for the national beverage, rakı, and enjoyed it in vast quantities.^[7] Adoption of Western calendar, hours and measurements slowly passed between 1925 - 1931.

Women rights

The reforms in family law, The Turkish civil Code, women's suffrage were "breakthroughs not only within the Islamic world but also in the Western world"^[8] Legal equality between the sexes was instituted by changes and balancing many other rules and regulations between 1926 - 1934. Among the main rights given to women, the first time in Turkish history, was the right to vote and own property. Georgia Scott informs us about the complexity of the female rights in Turkey giving a quote from an Architect in Istanbul "My mother and grandmother's covered every day. They could never go outside and feel the air, or go on a boat and feel the mist. My mother still covers. I hate it, and I would never want to like that" ^[9] The Turkish women were different from other women's rights groups in that instead of fighting to win their basic rights and equality, they were organized around maintaining and defending Ataturk's reforms and principles of secularism.^[10].

Milestones

★ November 25, 1925	Change of headgear and dress
November 30, 1925	Closure of religious convents and dervish lodges.
June 21, 1934	Law on family names.
November 26, 1934	Abolition of titles and by-names.

Legal reforms

Visiting the Law School of Istanbul University

Atatürk visits a school, Istanbul University

Atatürk at the library of Çankaya Presidential Residence in Ankara

Ottoman Empire was a religious empire in which each religious community enjoyed some autonomy (See Millet). Each millet depending on the belief system governed either by Shariah, Catholic Canon law, or Jewish Halakha. The leading legal reforms instituted by Mustafa Kemal included the complete separation of government and religious affairs and the adoption of a strong interpretation of the principle of laïcité in the constitution. This was coupled with the closure of Islamic courts and the replacement of Islamic canon law (1924 - 1937) with a secular civil code modeled after Switzerland and a penal code modeled after the Italian Penal Code (1924 - 1937). The reforms also instituted legal equality between the sexes and the granting of full political rights to women on December 5, 1934, well before several other European nations.
In 1920, and today, the Islamic Law did not contain provisions regulating the sundry relationships of "political institutions" and "commercial transactions" of modern world^[11]. When Ottoman Empire dissolved partly because of outdated system; the traditions were not applicable to the demands of its time, such as the rules relating to "criminal cases" which was shaped under Islamic Law were limited in serving their purpose adequately. The Ottoman Islamic codes and legal provisions generally were impracticable dealing with the wider concept of social system [during the 19th century]. The Islamic Law and Christian Law [which was the law system used by the Christian millets, see: Millet] became drastically different. In many occasions the technological advances forced the communities to change which the changed helped losing the vitality of available set of rules. Polygamy has not been practiced by the law binding citizens of Turkey after Atatürk's reforms, which its related rules in the Megelle was inapplicable^[12]. There were thousands of articles in the Megelle which was not used due to their inapplicability. Polygamy in the Ottoman Empire, which was an accepted social phenomenon of Muslim Arab society even today, was applicable with the related rules set in the Megelle.
There is a background to the legal reforms. Legal reforms of Kemal could be perceived as the last step of failed history of modernization. Ottoman Empire tried to modernized the code with the reforms of 1839 (Hatt-i Sharif). Hatt-i Sharif in the Ottoman Empire tried to end the confusion in the judicial sphere by extending the legal equality to all citizens. In 1841 a criminal code was drawn up. When the Empire dissolved, there was still no legislation with regard to family and marital relationships. The adaptation of laws relating to family and marital relationships is an important step which is attributed to Mustafa Kemal.

Milestones

December 5, 1934	Granting of first partial (1930), then full political rights (right to vote and be elected to parliament) to women, well before several other European nations. See Timeline of women's suffrage for more information.
March 1, 1926	Introduction of the new penal law modeled after Italian Penal Code.
February 5, 1937	Complete separation of government and religious affairs and the inclusion of the principle of laïcité in the constitution.

Educational reforms

Literacy of Turkish people in 1927

At a junior high maths class

Atatürk introducing the new Turkish alphabet to the people of Sivas. (September 20, 1928)

The educational reforms combined with the opening of ''People's Houses'' throughout the country and the active encouragement of people by Atatürk himself with many trips to the countryside teaching the new alphabet, succeeded in achieving a substantial increase of the public literacy rate from 20% to over 90%. The literacy reform was also supported by strengthening the private publishing sector with a new ''Law on Copyrights'' and congresses for discussing the issues of copyright, public education and scientific publishing.

Unification

The unification of education had two important features. The first one was the democratization and the second one was to activate secularism in the field of education. Unification came with three sets of sub-laws ^[13] First, All the medreses and schools administered by private foundations or Ministry for Religious Affairs were connected to the Ministry of National Education. Second the money allocated to schools and medreses from the budget of Ministry for Religious Affairs shall be transferred to the education budget. Third the Ministry of Education shall open a religious faculty to raise higher religious experts within Darülfünûn and separate schools to raise imams and hatips.
With the unification of education, along with the closure of the old-style universities, applied a large-scale program of science transfer from Europe. One of the corner stone of educational institutions, University of Istanbul, accepted the German and Austrian scientists, whom the National Socialist regime in Germany had considered `racially' or politically undesirable. This political decision was accepted as the building the nucleus of science as a modern institution in Turkey¹. The reform aimed to break away the traditional dependency [since the Ottoman Empire] on the transfer of science and technology by foreign experts ¹.

Modernization

On November 1, 1928, the new Turkish alphabet was introduced by the ''Language Commission'' at the initiative of Atatürk, replacing the previously used Arabic script. The adoption of the new alphabet,
The modernization of language by removing adapted words was part of Mustafa Kemal's program of modernization^[14]. The removal of Arabic script was defended on the ground that it was not appropriate for the authentic Turkish phonology, which needs a new set of symbols to be correctly represented. Adaptation of technical vocabulary is a step of modernization, which was tried thoroughly. Vernacularization and simplification of the non-technical Turkish was made on the ground that the language of Turkish people should be comprehensible by the language they use. Good example is the Turkish word "Bilgisayar (Bilgi:Knowledge Sayar:Counter)" which was adapted for the word "Computer". Another important part of Atatürk's reforms encompassed his emphasis on the Turkish language and history, leading to the establishment of Turkish Language Association and Turkish Historical Society for research on Turkish language and history, during the years 1931–2.

★ Innovations in fine arts

Milestones

March 3, 1924	Abolishing of religious education system and the introduction of a national education system as the uniform standard (Unification of education)
March 3, 1924
(November 1, 1928)	Adoption of the new Turkish alphabet, derived from the Latin Alphabet
(1931 - 1932)	Establishment of Turkish Language Association and Turkish Historical Society for research on Turkish language and history
(May 31, 1933)	Regulation of the university education

Economic reforms

Reforms in the field of economy included the establishment of many state-owned factories throughout the country for agriculture, machine, and textile industries, many of which grew into successful enterprises and became privatized during the latter half of 20th century. Atatürk considered the development of a national rail network as another important step for industrialization, and this was addressed by the foundation of Turkish State Railways in 1927, setting up an extensive rail network in a very short timespan.

Milestones

	Abolition of capitulations
	Putting into effect Development Plans (First 1933 and Second 1937)
	public transportation networks
	Establishment of model farms

Criticism

Effectiveness

Atatürk's reforms were regarded as being too rapid by some. In his quest to modernize Turkey, he effectively abolished centuries-old traditions by means of reforms to which much of the population was unaccustomed but nevertheless willing to adopt. In some cases, these reforms were seen as benefiting the urban elites rather than the generally illiterate inhabitants of the rural countryside,^[15] where religious sentiments and customary norms tended to be stronger. In particular, Atatürk's strict religious reforms met with some opposition; and to this day, they continue to generate a considerable degree of social and political tension. In the future, political leaders would draw upon dormant forces of religion in order to secure positions of power, only to be blocked by the interventions of the powerful military (as in 1960 when Prime Minister Adnan Menderes was overthrown by the military),^[16] which has always regarded itself as the principal and most faithful guardian of secularism.

External links

★ Ministry of National Education and Culture, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

See also

★ Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

★ History of the Republic of Turkey

Notes

1. Regine ERICHSEN, «Scientific Research and Science Policy in Turkey», in Cemoti, n° 25 - Les Ouïgours au vingtième siècle, [En ligne], mis en ligne le 5 décembre 2003
2. S. N. Eisenstadt, “The Kemalist Regime and Modernization: Some Comparative and Analytical Remarks,” in J. Landau, ed., Atatürk and the Modernization of Turkey, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1984, 3–16
3. Jacob M. Landau "Ataturk and the Modernization of Turkey" page 57.
4. Ali Arslan "The evaluation of parliamentary democracy in turkey and Turkish political elites" HAOL, núm. 6 (invierno, 2005), 131-141
5. [1]
6. Jennifer McEwan, Jennifer Bean "The Effect of Popular Mobilization on Constitutional Design: An Analysis of Mexico and Turkey Midwest Political Science Association’s Annual Meeting 2005
7. The Psychoanalytic Study of Society, IX. 1981: "Immortal" ''Atatürk — Narcissism and Creativity in a Revolutionary Leader''. Vamik D. Volkan, pp. 221–255. [2]
8. Necla Arat in Marvine Howe's "Turkey today" page 18
9. Georgia Scott 2003 "Headwraps: A Global Journey" page 89.
10. Nüket Kardam "Turkey's Engagement With Global Women's Human Rights" page 88
11. TIMUR, Hıfzı.1956. "The Place of Islamic Law in Turkish Law Reform," Annales de la Faculte de Droit D'Istanbul. Istanbul: Fakülteler Matbaası.
12. Dr. Ayfer Altay "Difficulties Encountered in the Translation of Legal Texts: The Case of Turkey" Translation Journal Volume 6, No. 4
13. {cite web | url=http://www.meb.gov.tr/Stats/apk2001ing/Section_3/1TransformationMotivated.htm| title=Education since republic| publisher= Ministry of education| accessdate=2007-01-01 }}
14. Nafi YAL�IN . The Turkish language reform: a unique case of language planning in the world bilimdergisi 2002 Vol 3 page 9
15. Kinross p.503
16. Kinros p.504