The 98th anniversary of Turkish republic

  Articoli (Articles)
  Redazione
  04 November 2021
  5 minutes, 19 seconds

29 October, 2021 marks the 98th anniversary of Turkish republic which was founded following the Independence War that continued for four years and resulted on July 24, 1923 with the triumph of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and his fellow soldiers. Afterwards, Ataturk was entitled as the first president of the new regime through elections and he stayed in the power for upcoming 15 years until he passed away. While, Ismet Inonu following his return from Lausanne negotiations which started after the rejection of Sévres that imposed by Allies after World War I against Turks, formed the Republic’s first cabinet and became its prime minister. Sévres was one of the five treaties that composed the Paris peace settlement of 1919-1920. This agreement has fronted with determination of Turkish nationalist, and consequently Sévres has never been put into force even though it was signed by the Sultan’s government. Ankara did not recognize ratification of Istanbul and managed to become only losing side party to Sévres that did not agree to the terms and work on new mutual agreement.

Occurrences of 1923 were series of rapid changes that were boosted by World War I due to four year long tiresome fighting which made already sick Ottoman Empire use the last bullet. Following the lost of Arab territories, Allied powers occupied the Turkish soil starting from 1918. In 1919, Greeks invaded the Anatolia. All these events have ignited nationalist movement which required solely a spark to emerge. During the struggle against invaders, the nationalists formed their own government named Grand National Assembly and unrecognized all the signed agreements and taken decisions by Istanbul, capital of Ottoman Empire that was under control of Allied powers. The six hundred year old Ottoman Empire was, in effect, dead.

Ataturk and his leadership was significantly crucial for the new regime. He occupied the center of all the events that would influence the course of nation. It is reasonable to say he was not only the brain of the country, but also the heart. During his tenure, Ataturk steered all the efforts towards consolidating republican regime, building a new nation and new type of citizen by unattaching the brand new regime by imperial past. Western values laid a foundation for his ideal Turkish Republic.In order to cement the roots of the new regime, short time after the war, sultanate had been abolished (1st November, 1922) which has been unfunctional since Ataturk and his fellow soldiers decided to fight against an allies, form a new government and establish Turkish Republic from a scratch. Following the abolishment, serving sultan has remained merely with the title of caliphate that possess no political potency, but religious potency in Islam world. Full authorithy of governance has been taken away from the sultan and has been given to the parliament. Thereafter, less than half a year after, caliphate title of sultanate would also be abondened. This break with the Islamic past was followed shortly by the closing of religious courts, the abolition of religious schools, and by other measures of secularization. Additionally, as a continuation of secularization and westernization progress, Ottoman civil code which was based on religious law replaced by a new Turkish code adapted from the Swiss model.

Ataturk’s charisma and abolishment of sultanate was not sufficient to gather all the prominent figures behind the idea of republic regime. These academic figures supported the establishment of monarchy and they were against republic regime. Proclamation of republic has not happened as a result of time consuming discussion ; it was brought to the agenda of parliament in rush with the request of Ataturk while opposing prominent figures were not in Ankara to cast their ballots. Hence, on October 29, 1923 new regime was proclaimed with unanimous vote. This event has marked the day of breaking the links with the imperial past, initiated brand new era which is justified by Ataturk himself. However, the changes were not stricted to the politics and religion. Fez which symbolized Ottoman and Islamic past prohibited and replaced by hat. This decision made traditionalists furious along with the switch to Latin alphabet from Arab letters used in writing Turkish. Osman Nur Yalman, a Turkish professor, reflected on all the changes : "There has been a cultural revolution in Turkey, and an extraordinary attempt to move from an Islamic conception of the state to a secular European model. There is no country in the world, not even Maoist China, which has undergone such radical social and political surgery as Turkey and still survived. The changes that have taken place since 1918 are simply beyond the comprehension of those who have been fortunate enough to be brought up in a fairly continuous cultural tradition. The catalog of changes in Turkey leaves no item of the nation's cultural life untouched."

The proclamation of the republic became national holiday and started to be celebrated officially from 1925 onwards. The celebration represents a break from the imperial past and symbolizes integrated Western values and norms into the Turkish Republic. In every celebration, Ataturk was put forward. The celebrations not only stand for the new regime, but also vitalization of Ataturk as the eternal leader of the country.

Turkish Republic celebrates its 98th anniversary. This regime has beeen through many occurrences but it is still young, and public is yet to fully grasp all the Western values, norms that have been introduced and could not truly break the ties with past, even though it is thin. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk has always believed in Turkish Republic should be Western and modern without ignoring its Eastern traces as well. He passed away long-time ago now, but still he remains as the guiding light of this young republic with his ideas, ideology and charisma.

Resources:

Cetin, Idil. Audience as a temporal category: The tenth anniversary of Republic Day in Turkey. May, 2021. Participations Journal of Audience & Reception Studies. Volume 18, Issue 1.

H. Davison, Roderic. THE TURKISH REPUBLIC: FIFTY YEARS OF PEACE. World Affairs, Fall 1973. Vol 136, no.2. Sage Publications. Pp. 164-180.

Edited by Mehmetcan Karakoyun

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