Atatürk by Inci Saykı

MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATURK

ATATURK

BSTRACT

Atatürk was a powerful leader, an independent revolutionist and the first president of Turkey. He is a role model for lots of people. He inspired lots of people to be strong and independent. That is why I chose this topic, I appreciate how he protected our empire.

arly Life Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born in the early months of 1881, either in the Ahmed

Subaşı neighbourhood or in Islahhane Street (present-day Apostolou Pavlou Street) in the Koca Kasım Pasha neighbourhood (this house is preserved as a museum) in Salonica (present-day Thessaloniki),[Ottoman Empire, to his mother Zübeyde Hanım (a housewife) and father Ali Rıza Efendi (a militia officer, title-deed clerk and lumber trader). Only one of Mustafa’s siblings, a sister named Makbule (Atadan) survived childhood; she died in 1956. According to Andrew Mango, he was born into a family which was Muslim, Turkish-speaking and precariously middle-class.According to Encyclopaedia Judaica, one assertion that was commonly made by many Jews of Salonika was that Atatürk was of Doenmeh (crypto-Jewish) origin. Many of Atatürk’s religious opponents eagerly embraced this view. His father Ali Rıza is thought to be of Albanian origin by somehowever, according to Falih Rıfkı Atay, Ali Rıza’s ancestors were Turks, ultimately descending from Söke in the Aydın Province of Anatolia. His mother Zübeyde is thought to be of Turkish origin and according to Şevket Süreyya Aydemir, she was of Yörük ancestry.There are also some suggestions about his partial Slavic origin.He was born Mustafa, and his second name Kemal (meaning Perfection or Maturity) was given to him by his mathematics teacher, Captain Üsküplü Mustafa Efendi, according to Afet Inan in admiration of his capability and maturity,and according to Ali Fuat Cebesoy, because his teacher Mustafa Efendi wanted to distinguish his student who had the same name as himalthough his biographer Andrew Mango suggests that he may have chosen the name himself as a tribute to the nationalist poet Namık KemalIn his early years, his mother encouraged Mustafa Kemal to attend a religious school, something he did reluctantly and only briefly. Later, he attended the Şemsi Efendi School (a private school with a more secular curriculum) at the direction of his father. His parents wanted him to learn a trade, but without consulting them, Mustafa Kemal took the entrance exam for the Salonica Military School (Selanik Askeri Rüştiyesi ) in 1893. In 1896, he enrolled into the Monastir Military High School. On 14 March 1899, he enrolled at the Ottoman Military Academy in the neighbourhood of Pangaltı within the Şişli district of the Ottoman capital city Constantinople (modern Istanbul in Turkey) and graduated in 1902. He later graduated from the Ottoman Military College in Constantinople on 11 January 1905

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ilitary Life

In May 1919, Atatürk began a nationalist revolution in Anatolia, organising resistance to the peace settlement imposed on Turkey by the victorious Allies. This was particularly focused on resisting Greek attempts to seize Smyrna and its hinterland. Victory over the Greeks enabled him to secure revision of the peace settlement in the Treaty of Lausanne.

In 1921, Atatürk established a provisional government in Ankara. The following year the Ottoman Sultanate was formally abolished and, in 1923, Turkey became a secular republic with Atatürk as its president. He established a single party regime that lasted almost without interruption until 1945.

uotes

“A nation which makes the final sacrifice for life and freedom does not get beaten”

“Sovereignty is not given, it is taken.”

“They don’t let us inside... they don’t give us a chance to put our case. They forget those of the Turkish nation killed by Armenians,”

eforms Atatürk’s changes to Turkish society (Turkish: Atatürk Devrimleri) were a series of

political, legal, cultural, social and economic policy changes that were designed to convert the new Republic of Turkey into a secular nation-state where practice of religion in various aspects of life was restricted. They were implemented under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in accordance with Kemalist ideology. Until the moment the republic was formally proclaimed, the Ottoman Empire was still in existence, with its heritage of religious and dynastic authority. The dynasty was abolished by the Ankara Government, but its traditions and cultural symbols remained active among the people (though less so among the elite). Atatürk’s political reforms involved a number of fundamental institutional changes that would see the end of these traditions, and a carefully planned program of political change was implemented to unravel the complex system that had developed over the centuries.

The guardian of Kemalism, and it has intervened in Turkish politics to that end on several occasions, including the overthrow of civilian governments by. While this may seem contrary to democratic ideals, it was argued by military authorities and secularists as necessary in the light of Turkish history, ongoing efforts to maintain secular government, and the fact that the reforms were implemented when the military occupied INCI SAYKI 9A

ATATURK

The changes meant the end of the millet system of religious/ethnic communities. The people of each millet had traditionally enjoyed a degree of autonomy, with their own leadership, collecting their own taxes and living according to their own system of religious/cultural law. Under the Kemalist reforms official recognition of the Ottoman millets was withdrawn. It was replaced by a common, secular authority. Many of the religious communities failed to adjust to the new regime This was exacerbated by the emigration or impoverishment, due to deteriorating economic conditions, of families that hitherto had financially supported community institutions such as hospitals and schools.

Kemalists defined a non-civilized (non-scientific, non-positivist) person as one who functioned within the boundaries of superstition. The ulema was not a scientific group, and it was acting according to superstitions developed throughout centuries. Their name was “Gerici”. On February 25, 1925 parliament passed a law stating that religion was not to be used as a tool in politics. The question became how this law could be brought to life in a country whose scholars are dominated by the ulema. Kemalist ideology waged a war against superstition by banning the practices of the ulema and promoting the civilized way (“westernization”), with establishing lawyers, teachers, doctors. The ban on the ulema’s social existence came in the form of dress code. The strategic goal was to change the large influence of the ulema over politics by removing them from the social arena. However, there was the danger of being perceived as anti-religious. Kemalists defended themselves by stating “Islam viewed all forms of superstition (non-scientific) nonreligious”. The ulema’s power was established during the Ottoman Empire with the conception that secular institutions were all subordinate to religion; the ulema were emblems of religious piety, and therefore rendering them powerful over state affairs.[5] Kemalists claimed “the state will be ruled by positivism not superstition.” A good example was the practice of medicine. Kemalists wanted to get rid of superstition extending to herbal medicine, potion, and religious therapy for mental illness, all of which were practised by the ulema. They excoriated those who used herbal medicine, potions, and balms, and instituted penalties against the religious men who claimed they have a say in health and medicine. On September 1, 1925, the first Turkish Medical Congress was assembled, which was only four days after Mustafa Kemal was seen on August 27 at Inebolu wearing a modern hat and one day after the Kastamonu speech on August 30.

Official measures were gradually introduced to eliminate the wearing of religious clothing and other overt signs of religious affiliation. Beginning in 1923, a series of laws progressively limited the wearing of selected items of traditional clothing. Mustafa Kemal first made the hat compulsory to the civil servants.[6] The guidelines for the proper dressing of students and state employees (public space controlled by state) was passed during his lifetime. After most of the relatively better educated civil servants adopted the hat with their own he gradually moved further.

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The secularism of the Kemalism is not antitheistic or anti-Islamic. In fact, the Kemalist state’s support for Islam was demonstrated by the establishment of Directorate for Religious Affairs (Turkish: Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı), created “to execute the works concerning the beliefs, worship, and ethics of Islam, enlighten the public about their religion, and administer the sacred worshipping places”. This is also true for other religions. It acted firmly against anti-religious acts[citation needed]. The government asserted the equality of religions and free worship rights of all Turkish citizens in their own private space to the protection of the Republic. The state protected freedom of worship while itself standing aloof of any form of religious influence. Kemalist ideology targeted political Islam, but it posed a threat to the independence of the state and its ability to govern with equal concern for all. Changes were both conceptually radical and culturally significant. The religious education system was replaced by a national education system on March 3, 1924, and the office of caliphate, held by the Ottomans since 1517, was abolished on the same day. The Islamic courts and Islamic canon law gave way to a secular law structure based on the Swiss Civil Code. Ottoman Empire had a social system based on religious affiliation and religious insignia extended to every social function. It was common to wear clothing that identified the person with their own particular religious grouping and accompanied headgear which distinguished rank and profession throughout the Ottoman Empire. The turbans, fezes, bonnets and head-dresses surmounting Ottoman styles showed the sex, rank, and profession (both civil and military) of the wearer. These styles were accompanied with a strict regulation beginning with the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent. Sultan Mahmud II followed on the example of Peter the Great in Russia in modernizing the Empire and used the dress code of 1826 which developed the symbols (classifications) of feudalism among the public. Kemalist view of change, like that of Peter I of Russia or Sultan Mahmud II, was achieved through introduction of the progressive customs by decrees, while banning the traditional customs. The view of their social change proposed; if the permanence of secularism was to be assured by removal of persistence of traditional cultural values (the religious insignia), a considerable degree of cultural receptivity by the public to the further social change could be achieved. INCI SAYKI 9A

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eath

During 1937, indications that Atatürk’s health was worsening started to appear. In early 1938, while he was on a trip to , he suffered from a serious illness. He went to İstanbul for treatment, where he was diagnosed with of the liver due to heavy alcohol consumption during most of his adult life.During his stay in İstanbul, he made an effort to keep up with his regular lifestyle for a while. He died on 10 November 1938, at the age of 57, in the, where he spent his last days.The clock in the bedroom where he died is still set to the time of his death, 9:05 in the morning. Atatürk’s funeral called forth both sorrow and pride in Turkey, and 17 countries sent special representatives, while nine contributed armed detachments to the.Mustafa Kemal’s remains were originally laid to rest in the, and transferred on 10 November 1953, 15 years after his death in a 42-ton, to a mausoleum that overlooks Ankara,. In his, he donated all of his possessions to the Republican People’s Party, providing that the yearly interest of his funds would be used to look after his sister Makbule and his adopted children, and fund the higher education of the children of İsmet İnönü. The remainder of this yearly interest was willed .

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