The Republican Revolution and youth

We celebrated the 100th anniversary of our Republic in the past year. While celebrating, we were quite sorrowful, pained, and angry due to various internal and external reasons. Yet, we were still enthusiastic as a nation. We discussed the path Turkey, surrounded by a ring of fire to its north, south, and east, has taken thanks to the Republic, and what it has achieved, as well as how it did what it did, and why it could not do or achieve certain things. We also conducted an accounting, drew up a balance sheet, and engaged in self-criticism.

So, what is the Republic? Beyond the sovereignty of the people, the priority of what belongs to the public, governance by those the people have chosen, its direct connection to the national will, and its relationship with democracy, does the Republic have other qualities as a regime? Of course it does.

While the Republic prioritizes the equality of citizens, it also attaches importance to citizens being educated, conscious, and organized. Because the Republic sees the nation as a political society composed of conscious citizens. A nation is not an ordinary mass, a collection of people who have come together by chance, randomly, or as a result of coincidence.

The Republic does not settle for ensuring the equality of citizens only before the law. It desires equality in the practice of life as well. Starting with equality of opportunity in education, it objects to income inequality and the gap between classes and regions through the social state and by making the state effective in the economy.

The Republic stands for full independence and national sovereignty. It is anti-imperialist. Because it takes reason and science as its guide, because it sees the nation and the national will as the source of sovereignty, because it treats citizens as equal, undifferentiated, and unprivileged interlocutors, and because it is indispensable for democracy, it is secular. It does not tolerate the shadow, guardianship, or influence of any power, organization, formation, bond, identity, affiliation, or membership—remnants of the Middle Ages or feudalism—over the citizen and the nation. That is why it is against reactionary and market-oriented policies that condemn the citizen to being a disciple or a customer.

The Republic defends the social state, the weight of the state in the economy, populist and statist economic policies, a planned economy, planned industrialization, planned development, and planned urbanization. This is also a requirement for reason, science, and positive law to be valid in every field of life.

For such a republic, a communal republic, to come to life and take shape, public-mindedness is essential. Statism is also necessary for the economic foundation, the economic basis, and the class infrastructure of all these. From agriculture to industry, and from industry to the service sector, the state does not settle for just making laws and conducting inspections. It must do more. If necessary, it must be an entrepreneur itself and intervene in the market in this way as well. The regulatory function of the state should extend to a wide area, starting from all public services, especially education and health, to medicine, transportation, communication, and public housing.

It must be stated first that the Republic is a radical program. It is a revolutionary program, not a reformist one. The six principles, which are the summary and symbol of the Republican Revolution, are consistent with each other and complement and complete one another. These principles stand out both in their theoretical aspect and in their practical application. The Republican Revolution, also known as the Kemalist Revolution program, aims for full independence, national sovereignty, modernization, peace, security, prosperity, equality, and a dignified and respectable life.

Republicanism is a requirement of democratization, participation, and sovereignty.

To elaborate and detail the principles a little more…

Secularism is the foundation and guarantee of the contemporary state order, scientific thought, democracy, gender equality, social peace, and freedom of belief and worship, as well as national sovereignty, national will, and legitimacy, because it bases the source of power on the nation, a non-religious and non-divine will. Every secular order may not be democratic, but every democratic order must be secular. Secularism is the fundamental condition for guaranteeing freedom of thought, expression, and belief, for establishing democracy with all its institutions and rules, for preventing sectarian and religious conflicts, and for keeping up with change. It is the guarantee of internal peace. Just as it is wrong to treat secularism solely as freedom of belief, it is equally incomplete to treat it solely as the separation of religious and worldly affairs. Secularism requires the state to be at an equal distance from all religions, beliefs, and sects, as much as it requires it to be a guarantor of freedom of belief and to ensure that no one interferes with public order in the name of religion.

Nationalism is defending the interests of the country, defending the undifferentiated and unprivileged equality of all citizens who make up the nation, defending the independence, integrity, sovereignty, and political unity of the nation, and defending Turkey's status as a dignified and respectable state.

Populism is to look out for the public interest on an economic scale. It is to be in favor of equality of opportunity. It is to defend the social state. It is to oppose income inequality. It is to prioritize public-minded, communal, and pro-labor policies.

Statism is one of the two principles that stand out with its economic content along with populism. It describes the regulatory, balancing, supervisory, and pioneering function of the state in the economy. It is necessary for the more efficient use of resources, a planned economy, the elimination of development differences between classes and regions, the prevention of the wealth-poverty gap, and the prevention of the economy from falling under the control of domestic and foreign monopolies. Statism prioritizes economic and social needs and looks out for broad segments of society, the laborers, and the oppressed. It advocates for the state to set the direction in the economy, to be a guide, to prioritize, to undertake basic infrastructure services, to definitely have a significant share in basic public services, especially education and health, and to come to the fore in sectors that are in the public interest but do not bring high profits, and in sectors of strategic importance.

Revolutionism is essential for rapidly adapting to changing conditions and for changing the underdeveloped social structure, habits, and judgments. It is a condition for being brave and pioneering. It is necessary to find the most advanced, most contemporary, and most populist solutions to changing conditions.

The Republican Revolution, with all these qualities and its radical and brave moves, is known as Atatürk's revolution and for his entrusting the Republic to the youth. It is no coincidence that the date when Atatürk set out for Samsun and started the War of Independence—which is also told in the Address to the Youth, which attaches great importance to education, and which sees the youth as the greatest defender of the Republic—is celebrated as a youth festival.