Remembering Atatürk on World Cooperatives Day

Turkey, which became a beacon of hope for oppressed nations with the War of Independence it waged against imperialism, successfully implemented a planned development model in its economy and became an example in the economic field. 

Our Republic has also achieved significant successes in terms of institutionalization.

Cooperatives have been one of the important elements of development.

Our great leader Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of our Republic, whose 100th anniversary we are celebrating, led the way in the issue of cooperativism.

Atatürk saw cooperativism as an important tool for development and worked throughout his life for it to develop and spread in our country. He placed serious emphasis on this issue by becoming a member himself, establishing cooperatives, and developing proposals and laws. Atatürk became member number 1 and 2, along with İsmet İnönü, of the Ankara Civil Servants' Consumer Cooperative, which was established in Ankara in 1925. There is no other President in the world who has personally established two cooperatives other than Atatürk.

When the Republic was founded, the number of cooperatives was 2, while in 1938 this figure rose to 600. The number of members also reached 175 thousand.

On the other hand, cooperativism was taught as a course in universities, and various magazines and books were published on this subject. In the 1930s, G. Kessler was made to teach cooperativism courses at the Istanbul University Faculty of Economics. Kessler states the following on this subject: 

“There is no country in the world today whose economic power we look at with admiration that has not had its economy rise on the shoulders of cooperativism.”

According to what Prof. Dr. Mustafa Kaymakçı has conveyed, Atatürk also shed light on the idea of agricultural cooperativism. He gave speeches, especially on the subject of farmers forming cooperatives, and played a dominant role in the enactment of laws:

“I know because I am a farmer too, agriculture cannot be done without machinery, manual labor is difficult. Unite. Thus, buy machinery” (August 24, 1925, Kastamonu).

“The fact that the agricultural cooperative organization has been started this year is a particular cause for our satisfaction. We are highly committed to extending these cooperatives to every part of the country” (November 1, 1929, TBMM opening speech).

DECEMBER 21 WORLD COOPERATIVES DAY

Attorney Ramazan Çakmakcı, Executive Board Member of the Önce İlke Contemporary Lawyers Group and Istanbul Delegate of the Union of Turkish Bar Associations, gave a presentation titled “Izmir Economic Congress, Atatürk and Cooperatives” at an event held at the Istanbul Bar Association where the achievements of the Republic were discussed.

Çakmakcı is also a lawyer who, together with Attorney Ali Başaran, pioneered the establishment of the “Cooperative Law Commission” within the Istanbul Bar Association.

He emphasized important points in his presentation. He stated that Atatürk saw cooperativism not just as a model of development and solidarity, but as the foundation of the ‘Mixed Economy’, which is the economic model of the Turkish Revolution, and that Atatürk’s struggle for cooperativism should be seen and read in this way.

The “National Pact of Labor” put forward at the Izmir Economic Congress, the equivalent of economic independence and the mixed economy approach in corporate law, is the ‘Cooperative Company’. 

The economic aspect of the Turkish Revolution cannot be fully understood without grasping the subject of cooperativism.

The famous historian Professor Herbert Meizig says of Atatürk, “If we were to research world history, we would not find any other statesman whose words and actions were as consistent with each other as his.”

Emphasizing that Atatürk personally realized whatever he said regarding cooperatives and that his revolutionary character, which personally showed all his people that he stood behind his word, should be an example to everyone, Çakmakcı proposed Atatürk and his Cooperativism as a model once again on the 100th anniversary of the Republic to all mass organizations and professional associations, stating that the people in the cities destroyed by the great Kahramanmaraş earthquakes could be lifted up with ‘Cooperativism’, which is Atatürk’s economic model.

Under these conditions where the economic crisis is deepening, Atatürk’s economic development model must be brought back to life in a way that is suitable for today’s conditions. Cooperatives, which occupy a critical place in terms of production, solidarity, and development together, are also very important in this sense.

I also respectfully commemorate our teacher Prof. Dr. Ayhan Çıkın, a scientist who made very important contributions to the thought and practice of cooperativism, and I would like to remind you once again of his words: “Turkey cannot develop without agriculture, and agriculture cannot develop without cooperatives.”

Bibliography:

-Prof. Dr. Ayhan Çıkın, Atatürk Era Economic Policies and Cooperativism, Yar Müdafaa-i Hukuk Journal, November 2003, Issue: 62, pp. 25-32.

-Prof. Dr. Ziya Gökalp Mülayim, Cooperativism from Atatürk to Today, Yetkin Publications, 1998.

-Cazim Gürbüz, Atatürk’s Economy and Five Epic Men, Asya Şafak Publications, 2nd Edition, 2011.