The fundamental principles of the Republic of Turkey

To understand the Turkish revolution, one must know—and knowing is not enough, one must believe—that it was born from Turkish history as the product of a founding and creative thought based on reason and science.

Our revolution has a single root and foundation. That is the Turkish general revolution, which was born from Turkish history and the spirit of the nation. One must first examine the breakthroughs in the spirit of the Great Turkish Revolutionary and the reasons that ignited him. Only then can we see from what source the Great Revolutionary Atatürk drew inspiration to instill this into the nation or his surroundings.

The Great Revolutionary Atatürk, by delving into our national history—as this is a matter of regime—said a single word that established it, and he founded the Republic of Turkey upon it: SOVEREIGNTY BELONGS TO THE NATION.

Atatürk had established the Defense of Rights (Müdafaa-i Hukuk) to win the national war of independence. When national sovereignty took root in the form of a republic, the honorable Defense of Rights of history left its place to the Republican People's Party (CHP). The Republic of Turkey was founded upon four foundations and six main principles.

The four foundations are: The homeland, the nation, the constitutional institution of the state, and public rights. The six main principles are: republicanism, nationalism, populism, statism, secularism, and revolutionism.

The Republic of Turkey is a nationalist, statist, populist, secular, and revolutionary state, and all of these form a unity. They cannot be separated from one another in any way. In fact, Atatürk entrusted the protection of our state to the CHP as a duty.

The party has always believed that the republic is the form of state that represents national sovereignty in the most robust manner. With this unwavering conviction, the CHP has the duty to protect the republic against every danger with all its might.

According to our constitutional law, the form of the state cannot be debated in any way. This is not open to discussion under any circumstances. No words can ever be spoken against the form of the republic, which is protected with such jealousy and is under the protection of criminal law and threats.

The CHP has believed so firmly that the republic is the form of state that most definitively represents national sovereignty that it cannot tolerate even the slightest tremor; it defends it against every danger with all its might. Because the republic is the form of state most befitting the Turkish nation, it cannot allow it to be changed or compared with this or that other form of state.

I hope the CHP leadership remembers this historical responsibility.