Atatürk's principles and the Six Arrows: A needle for ourselves, a packing needle for the CHP

Let us celebrate the week of victory to the fullest. Let us be proud. Let us try to understand Atatürk at every opportunity. Let us brainstorm about how he would think today if he were alive. Let us stick a needle into ourselves, and a packing needle into the CHP, the party founded by Atatürk.

Since 1947, after the Second World War, we forgot Atatürk's principle of independence; we abandoned the Enlightenment Revolutions and the planned development model based on our own resources. We first sat in the lap of imperialism by joining the US Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine, and then by becoming a member of NATO. In education, the most important pillar of the Enlightenment Revolutions, we closed the Village Institutes and abandoned education to US ideology and culture through the Fulbright agreement. From that date to this day, the counter-revolution has surrounded Turkey step by step. With the AKP era, the counter-revolutionary political Islam under the guidance of imperialism and the separatist Kurdish movement have gained massive ground. According to their own statements, they are now on the final stretch in the process of destroying Atatürk's Republic.

The savior and founder of this country, GMK Atatürk, set the goal of surpassing the level of contemporary civilization. In my view, the level of contemporary civilization in terms of law, social structure, income distribution, and many other areas is Northern Europe. It is not a prerequisite to be an EU member to achieve these standards. Furthermore, I never forget the pressure and lobbying activities the EU carried out to destroy the fuses protecting the regime in Turkey for its own imperialist ambitions, nor the support it gave to the AKP government that has mired Turkey in a swamp today.

During this Great Victory week, my suggestion is to identify policies that will focus on whatever the level of contemporary civilization is, even without joining the EU, and to try to implement Atatürk's principles and revolutions under 21st-century conditions.

I see North-Western Europe as the level of contemporary civilization. Someone else might see the US, and another might see China, the rising star of the world. This is debatable. However, what must be done is to hold firmly to the principle of "peace at home, peace in the world" and to protect independence.

The fundamental principle is that it is our duty to uphold Atatürk's principles and to maintain our identity as perpetual revolutionaries like him, without imprisoning Atatürk's Enlightenment Revolutions in a dogma, in order to surpass the level of contemporary civilization and increase the welfare of society.

ATATÜRK'S PRINCIPLES AND THE SIX ARROWS

Atatürk's principles are expressed by the Six Arrows. Republicanism, secularism, populism, and nationalism were adopted at the 1927 CHP Congress, and the principles of revolutionism and statism were added at the 1931 congress. In 1933, it was turned into an emblem as the Six Arrows by İsmail Hakkı Tonguç, the founding father of the Village Institutes, as the symbol of the CHP. It entered the Constitution in 1937.

In my opinion, the greatest misfortune of the Six Arrows is that it is expressed as the emblem of a single party. When the multi-party period began later, it was perceived only as the principles of one party. However, the Six Arrows are not the philosophy of a party, but the founding philosophy of the Republic. In the multi-party period, it was attempted to be rejected without its content being discussed. This rejection process reached such a point that even the current top management of the CHP cannot uphold the principles of the Six Arrows.

I stated this in the paragraph above. We must interpret Atatürk's principles in the light of science, discuss them under 21st-century conditions, and keep them alive with the principle of continuous revolution without imprisoning them in a dogma.

Then let us first look at the Six Arrows.

Republicanism: Today it is still indisputable and does not need interpretation. After all this time, would one grant sovereignty to a family or a dynasty?

Secularism: In today's world, for democracy, for human rights, for contemporary law, and for the freedom of individuals, it can never, ever be compromised. Today it is under a very heavy attack. It is unforgivable that the CHP participated in an insidious and absurd discourse like "libertarian secularism" during the Table of Six process and still does not reject it.

Populism: It forms the basis of the social state and fair income distribution. The Ottoman Empire did not witness class conflicts like those in Europe. Because there was no working class. The peasant was a servant and subject of the Sultan. The Ottoman Empire did not collapse due to internal contradictions, but due to external contradictions, as a result of the attack of imperialism. The republic established in its place also preferred a sociological structuring and a classless society discourse based on the division of labor theories of thinkers of the period such as Durkheim, Bougle, and Duguit, rather than the class conflict sociology predicted by Marx. However, the Populism declaration that Gazi Mustafa Kemal presented to the Parliament on September 13, 1920, even before the Republic was founded, carries an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist spirit. Today, as a result of the crippled statism principle, the industrialization and capitalization process achieved, and the severely distorted income distribution, the validity of the consensus-based division of labor and classless society theory predicted by Durkheim no longer exists. However, the anti-imperialist spirit, the spirit of fair income distribution, and the social state principles of the Populism principle cannot be compromised.

Nationalism: It is the principle under the most attack today, along with secularism. In Atatürk's nationalism, race and religion are rejected. The definition of citizenship in Atatürk's 1924 Constitution is very clear. In this definition, "The people of Turkey are called Turks in terms of citizenship, regardless of religion or race." Even if this definition has undergone changes in the current constitution, there is still no emphasis on race or religion. "Everyone who is bound to the Turkish State by the bond of citizenship is a Turk."

Atatürk's nationalism principle and the nation-state principle built upon this principle are being attacked by Political Islamists, separatist Kurds, and imperialist powers. Unfortunately, the CHP, let alone defending it, is attacking Atatürk's nationalism principle with the "equal citizenship" discourses of the CHP top management and presidential candidate E. İmamoğlu, and by legitimizing the resolution commission. Article 10 of the Constitution is clear. "Everyone is equal before the law without distinction as to language, race, color, sex, political opinion, philosophical belief, religion, sect, or any such grounds. Men and women have equal rights. The State is obliged to ensure that this equality is put into practice."

Is the CHP top management not aware of this article when they talk about equal citizenship? Yes, everyone is not equal before the law today; the culprit is not Atatürk's nationalism, but the AKP government's application of enemy law to its opponents and ignoring all the lawlessness of its own supporters.

Statism: The strongest aspect of Atatürk's economic development move. It is not a Soviet-type statism. However, it is not a liberal choice that leaves the economy entirely to the market either. It is a planned development model based on the state's own resources, observing economic independence. During the founding period of the Republic, there was no private sector or capital accumulation. Investments would be made by the state. However, small enterprises and the private sector would also be supported. To support the private sector, İş Bank was established in 1924, and an industrial incentive plan was made in 1930. A mixed economic model based on state-cooperativism-private sector entrepreneurship was implemented. In today's world economic conjuncture, statism is perhaps the principle that needs to be interpreted the most... In my opinion, the Turkish private sector is still not of a size to compete on a global scale. I think there is a need for a mixed economic model that is still state-led but uses the dynamism and competitive power of the private sector and brings cooperatives to the forefront. The indispensable conditions are planned development, a realistic tax system, an education system that prioritizes well-trained human resources in every field, and, along with all these, planned regional development and urbanization models... Of course, as stated in the Populism principle, fair distribution and a strong social state.

Revolutionism: One day Yakup Kadri asks Atatürk. "My Pasha, what is the ideology of you and your revolutions?" The answer is very clear. If revolutions are confined to an ideology, if they are confined to a dogma, they become stagnant. For the Republic to surpass the level of contemporary civilization, it needs not dogma, but continuous revolutions.

TWO GOLDEN KEYS

Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha gives us two very important golden keys for continuous revolution. "The truest guide in life is science. If one day my words conflict with science, choose science, not my words."

This is continuous revolutionism. This is the way to continuously surpass contemporary civilization. And the most important principle of the revolution and its other golden key is, again in Atatürk's words, "Freedom and independence are my character."

While discussing how to make Atatürk's principles sovereign again in Turkey under today's conditions, these two golden keys will unlock the locks ahead of us.

Happy Victory Day.