The Republic

Atatürk did not establish the Republic overnight. The Republic is the work of a modern Turkey project that took shape in Mustafa Kemal’s mind over many years. From his youth, Atatürk read foreign intellectuals such as J.J. Rousseau, Montesquieu, and Kant, as well as local intellectuals like Tevfik Fikret, Namık Kemal, and Ziya Gökalp.

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As soon as Mustafa Kemal Pasha reached Samsun on May 19, 1919, the statement in the report he sent on May 22, 1919, as Inspector of the Army, “The nation has accepted the principle of national sovereignty and Turkish nationalism. It will strive to realize this,” was a sign of the Republic. In the June 21/22, 1919 Amasya Circular, the clause “The independence of the nation will be saved by the determination and resolve of the nation itself” was, in fact, the Republic itself. At the Erzurum Congress held from July 23 to August 7, 1919, the expression “It is essential to make national forces effective and national will dominant,” followed by the decisions taken at the Sivas Congress, were indicators of the path toward the Republic. As can be seen, the main principles regarding the Republican administration had begun to appear in documents four years before its proclamation.

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The most frequently asked question after the War of Independence: The homeland has been saved from the enemy, the War of Independence is over, but what will be the form of the state? What will you do in this hardship, in this scarcity? Everyone, including foreigners, was asking this question.

On October 13, 1923, Ankara was made the capital. The city's population was 25 thousand. Mustafa Kemal Pasha said: “Ankara is the center of government. And it will remain the center of government forever.” It was time to declare the form of the state. Although there was an open Parliament and the form of government was nothing other than a Republic, it had not yet been named. The Prime Minister was Fethi Okyar. During this period, a government crisis emerged and could not be resolved.

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October 28, 1923… İsmet Pasha, Fethi Bey (Okyar), former corps commander Kemalettin Sami, Kocaeli Group Commander Halit Pasha, Minister of Defense Kazım Pasha, Rize Deputy Fuat Bulca, and Afyon Deputy Ruşen Eşref are at dinner in Çankaya at the invitation of Mustafa Kemal Pasha.

After dinner, the government crisis is discussed. Mustafa Kemal had decided on his plan long before. He says the following sentence that would solve the emerging problem at its root: “We will proclaim the Republic tomorrow.” Afterward, those other than İsmet Pasha leave the dinner. Atatürk and İsmet Pasha work on the constitutional amendment. The provision “The form of government of the State of Turkey is a Republic” is added to the legislative proposal.

On Monday, October 29, 1923, at 20:30, the Constitutional Amendment was approved. The Republic was accepted with cries of “Long live the Republic” and applause. At 20:45, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha, Deputy for Ankara, was elected the first President by the unanimous vote of the 158 members who participated in the voting. Atatürk then makes a speech: “We will move forward all together. The Republic of Turkey will be happy, successful, and victorious.”

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In an interview with French journalist Maurice Pernot, Mustafa Kemal Pasha said: “We want to modernize our country. All our work is to create a modern, and therefore Western, government in Turkey. Which nation that desires to enter civilization has not turned to the West?”

In the days of the proclamation of the Republic, the joy experienced by the founding cadre was no less than the joy experienced during the days of the great victory.

Atatürk offered the Prime Ministry to İsmet İnönü, and the first government was formed. The goal of the first government in domestic policy was: Ensuring peace, security, progress, and development. The goal in foreign policy was: Establishing friendly relations that would in no way damage the integrity and independence of the Republic of Turkey. A magnificent strategic foresight by the victorious cadre emerging from the war, aiming to strengthen the internal and external fronts…

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Turkey's population was 13 million. The literacy rate was 7 percent for men and 0.4 percent for women. Against 40 thousand villages, there were 136 certified midwives. There were only 337 doctors, 434 health officers, and 60 pharmacists. In 37 thousand villages, there were no schools, post offices, or roads. There were 72 middle schools and 23 high schools in the country. There were no doctors in 150 districts. The number of people with trachoma was three million; malaria, typhus, tuberculosis, syphilis, and typhoid were in an epidemic state.

Women were considered second-class. Turkish women gained the right to vote and be elected in 1934. These rights were granted in France in 1944, in Italy in 1945, and in Switzerland in 1971.

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During the Ottoman period, Turks were marginalized. The Sultanate was passed from father to son. In other words, there were the ummah (community of believers) and subjects. Atatürk’s statement, “The people of Turkey who founded the Republic of Turkey are called the Turkish nation,” is the definition of the Republic. Race, religion, sect, and gender are not considered. The nation-state is not based on ethnic or sectarian foundations. With the Republic, the ummah became a nation; the subject became an individual.

Atatürk said: “We do not take Western civilization as an imitation. We adopt what we see as good in it within the level of world civilization because we find it suitable for our own structure.” He expressed to a journalist that he did not have an aim of Westernization or Easternization, and that the only direction of the new Republic was universal civilizational values.

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According to Atatürk, the prerequisite for modernization is secularism. In his book “Civic Knowledge for Citizens,” Atatürk explains the importance of secularism as follows: “The Republic of Turkey has no official religion. In state administration, all laws and regulations are made and applied according to the principles and forms provided by science to modern civilization and according to world needs. Since the perception of religion is a matter of conscience, the Republic sees keeping religious ideas separate from state and world affairs and politics as the main factor of success in our nation's modern progress.”

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Atatürk, who said, “My greatest work is the Republic of Turkey,” entrusted the Republic to the Turkish youth. To those who worried about what would happen after his death, he replied, “Mustafa Kemals are now 20 years old.”

If you ask what the situation is as we reach 2024?..

Falih Rıfkı Atay says in his work titled Çankaya: “Occasionally, a question like 'What would Atatürk do if he were alive?' is heard. Shall I answer? He would curse us all at once...”

Summary Bibliography:

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, NUTUK (The Speech), Prepared by: Taha Mazman, Bildik Basın Yayın Dağıtım, 2009.

İsmet İnönü, Hatıralar (Memoirs), Prepared for publication by: Sabahattin Selek, Bilgi Yayınevi, Ankara, 2009.

Utkan Kocatürk, Doğumundan Ölümüne Kadar Kaynakçalı Atatürk Günlüğü (Annotated Atatürk Diary from Birth to Death), AAM, Ankara, 2015.

Zeki Sarıhan, Kurtuluş Savaşı Günlüğü VI (War of Independence Diary VI), Türk Tarih Kurumu, Ankara, 1996.

Hikmet Özdemir, Atatürk’ten Günümüze Cumhurbaşkanı Seçimleri (Presidential Elections from Atatürk to the Present), Remzi Kitabevi, 2007.

Özer Ozankaya, Cumhuriyet Çınarı (The Plane Tree of the Republic), Ankara, 1994.

Hamza Eroğlu, Türk İnkılap Tarihi (History of the Turkish Revolution), Savaş Yayınları, Ankara, 1990.

Sinan Meydan, Akl-ı Kemal (The Mind of Kemal), İnkılap Kitabevi, İstanbul, 2014.

Afet İnan, Medeni Bilgiler ve Mustafa Kemal Atatürk'ün El Yazıları (Civic Knowledge and the Handwritten Notes of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk).