Under what conditions was Kemalism born?

The Republic of Türkiye was founded at a historical breaking point on a national, regional, and global scale, through war and revolution. It is a secular and modern nation-state based on national sovereignty. The war that gave birth to the Republic, the War of Independence, was a war of independence waged against imperialism, its satellites, its extensions, and its collaborators. The revolution, meanwhile, is a revolution of enlightenment. With the revolution, the definition, meaning, function, and content of sovereignty changed. Sovereignty was taken from the heavens and brought down to earth; it was stripped of its divine and religious nature and made secular and worldly; it was taken from the individual and given to the nation.

The Turkish Nation, defined by Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk—who led the War of Independence and founded the Republic of Türkiye—with the words, "The people of Türkiye who founded the Republic of Türkiye are called the Turkish Nation," became a nation while becoming a state during the War of Independence, and became a state while becoming a nation. It claimed its own sovereignty and future by fighting. It demonstrated the will, courage, and determination to be master of itself. The War of Independence was the struggle of this national and sacred claim, belief, stubbornness, and rebellion; the Republic is the work of this war, and Atatürk is the commander-in-chief of this war, the leader of the revolution, and the founder of the Republic.

Thanks to the War of Independence and the Republic, the Turkish Nation made a great leap toward nationhood, while also being saved by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the War of Independence, and the Republic from the humiliation of missing the Industrial Revolution and falling behind, of being a semi-colony during the final period of the Ottoman Empire, and of living under occupation after losing World War I.

In this way, it made a great leap forward in political, social, cultural, economic, administrative, and scientific terms. It emerged as the most developed country in the Islamic world. If Türkiye can compete with the world today in many areas, despite all its shortcomings and setbacks, and if it can raise highly successful, elite people in every field from science to art, from sports to technology, it owes this to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the Republic.

THE GOAL OF KEMALISM

In this context, Atatürk aimed for the transition from theocracy to secularism, from monarchy to republic, from sultanate to democracy, from empire to nation-state, from ummah to nation, from subject to citizen, and from a community-based society to a society of individuals, and he largely succeeded in this. The ideal of Kemalism is a politically secular, democratic, and fully independent nation-state; an economically developed, industrialized, and prosperous order with fair distribution; and a social structure consisting of equal, free, and conscious citizens who do not distinguish between one another.

During the early Republican period, very radical steps were taken in this direction. In this context, the single-party regime that governed Türkiye during Atatürk's lifetime was not of a totalitarian character, desiring to remain in power forever. It did not establish such an organizational structure. It did not build influence over the Armed Forces.

It never considered establishing paramilitary structures. It aimed not to remain in power permanently, but to transition to a democratic order. Under the conditions of that day, it took care to have a pluralistic organizational structure, to incorporate differences, to take into account the demands coming from Anatolia and the smallest grassroots organizational units, and to hold elections for positions within the party. It did not prevent the formation of different factions within itself, nor the establishment of other parties or opposition parties outside of itself. Indeed, thanks to this foundation, the CHP transferred its power with great maturity to the Democrat Party, which emerged from within its own ranks, in the 1950 elections.

So, what is Atatürkism? What is Kemalism, which is used as a synonym for Atatürkism? What is the Atatürkist Thought System, which is commonly used by soldiers, especially those of the older generation, to avoid calling it an ideology? Under what historical conditions was it born? Under what political conditions did it mature? What did it achieve? Which of its goals could it not reach? What are its basic principles, priorities, essentials, and red lines? What are its historical, political, social, and class roots?

When seeking answers to these questions, one must first listen to Atatürk. Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha addressed the Parliament on March 6, 1922, as follows:

"… now, in order to improve the situation, in order to be human, a number of mentalities have emerged, such as necessarily taking advice from Europe, managing all affairs according to Europe's ambitions, and taking all lessons from Europe. However, what independence has ever been able to rise with the advice and money of foreigners? History has not recorded such an event."

These words of Atatürk reflect his jealousy regarding full independence and national sovereignty, as well as his self-confidence and his belief in the diligence of the nation. Indeed, from the beginning of the War of Independence, he believed only and exclusively in the determination and resolve of the nation in the defense of the homeland and the winning of independence. He underlined that these three forces must be prepared for war: these forces are, in order, the nation, the parliament, and the army. Atatürk explains this situation in his Nutuk (The Speech) as follows:

"Gentlemen, I said, the fronts formed by these three means or powers against the enemy can be thought of in two ways. Let me say it this way for easy understanding: The internal front and the visible front... The essential one is the internal front. This front is a front formed by the entire country, the entire nation. The visible front is the armed front of the army directly facing the enemy. This front can be shaken, changed, or defeated. But this situation can never destroy a country or a nation. What is important is the collapse of the internal front, which destroys the country from its foundations and enslaves the nation. The enemies, who know this truth much better than we do, have worked and are working for centuries to destroy this front of ours. They have also achieved success until today. Indeed, 'taking the castle from within' is much easier than forcing it from the outside. It is appropriate to claim the existence of subversive microbes and agents who can infiltrate us to achieve this goal. As long as the mentality, work, and situation of the Parliament are not encouraging to the enemy, there is no possibility or probability of our internal and external fronts being displaced."

When these words of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk are considered together with all his other writings and speeches, the following truth emerges: Atatürk is a leader of independence. Atatürkism (Kemalism) is also primarily and especially an anti-imperialist ideology of independence. In all of Atatürk's discourse and action, the emphasis on full independence and national sovereignty stands out. His republicanism rises on this foundation. Atatürkism (Kemalism), when taken from Atatürk's own words as a source, is an enlightenment-oriented, revolutionary, collectivist, populist, and anti-imperialist system of thought that favors national sovereignty and full independence. Indeed, just as the note "Republican" was entered into Mustafa Kemal Pasha's service record at the Ministry of War, after the Sivas Congress, British intelligence sent the following message to London: "The Turks are heading toward a republic."

BEFORE KEMALISM

Tens of thousands of books have been written, hundreds of thousands of articles have been published, papers have been presented, and conferences, symposiums, workshops, and congresses have been organized in our country and around the world about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the War of Independence, the Republican Revolution, and Atatürkism. Atatürk, the War of Independence, and the Republic have been the subject of tens of thousands of poems, novels, plays, songs, marches, exhibitions, documentaries, and films. In this context, Atatürk is one of the most written-about and talked-about commanders, revolutionaries, state founders, and savior-founder leaders in the world, and he is still being debated. Atatürk is a leader who is still kept on the agenda by his supporters and opponents with his principles and practices. He is seen by his defenders as the primary source for the solution to many problems, and by his opponents as the primary cause of problems and the lack of solutions to them. Therefore, Atatürk and the Republic are not just a subject of the past. They are also a subject of our present and our future. In this respect, the debates regarding Atatürk, Atatürkism, and the Republic are current, alive, harsh, and sharp.

Atatürkism – Kemalism is primarily the product of Atatürk's knowledge, consciousness, background, experience, goals, actions, discourse, and deeds. It cannot be thought of independently of these. It emerged in a certain historical period and under certain historical conditions. However, its proposed solutions have not remained confined to a certain period. It is not dogmatic or static. It is a dynamic, revolutionary system of thought. It carries the claim of leading development, progress, modernization, and enlightenment.

The preparatory phase of the Turkish Revolution is not long. Before it, that is, in the final period of the Ottoman Empire, although there were movements such as the Tanzimat Edict (1839), the Reform Edict (1856), the First Constitutional Era (1876), and the Second Constitutional Era (Young Turk Revolution, 1908), when compared to, for example, the French Revolution (1789), it can be seen that the French Revolution had a long preparatory period. When looking at the period before the French Revolution, one sees a 600-year process that began with the urban autonomy movement in Western Europe in the 12th century and was reinforced by the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Enlightenment. The French Revolution benefited from, blended, synthesized, and developed the thoughts of Europe's elite intellectuals, thinkers, and artists since the Middle Ages. For this reason, it deeply affected the world, became permanent, and became universal. That is why, when one mentions freedom, equality, fraternity, citizenship, enlightenment, and solidarity, the French Revolution remains one of the most important universal examples that comes to mind in the world.

The Turkish Revolution, on the other hand, achieved what the French Revolution achieved with 600 years of intellectual accumulation and in a very bloody manner, with a much shorter period of intellectual accumulation and in a bloodless manner. For this reason, it has had a strong echo in the third world, among oppressed nations, or in Atatürk's words, among the "oppressed nations." Kemalism aimed for the free individual, the organized society, the participatory, dynamic, modern life, and the democratic state. What it understands by the free individual and the free citizen is that the individual is not dependent on others, other people, institutions, organizations, or structures. It is that they do not surrender their mind or will to anyone or any institution. Because the Republic is against a community-based society. It accepts that society is not composed of structures such as sects, communities, clans, or tribes, but of free citizens.

KEMALISM, THE REPUBLIC, AND CITIZENSHIP

It is a historical rule; every revolution also expresses a break from the old regime. Every revolution, among its other qualities and characteristics, must be the antithesis of the old regime. This is inevitable. Because otherwise, it is impossible to make a revolution. But one of the truths that applies to every revolution is this: There is a transition process, and even a continuity, with the social structure, human material, bureaucracy, and many institutions and organizations. This reality is observed in more or less all revolutions. In the 1789 French Revolution, in the 1917 October Revolution, and in the 1923 Turkish Revolution...

As in all outdated old regimes, the political structure in the Ottoman Empire was based on rigid privileges believed to be acquired at birth, unchangeable prerogatives, that is, the sultanate. The holders of the sultanate (to which the caliphate would later be added) held the state administration in their hands in the name of the sultanate, and resorted to all kinds of force, oppression, violence, and intrigue to protect and perpetuate their power. While basing their power on divine, religious, and spiritual foundations, they also attributed holiness and immunity to themselves with their religious dimension. Therefore, all monarchies, empires, kingdoms, sultanates, and dynasties that are remnants of the Middle Ages and feudalism are closed to change and resist change. One of the common features of these structures is that they are theocratic, even if they believe in different religions and sects.

The Republic, on the other hand, knows the citizen, recognizes the citizen, and takes the citizen as its interlocutor. It is egalitarian. It is against privileges acquired at birth and inherent prerogatives. It defends rights and freedoms. It wants to eliminate injustice, social injustice, class inequality, and inequality of opportunity. The following definition by Atatürk is a unique and unparalleled definition of the Republic: "The Republic is, above all, the protector of the defenseless."

The Republic is not a state of law (in the sense of rule by law); it is a state of justice (rule of law). It is not discriminatory; it is integrative and inclusive. It is not polarizing; it is unifying. It is not prohibitive; it is libertarian. It sets the limits of freedom with the law. It is not individualistic; it is collectivist, populist, and public-oriented. It is not selfish. It is solidary, distributive, and sharing. It is against privileges, prerogatives, sub-identities that fragment the social structure and disrupt national integrity, and feudal affiliations and memberships. It does not look favorably upon these becoming politicized or establishing dominance and guardianship over the citizen.

Before the Republic, there was the subject in the Ottoman Empire. The subject is part of the populace. The land is the property of the sultan. In the Republic, the citizen is part of the nation and the owner of the state. The land is the homeland.

Therefore, the Republic is the regime of free, equal citizens who have rights and responsibilities. The citizen is a member of society. And society is not a society based on faith, but one based on consciousness. Since being an individual, being a citizen, and being a nation primarily require consciousness, the young Republic attached great importance to education for this purpose and made significant educational moves. It attached importance to the education of women. It made a great effort for education to be of high quality. The early Republic also drew attention with the value it placed on teachers, the training of teachers, their social status, and the young people sent abroad for education. In addition to formal education institutions, it brought important institutions such as People's Houses (Halkevleri), People's Rooms (Halkodaları), and Nation Schools (Millet Mektepleri) to life. The Village Institutes, which went down in world education history, are among the brightest institutions of the Republic's populist, egalitarian, co-educational, enlightenment-oriented, secular, and scientific understanding of education.

In the Republic, in the economic dimension, planned industrialization, the national bourgeoisie, and efforts to create a qualified workforce are important steps. Land reform, which was one of Atatürk's greatest goals, could not be fully realized under the conditions of that time. Atatürk did not live long enough to carry out a comprehensive land reform. Knowing that such a reform, which would save the peasant from feudal relations, make them a producer, and pave the way for their organization, would have very large political, social, class, and economic consequences, the forces that were remnants of feudalism and the Middle Ages resisted land reform. Therefore, the steps taken in this direction remained very limited, and this also negatively affected the nation-building process. It hindered the consolidation of Atatürk's understanding of the nation, which was based not on religion, language, race, sect, or place of birth, but on citizenship, culture, a common homeland, and unity of ideals.

KEMALISM; REASON, SCIENCE, ANTI-IMPERIALISM

Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk sent the Eastern Question, or by its old name the "Oriental Question," and based on this, the Sèvres project, which was a more advanced imperialist move that swooped down on the Turkish homeland, to the dustbin of history. With this success, he made a splash in the world. However, despite this great success, he was never expansionist, adventurous, ambitious, vengeful, or aggressive in his foreign policy. He advocated peace at home and in the world, and said that war is a crime unless the life of the nation is at stake.

Kemalism is against interfering in the internal affairs of countries in its foreign policy. It is respectful of the sovereignty, independence, integrity, and political unity of other states and nations. It attaches importance to region-centered alliances and cooperation and solidarity among oppressed nations. Therefore, it did not harbor grudges against the peoples who were subjects of the Ottoman Empire and who cooperated with the British and acted together with the French during World War I. He did not look at them with anger or resentment. So much so that when the Arabs, who saw that their cooperation with the British brought them not freedom and independence but slavery and captivity, came to Mustafa Kemal Pasha while the War of Independence was ongoing and said, "Come, lead us too. Be our savior too. Let us unite under an Islamic confederation," he gave them the following answer:

"Everyone should first fight for their own independence. Let them win their own independence. In this process, let us of course be in mutual cooperation and solidarity. Afterward, if conditions permit, a federation or confederation can be brought to the agenda if necessary."

Kemalism favors rationalism, scientific thought, and realism. Atatürkism – Kemalism, which is born from the thoughts, actions, program, and practices of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, always carries the claim of being modern and revolutionary with its structure based on reason and science. As a thought with a strong nationalist aspect that founded a nation-state, it can be considered as a model for countries in conditions similar to Türkiye. There are many interpretations in this direction. When British, French, German, Russian, Italian, and Greek archives are examined, and when how scientists, experts, historians, and researchers from all over the world, from the USA to China, from Cuba to Algeria, from India to Egypt, see and interpret Atatürk and Atatürkism are examined, it is seen that Atatürk's most prominent feature, the first one that comes to mind, is his anti-imperialist struggle. Therefore, Atatürk is a revolutionary leader who is respected and has a strong influence in the 3rd world, among the "oppressed nations" in Atatürk's definition, and among the oppressed nations. This influence extends from the Middle East to Latin America, from Asia to Africa.

CONCLUSION

Kemalism has a holistic development program. Atatürk implemented a multi-faceted development program so that a country that had fallen into a backward, semi-colonial state, was poor, war-weary, 90 percent of whose people lived in rural areas, and as many of whom were illiterate, could develop as quickly as possible and in every respect. When viewed in historical order, he achieved much more advanced, comprehensive, and radical results than what the Tanzimatists, Young Ottomans, Young Turks, and Unionists in the Ottoman Empire wanted very much but could not achieve or only partially achieved. Therefore, it would not be scientific, and it would not be compatible with historicity and objectivity, to interpret Atatürkism alone without well understanding this historical accumulation and experience that preceded it.

Revolutionism, one of the 6 principles of Kemalism, reflects the progressive, enlightenment-oriented, open-to-development, and pioneering character of Atatürkism. The principle of revolutionism is also the guarantee that other principles will be handled with revolutionary and modern perspectives. The six principles are complementary, completing, and essential to one another, just as the six of them together and at the same time form a revolution program. It is conceptualized as the summary and symbol of the Republic Revolution program.