MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATÜRK AND THE FOUNDING OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY, 1923

MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATÜRK AND THE FOUNDING OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY, 1923

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938), the founder of modern Turkey, was born in Salonika, which is today part of Greece, but then was part of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. He trained as a soldier and in 1905 was commissioned as an officer in the Turkish army. As a young officer he was drawn to the political reform program formulated by a group of military leaders called the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). Better known as the “Young Turks,” these officers seized power in a 1913 coup d’état.

When World War I broke out in 1914, Turkey allied with the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey). Kemal distinguished himself as a military leader in the battle of Gallipoli (1915) against the Allied Powers (France, Great Britain, Italy, and Russia). By war’s end in 1918, Kemal was commanding the Seventh Army Corps in Syria, where he had acquired a reputation for bravery, leadership under fire, and careful strategic planning.

The victorious allies treated Turkey, a defeated power, harshly. The Treaty of Sèvres (1920) provided for cessation of parts of Turkey to Greece, creation of an independent Armenia, internationalization of the Dardanelles, and division of Anatolia into British, French, and Italian zones of occupation. While these humiliating provisions were being implemented, civil strife, rebellion, and war against the allied occupation forces broke out in Turkey. In 1921 Mustafa Kemal was named commander-in-chief of all Turkish forces. Two years later all foreign troops had been evacuated from Turkey, and on 29 October 1923 the National Assembly declared the birth of the Turkish Republic. Mustafa Kemal was elected president.

After becoming president, Kemal took the name Atatürk or “Father of all Turks” to emphasize his determination to educate, modernize, and secularize Turkey’s 13 million citizens. Much like Peter the Great of Russia, he inaugurated a series of administrative, economic, and legal reforms aimed at modernizing every aspect of Turkish life. He abolished all religious courts, adopted a new legal code, and introduced the Latin alphabet. Turkish women were given the right to divorce their husbands. Turkish men were forbidden to wear the traditional hat, the fez. He also outlawed polygamy, introduced free public education, and encouraged a new Western-style Turkish nationalism. Through state-sponsored universities he promoted Western medicine, architecture, and music. Diplomatically, he sought close relations with the West but stayed clear of close military alliances. Although committed to progressive reform, Kemal was intolerant of dissent and ruthless in suppressing opposition. In 1925 he smashed a revolt of the Kurdish minority, and in 1926 he executed several members of the CUP party who had opposed his policies. His fifteen-year rule energized the Turkish economy and left a stable legacy of republican-style government, ensuring that Turkey would modernize rapidly and become the model for secular-minded reformers throughout the Middle East.
Suggestions for Term Papers
1. Ottoman Turkey at the time of Atatürk’s birth was often described as “the sick man of Europe.” Read about the history of the Ottoman Empire in the late nineteenth century and determine if it deserved this description.
2. Atatürk gained his early military experience in the First Balkan War of 1912. Write a paper discussing the significance of this war for Turkey and for the Balkan countries.
3. Investigate the Gallipoli campaign of 1915 and write a paper explaining why Atatürk and the Turkish military were able to defeat the allied forces.
4. How did Atatürk’s legal, social, and educational reforms affect Turkish women?
5. Atatürk was relentless in his repression of the Kurdish minority. Why was this? How does Atatürk’s policy compare with the present policy of the Turkish government toward the Kurds?
6. Turkey is the only predominantly Muslim state to be a member of NATO. In what ways does this create a special role for Turkey in NATO? What contributions has Turkey made to NATO since becoming a member?

Research Suggestions

In addition to the boldfaced items, look under the entries for “The Paris Peace Conference, 1919” (#11), “The British Mandate of Palestine, 1922” (#13), and “The Dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 1990s” (#93). Search under Ankara, Balkan Wars, Lawrence of Arabia (T. E. Lawrence), and NATO.

SUGGESTED SOURCES

Primary Sources

Simsir, B. N. British Documents on Atatürk. 4 vols. Ankara: Tük Tarih Kurumu Basimevi, 1973–1999. Good summaries of British diplomats’ views on Atatürk’s rise to power.

Secondary Sources

Bodurgil, Abraham. Kemal Atatürk: A Centennial Bibliography (1881–1981). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1984. An accessible and up to date bibliography.

Kinross, Patrick Balfour. Ataturk: A Biography of Mustafa Kemal, Father of Modern Turkey. New York: Morrow, 1965. Despite its age this remains the most complete biography available.

Macfie, A. L. Atatürk. New York: Longman, 1994. A short biographical study focusing on Atatürk’s political reforms and consolidation of power. Good maps, a helpful chronology, and an annotated bibliography are included.

———. The End of the Ottoman Empire, 1908–1923. New York: Longman, 1998. A detailed study of the political conditions permitting Atatürk to seize power.

The Great War and the Shaping of the Twentieth Century [videorecording]. A KCET/BBC co-production in association with the Imperial War Museum. Distributed by PBS Video, 1996. Part three has grim footage from the Gallipoli invasion.

Volkan, Vamik, and Norman Itzkowitz. The Immortal Atatürk: A Psycho-biography. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984. A penetrating psychological study that emphasizes the influence of his early home life on his character.

Zürcher, Erik Jan. The Unionist Factor: The Rôle of the Committee of Unionand Progress in the Turkish National Movement, 1905–1926. Leiden: J. Brill, 1984. A short study focused on Atatuürk’s rise to power in the CUP. Excellent bibliography.

World Wide Web

“The World Factbook, 1999.” http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html. This Central Intelligence Agency site is updated yearly.