About Turkey

Ataturk is the national hero of Turkey.
He is the representation of a 20 th century myth.
Ataturk founded the modern Turkish Republic
in 1923. His modern perspective has created a new

nation and a country and a secular state

undrestanding different from most other Islamic countries was introduced by him. One of the best books written about Ataturk from a foreigner's point of view is the book titled " The Rebirth of a Nation" by Lord Kinross.
Ataturk was born in 1881 in Thessaloniki, within the Ottoman Empire's borders at that time, in present day Greece. His full name was Mustafa Kemal and the Ataturk surname, meaning the father of Turks, was given to him by the Turkish people (1934 November 24th) in accordance with the reforms he introduced to create a modern Turkish country.
His background was military, and he served in various posts in the Ottoman army. In the First World War, he was the colonel in charge of the Infantry at Gallipoli in 1915 and it is his genious defense tactics that did not give way to the allied forces (British, French, Anzacs - Australians and New Zealenders, and Senegalese) for the capture of the Dardanelles and eventually the Bosphorus. His success and reapidly growing reputation disturbed the capital and to keep him under control he was promoted to the Pasha (General) position. When the War ended the armies of the allied forces occupied nearly all corners of the country including Istanbul. The Sultan and not a very small number of the public saw the hopeful future in the acceptance of either the British or American mandate. Ataturk, however, had a very different vision from the masses. He left Istanbul with a small boat, named Bandirma (a nice model of the boat to be seen at the Ataturk Museum in Ataturk's Mausoleum, Ankara), and stepping foot on Samsun, a coastal town in the Black Sea, on the 19th of May 1919 ( later to be presented by Ataturk to the Turkish Youth as the Turkish Youth Day), the War of Independence started. He wanted Independence. First with skirmishes, in time with proper army troops, Ataturk and his armies started fighting the enemy. Ankara was chosen to be Ataturk's headquarter for its central location and the seeds of a new country were planted there. He and his friends wanted to establish a Republic as opposed to the Monarchy. The War of Independence took some three years and by the end of the year 1922, all of the invaders had left the country. The Ottoman Sultan fled in a British boat. A new nation was being born.

Ataturk's Revolutions

   Political Revolutions
   1922, November 1st.  The Sultanate was abolished.
   1923, October 23rd.   The Republic was declared.
   1924, March 3rd.        The Caliphship was abolished.

   Social Reformations
   1925, The hat, as opposed to the fez, was introduced.
   1925, The activities of religious sects were banned by law.
   1925, Western calender was introduced.
   1926 The liberation of the women of Turkey by giving them political and social rights.
    a) Civil Rights granted
    b) Rights for women to be elected to the parliment.
   1928, International numeric system was introduced.
   1931, The Metric system was introduced.
   1934, Nicknames and personal titles were abolished.
   1934, Religious attire was prohibited in public. According to this law, religious personalities, irrespective of the religious groups they belong were not supposed to wear religious attire in public, but only in sanctuaries.
   1934, The surname law was passed. The modern secular system of jurisprudence instead of religious law is integrated.


    Educational and Cultural Reformations
    1924, Unity in Education
    1928 Introduction and the acceptance of the Roman alphabet.
    The foundation of Turkish History Institution
    The foundation of Turkish Language Institution

    The Principles of Ataturk ( Kemalism)
    The doctrines of Ataturk, or Kemalism, is a system of thought based on the facts of Turkey. It is shaped with the will of the Turkish nation through a long historical background. Above all, Kemalism is the introduction and the rendering of the rights to the nation. It is the expression of the national sovereignity.It is an attempt to reach the level of modern civilization, it is westernization, modernization. It requires to experience a modern social life, to establish a secular state, and to govern with a positive scientific mentality.
    The principles of Kemalism can be viewed in two groups:
   "The Basic Principles" and "The Complementary Principles".

    The definition of the principles as Ataturk puts them:
    The Basic Principles
    Republicanism
    Nationalism
    Popularism
    Stateism
    Secularism
    Revolutionism
    The Complementary Principles
    National Sovereignity
    National Endependence
    National Unity and Togetherness
    Peace at home Peace abroad
    Modernization
    Scientificism and Rationalism
    Humanitarianism
    Address to the Turkish Youth