Posts
Since this is a study abroad trip, I am writing several papers for credit. The first project is based on a very interesting book Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds by Stephen Kinzer, the former Instanbul bureau chief for the New York Times, and consists of answers to four questions.
1. On page 33, Kinzer refers to “(T)he cult of Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic and now a virtual deity.” Who was Mustafa Kemal or Atatürk? Briefly discuss three (3) significant political or social reforms that Atatürk implemented after the formation of the modern Turkish Republic in 1923.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the ‘Father of Turkey’, is revered as the brilliant person who set his country on the path toward modernization and democracy. His actions were as controversial as they were effective; in order to modernize and democratize the demoralized remains of the Ottoman Empire, Atatürk autocratically and imperiously instituted many radical changes, without much democracy in the process.
Mustafa Kemal was born in Salonika, now a Greek city, to a humble family. His father died young and the boy entered a military academy, as he did not distinguish himself in anything else. There he showed a great promise and quickly rose through the ranks to become officer. During his formative years he witnessed the death throes of the dying Ottoman Empire, its centuries of glory long gone, replaced by weakness, corruption, and feebleness. As a young officer, Kemal traveled through Europe and North Africa, learned French, and came to admire European advancements in science, democracy, and modernity in general.
Turkey aligned itself with Germany during the World War I, with disastrous consequences. As a result of the ignominious war defeat, the vestiges of the dying Ottoman Empire were to be carved up by the victorious European powers. Centuries of grandeur gone with a stroke of a pen. The Sultan accepted the dismemberment, the allied forces occupied many of the major cities and center, it was over. The only Turkish victory was that of Mustafa Kemal, astonishingly defending Gallipoli peninsula and the Dardanelles against Allied expeditionary army, which made him a Turkish national hero.
In the midst of the dispirited, defeated nation without hope arose the national hero. Despite the enormous odds, Mustafa Kemal awakened the spirit of Ottomans that have for centuries ruled much of the known world. His army, based in the heartland of Anatolia, managed to score an important and decisive victory against the Greeks, and the rest of the European forces withdrew. Through his military skills and sheer force of personality, Mustafa Kemal achieved the impossible and his legend only grew.
On October 23, 1923, the Republic of Turkey was born out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, and Mustafa Kemal became its first president. His influence was far-reaching; there is no part of Turkey and its life untouched by his ideas. His surname means ’Father of Turkey’ and that it who he was—founder of a modern, secular state that elevated millions of impoverished, poorly educated Turks, often against their will, into modernity and relevancy.
Among the first and most radical changes Atatürk instituted was the dissolution of the Caliphate. Over the centuries, Ottoman sultans were both religious and administrative rulers of their massive Sunni Islam empire. As the Ottoman Empire lay dying, Atatürk extracted the proud history and indomitable fighting spirit of Turks, used it to secure nothing short of a miraculous victory, and then removed the part he considered backward and holding up progress—the Islamic religion. Through his international posts and travels, he observed and absorbed the diminished or non-existent role of religion in the modern, progressive, advanced Europe. His vision of his Turkey was to match the liberalism of European countries, their social order, and scientific success. Turkish religion had to go, as an obstacle to his dream, in his opinion. Within a short order, the Sultan was deposed, and any official influence of Islam was systematically eradicated and removed from government. This multidimensional effort included restrictions on traditional and religious garb in favor of western-style clothing, rights for women, educational reform, and western-style secular government. More importantly, the role of Islamic law was separated from secular law and restricted to religious jurisprudence, in unprecedented step. The new modern Turkish penal code was based on Italian judicial system.
The next radical system of reforms targeted governance. From centuries of Caliphate and Sultan’s court, Turkey leaped to establishment of the Grand National Assembly (GNA), again modeled on western governance. Elections based on general ballot were free and women were permitted to vote. GNA members represented the society, chose the Prime Minister, and had legislative powers. Modern Constitution was accepted in 1924. What took western states to evolve over centuries, Atatürk both offered to and forced upon Turkey within few years. His vision of modern Turkey permitted no barriers.
Another major social reform Atatürk initiated was fundamental transformation of education. The Ottoman Turkey was a poor, impoverished nation of mostly uneducated peasants and laborers. He credited western success to science, universal education, and civic involvement; literate, skilled, and socially active populations were a major modernizing and democratizing force in the west. This is what he envisioned for ‘his’ Turks. Among the sweeping changes, old religious schools, known as medreses, were closed. Uniform curriculum for state schools was established, girls were educated in the same way as boys (to reinforce gender equality), and European education and science were integrated on a large scale. In addition, Turkish was transliterated from Arabic and permanently switched to using the Latin script. Training of religious figures also became a function of state-funded and supervised schools, effectively controlling the Islamic message. The entire system of reforms continued to reinforce the process of secularization.
The sweeping collective legal, social, religious, administrative, economic, industrial, and cultural reforms envisioned and started by Atatürk became known as Kemalism and became an ideology, which is still prevalent in Turkey and contributes to its bipolar personality. Along with Kemalism, Atatürk single-handedly invoked the idea of Turkishness that incorporated Turkey’s amazing history and culture into a uniquely modern concept of new social and cultural identity. This mass ‘Turkeyzation’ served as a glue that held together the emerging modern republic, yet persists in ways that suppress democracy, free expression, and tragically aggravates the Kurdish conflict.
1. On page 33, Kinzer refers to “(T)he cult of Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic and now a virtual deity.” Who was Mustafa Kemal or Atatürk? Briefly discuss three (3) significant political or social reforms that Atatürk implemented after the formation of the modern Turkish Republic in 1923.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the ‘Father of Turkey’, is revered as the brilliant person who set his country on the path toward modernization and democracy. His actions were as controversial as they were effective; in order to modernize and democratize the demoralized remains of the Ottoman Empire, Atatürk autocratically and imperiously instituted many radical changes, without much democracy in the process.
Mustafa Kemal was born in Salonika, now a Greek city, to a humble family. His father died young and the boy entered a military academy, as he did not distinguish himself in anything else. There he showed a great promise and quickly rose through the ranks to become officer. During his formative years he witnessed the death throes of the dying Ottoman Empire, its centuries of glory long gone, replaced by weakness, corruption, and feebleness. As a young officer, Kemal traveled through Europe and North Africa, learned French, and came to admire European advancements in science, democracy, and modernity in general.
Turkey aligned itself with Germany during the World War I, with disastrous consequences. As a result of the ignominious war defeat, the vestiges of the dying Ottoman Empire were to be carved up by the victorious European powers. Centuries of grandeur gone with a stroke of a pen. The Sultan accepted the dismemberment, the allied forces occupied many of the major cities and center, it was over. The only Turkish victory was that of Mustafa Kemal, astonishingly defending Gallipoli peninsula and the Dardanelles against Allied expeditionary army, which made him a Turkish national hero.
In the midst of the dispirited, defeated nation without hope arose the national hero. Despite the enormous odds, Mustafa Kemal awakened the spirit of Ottomans that have for centuries ruled much of the known world. His army, based in the heartland of Anatolia, managed to score an important and decisive victory against the Greeks, and the rest of the European forces withdrew. Through his military skills and sheer force of personality, Mustafa Kemal achieved the impossible and his legend only grew.
On October 23, 1923, the Republic of Turkey was born out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, and Mustafa Kemal became its first president. His influence was far-reaching; there is no part of Turkey and its life untouched by his ideas. His surname means ’Father of Turkey’ and that it who he was—founder of a modern, secular state that elevated millions of impoverished, poorly educated Turks, often against their will, into modernity and relevancy.
Among the first and most radical changes Atatürk instituted was the dissolution of the Caliphate. Over the centuries, Ottoman sultans were both religious and administrative rulers of their massive Sunni Islam empire. As the Ottoman Empire lay dying, Atatürk extracted the proud history and indomitable fighting spirit of Turks, used it to secure nothing short of a miraculous victory, and then removed the part he considered backward and holding up progress—the Islamic religion. Through his international posts and travels, he observed and absorbed the diminished or non-existent role of religion in the modern, progressive, advanced Europe. His vision of his Turkey was to match the liberalism of European countries, their social order, and scientific success. Turkish religion had to go, as an obstacle to his dream, in his opinion. Within a short order, the Sultan was deposed, and any official influence of Islam was systematically eradicated and removed from government. This multidimensional effort included restrictions on traditional and religious garb in favor of western-style clothing, rights for women, educational reform, and western-style secular government. More importantly, the role of Islamic law was separated from secular law and restricted to religious jurisprudence, in unprecedented step. The new modern Turkish penal code was based on Italian judicial system.
The next radical system of reforms targeted governance. From centuries of Caliphate and Sultan’s court, Turkey leaped to establishment of the Grand National Assembly (GNA), again modeled on western governance. Elections based on general ballot were free and women were permitted to vote. GNA members represented the society, chose the Prime Minister, and had legislative powers. Modern Constitution was accepted in 1924. What took western states to evolve over centuries, Atatürk both offered to and forced upon Turkey within few years. His vision of modern Turkey permitted no barriers.
Another major social reform Atatürk initiated was fundamental transformation of education. The Ottoman Turkey was a poor, impoverished nation of mostly uneducated peasants and laborers. He credited western success to science, universal education, and civic involvement; literate, skilled, and socially active populations were a major modernizing and democratizing force in the west. This is what he envisioned for ‘his’ Turks. Among the sweeping changes, old religious schools, known as medreses, were closed. Uniform curriculum for state schools was established, girls were educated in the same way as boys (to reinforce gender equality), and European education and science were integrated on a large scale. In addition, Turkish was transliterated from Arabic and permanently switched to using the Latin script. Training of religious figures also became a function of state-funded and supervised schools, effectively controlling the Islamic message. The entire system of reforms continued to reinforce the process of secularization.
The sweeping collective legal, social, religious, administrative, economic, industrial, and cultural reforms envisioned and started by Atatürk became known as Kemalism and became an ideology, which is still prevalent in Turkey and contributes to its bipolar personality. Along with Kemalism, Atatürk single-handedly invoked the idea of Turkishness that incorporated Turkey’s amazing history and culture into a uniquely modern concept of new social and cultural identity. This mass ‘Turkeyzation’ served as a glue that held together the emerging modern republic, yet persists in ways that suppress democracy, free expression, and tragically aggravates the Kurdish conflict.
No comments:
Post a Comment