63-727: Reforms Kemalism The Atatürk Centennial was celebrated in Turkey and the Turkish Government organized and supported a series of events, symposiums or conferences in several countries. The centennial of his birth was also honored by the UNESCO in November 1978 by adopting a Resolution on the Atatürk Centennial in which it decided to cooperate with the Turkish Government in the organization of events in memory of
126-755: A secular state , the Ottoman Caliphate, held by the Ottomans since 1517, was abolished and to mediate the power of religion in the public sphere (including recognized minority religions in the Treaty of Lausanne ) left to the Directorate for Religious Affairs. Under the reforms official recognition of the Ottoman millets withdrawn. Shar’iyya wa Awqaf Ministry followed the Office of Caliphate. This office
189-427: A Turkish language Quranic commentary ( tafsir ) titled " Hak Dini Kur'an Dili ." Ersoy declined the offer and destroyed his work, to avoid the possible public circulation of a transliteration which might be remotely faulty. Only in 1935 did the version read in public find its way to print. The program also involved implementing a Turkish adhan , as opposed to the conventional Arabic call to prayer. The Arabic adhan
252-475: A carefully planned program to unravel the complex system that had developed over previous centuries. The reforms began with the modernization of the constitution, including enacting the new Constitution of 1924 to replace the Constitution of 1921 , and the adaptation of European laws and jurisprudence to the needs of the new republic. This was followed by a thorough secularization and modernization of
315-490: A great degree of religious, cultural and ethnic continuity across the society but at the same time permitted the religious ideology to be incorporated into the administrative, economic and political system. There were two sections of the elite group at the helm of the discussions for the future. These were the "Islamist reformists" and the "Westernists". Many basic goals were common to both groups. Some secular intellectuals, and even certain reform-minded Muslim thinkers, accepted
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441-451: A reformed Islam. In 1925 institutions of religious covenants and dervish lodges were declared illegal. The reformers imagined that the elimination of the orthodox and Ṣūfī religious establishments, along with traditional religious education, and their replacement with a system in which the original sources were available to all in the vernacular language, would pave the way for a new vision of Islam open to progress and modernity and usher in
504-473: A rejection of the perceived corruption and decadence of cosmopolitan Istanbul and its Ottoman heritage, as well as electing to choose a capital more geographically centered in Turkey. During the disastrous 1912–13 First Balkan War , Bulgarian troops had advanced to Çatalca , mere miles from Istanbul, creating a fear that the Ottoman capital would have to be moved to Anatolia; the reform movement wanted to avoid
567-646: A secular ( 2.1 ) and democratic ( 2.1 ), republic ( 1.1 ) that derives its sovereignty ( 6.1 ) from the people. Turkish sovereignty rests with the Turkish Nation, which delegates its will to an elected unicameral parliament (position in 1935), the Grand National Assembly of Turkey . The preamble also invokes the principles of nationalism, defined as the "material and spiritual well-being of the Republic" (position in 1935). The basic nature of
630-516: A secular law structure based on the Swiss Civil Code , which is detailed under their headings. In the secular state or country purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion and claims to treat all its citizens equally regardless of religion, and claims to avoid preferential treatment for a citizen from a particular religion/nonreligion over other religions/nonreligion. Reformers followed
693-600: A series of political, legal, religious, cultural, social, and economic policy changes, designed to convert the new Republic of Turkey into a secular nation-state , implemented under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in accordance with the Kemalist framework. His political party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), ran Turkey as a one-party state and implemented these reforms, starting in 1923. After Atatürk's death, his successor İsmet İnönü continued
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#1732776862124756-477: A series of radical political and social reforms were instituted. They transformed Turkey and ushered in a new era of modernization, including civil and political equality for sectarian minorities and women. The Ottoman Empire was an Islamic state in which the head of the state, the Sultan, also held the position of Caliph . The social system was organized around the millet structure. The millet structure allowed
819-695: A similar incident with Turkey. The Anadolu Agency was founded in 1920 during the Turkish War of Independence by Journalist Yunus Nadi Abalıoğlu and writer Halide Edip . The agency was officially launched on 6 April 1920, 17 days before the Turkish Grand National Assembly convened for the first time. It announced the first legislation passed by the Assembly, which established the Republic of Turkey. However, Anadolu Agency acquired an autonomous status after Atatürk reformed
882-530: A society guided by modernity. Along with the multi-party period, with Democrats both taking part and winning for the first time in the 1950 Turkish general election , religious establishments started becoming more active in the country. Turkey adapted the European workweek and weekend as the complementary parts of the week devoted to labor and rest, respectively. In the Ottoman Empire, the workweek
945-405: Is "a discursive space in which individuals and groups congregate to discuss matters of mutual interest and, where possible, to reach a common judgment." Atatürk's Reforms target the structure of the public space. The construction of a secular nation-state required important changes in state organization, though Atatürk's reforms benefited from the elaborate blueprints for a future society prepared by
1008-627: Is the Turkish government agency commissioned with producing official statistics on Turkey, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It was founded in 1926 and has its headquarters in Ankara. In 1930, the title of the Department was changed to The General Directorate of Statistics (GDS), and The National Statistical System was changed to a centralized system. In earlier years, statistical sources were relatively simple and data collection
1071-582: Is to you that I appeal . To the men : If henceforward the women do not share in the social life of the nation, we shall never attain to our full development. We shall remain irremediably backward, incapable of treating on equal terms with the civilizations of the West . In the following years of Atatürk's Reforms women's rights campaigners in Turkey differed from their sisters (and sympathetic brothers) in other countries. Rather than fighting directly for their basic rights and equality, they saw their best chance in
1134-554: The Committee of Union and Progress 's one party state from 1913–1918. The goal of Atatürk's reforms was to maintain the independence of Turkey from the direct rule of external forces (Western countries). The process was not utopian (in the sense that it is not one leader's idea of how a perfect society should be, but it is a unifying force of a nation), in that Atatürk united the Turkish Muslim majority from 1919 to 1922 in
1197-617: The First Constitutional Era in 1876, Abdul Hamid II 's authoritarian regime from 1878–1908 that introduced large reforms in education and the bureaucracy, as well as the Ottoman Empire's experience in prolonged political pluralism and rule of law by the Young Turks during the Second Constitutional Era from 1908 to 1913, and various efforts were made to secularize and modernize the empire in
1260-612: The Quran that had authority over the community. The Sheikh ul-Islam represented the law of shariah. This office was in the Evkaf Ministry . Sultan Mehmed VI's cousin Abdulmecid II continued on as Ottoman Caliph . Besides the political structure; as a part of civic independence, religious education system was replaced by a national education system on 3 March 1924, and The Islamic courts and Islamic canon law gave way to
1323-545: The Turkish War of Independence , and expelled foreign forces occupying what the Turkish National Movement considered to be the Turkish homeland . That fighting spirit became the unifying force which established the identity of a new state, and in 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne was signed, ending the Ottoman Empire and internationally recognizing the newly founded Republic of Turkey . From 1923 to 1938,
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#17327768621241386-560: The Centennial. The centennial was celebrated officially between the 19 May 1981 and the 19 May 1982, but the congresses and conferences which were organized in Atatürk's memory stretched through a larger time span. A considerable amount of scholars published books about his achievements. Atat%C3%BCrk%27s reforms Reforms Kemalism Atatürk's reforms ( Turkish : Atatürk İnkılâpları or Atatürk Devrimleri ) were
1449-488: The European model (French model) of secularization. In the European model of secularizing; states typically involves granting individual religious freedoms, disestablishing state religions, stopping public funds to be used for a religion, freeing the legal system from religious control, freeing up the education system, tolerating citizens who change religion or abstain from religion, and allowing political leadership to come to power regardless of religious beliefs. In establishing
1512-922: The Islamic world but also in the western world". Constitution of the Republic of Turkey#10 Look for Constitution of the Republic of Turkey on one of Misplaced Pages's sister projects : [REDACTED] Wiktionary (dictionary) [REDACTED] Wikibooks (textbooks) [REDACTED] Wikiquote (quotations) [REDACTED] Wikisource (library) [REDACTED] Wikiversity (learning resources) [REDACTED] Commons (media) [REDACTED] Wikivoyage (travel guide) [REDACTED] Wikinews (news source) [REDACTED] Wikidata (linked database) [REDACTED] Wikispecies (species directory) Misplaced Pages does not have an article with this exact name. Please search for Constitution of
1575-535: The Ottoman Empire, the people of each millet had traditionally enjoyed a degree of autonomy, with their own leadership, collecting their own taxes and living according to their own system of religious/cultural law. The Ottoman Muslims had a strict hierarchy of ulama , with the Sheikh ul-Islam holding the highest rank. A Sheikh ul-Islam was chosen by a royal warrant among the qadis of important cities. The Sheikh ul-Islam issued fatwas, which were written interpretations of
1638-567: The Ottoman proponents of positivism during the Second Constitutional Era. The Ottoman Empire had a social system based on religious affiliation. Religious insignia extended to every social function. It was common to wear clothing that identified the person with their own particular religious grouping and accompanied headgear which distinguished rank and profession throughout the Ottoman Empire. The turbans , fezes , bonnets and head-dresses surmounting Ottoman styles showed
1701-570: The Republic is laïcité ( 2 ), social equality ( 2 ), equality before law ( 10 ), and the indivisibility of the Republic and of the Turkish Nation ( 3.1 )." Thus, it sets out to found a unitary nation-state (position in 1935) with separation of powers based on the principles of secular democracy . Historically, Atatürk's reforms follow the Tanzimât ("reorganization") period of the Ottoman Empire , that began in 1839 and ended with
1764-545: The Republic of Turkey in Misplaced Pages to check for alternative titles or spellings. You need to log in or create an account and be autoconfirmed to create new articles. Alternatively, you can use the article wizard to submit a draft for review, or request a new article . Search for " Constitution of the Republic of Turkey " in existing articles. Look for pages within Misplaced Pages that link to this title . Other reasons this message may be displayed: If
1827-498: The Turkish Grand National Assembly. The Turkish Constitution of 1921 was the fundamental law of Turkey for a brief period. It was ratified by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in the middle of the Turkish War of Independence . It was a simple document consisting of only 23 short articles. The major driving force behind the preparation of the 1921 Constitution was that its sovereignty derived from
1890-472: The administration, with a particular focus on the education system. This can be observed by looking at the literacy rate within the Republic of Turkey, which rose from 9% to 33% in only 10 years. The elements of the political system visioned by Atatürk's Reforms developed in stages, but by 1935, when the last part of the Atatürk's Reforms removed the reference to Islam in the Constitution; Turkey became
1953-543: The blueprint for the ideal society of the future. Until the proclamation of the republic, the Ottoman Empire was still in existence, with its heritage of religious and dynastic authority. The Ottoman monarchy was abolished by the Ankara Government, but its traditions and cultural symbols remained active among the people (though less so among the elite). On 1 November 1922, the Ottoman Sultanate
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2016-402: The boundaries of superstition. The ulema, according to this classification, was not befit for 'civilized' life, as many argued that they were acting according to superstitions developed throughout centuries. On 25 February 1925, parliament passed a law stating that religion was not to be used as a tool in politics . Kemalist ideology waged a war against superstition by banning the practices of
2079-504: The constitution was amended to declare Turkey to be a republic. In April 1924, the constitution was replaced by an entirely new document, the Turkish Constitution of 1924 . The establishment of popular sovereignty involved confronting centuries-old traditions. The reform process was characterized by a struggle between progressives and conservatives. The changes were both conceptually radical and culturally significant. In
2142-491: The government and the religious sphere. Minority religions, like the Armenian or Greek Orthodoxy are guaranteed protection by the constitution as individual faiths (personal sphere), but this guarantee does not give any rights to any religious communities (social sphere). (This differentiation applies to Islam and Muslims as well. Atatürk's reforms, as of 1935, assume the social sphere is secular.) The Treaty of Lausanne ,
2205-408: The highest religious-political position. This act left Muslim associations who were institutionalized under the convents and the dervish lodges without higher organizing structure. The reformers assumed that the original sources, now available in Turkish, would render the orthodox religious establishment (the ‘ulamā’) and the Ṣūfī ṭarīqas obsolete, and thus help to privatize religion as well as produce
2268-458: The internationally binding agreement of the establishment of the Republic, does not specify any nationality or ethnicity. Treaty of Lausanne simply identifies non-Muslims in general and provides the legal framework which gives certain explicit religious rights to Jews , Greeks , and Armenians without naming them. The Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) was an official state institution established in 1924 under article 136, which received
2331-705: The issuing of the Hat Law, images in school text books that had shown men with fezzes, were exchanged with images which showed men with hats. Another control on the dress was passed in 1934 with the law relating to the wearing of 'Prohibited Garments' . It banned religion-based clothing, such as the veil and turban, outside of places of worship, and gave the government the power to assign only one person per religion or sect to wear religious clothes outside of places of worship. All printed Qurans in Turkey were in Classical Arabic (the sacred language of Islam) at
2394-662: The nation and not from the Sultan, the absolute monarch of the Ottoman Empire. The 1921 Constitution also served as the legal basis for the Turkish War of Independence during 1919–1923, since it refuted the principles of the Treaty of Sèvres of 1918 signed by the Ottoman Empire, by which a great majority of the Empire's territory would have to be ceded to the Entente powers that had won the First World War. In October 1923
2457-434: The new customs by decrees, while banning the traditional customs. The view of their social change proposed that if the permanence of secularism was to be assured by removal of persistence of traditional cultural values (the religious insignia), a considerable degree of cultural receptivity by the public to the further social change could be achieved. Atatürk's Reforms defined a non-civilized person as one who functioned within
2520-652: The one-party rule and Kemalist style reforms until the CHP lost to the Democrat Party in Turkey's second multi-party election in 1950. Central to the reforms was the belief that Turkish society had to modernize, which meant implementing widespread reform affecting not only politics, but the economic, social, educational and legal spheres of Turkish society. The reforms involved a number of fundamental institutional changes that brought an end to many traditions, and followed
2583-600: The organizational structure (added some of his closest friends) to turn the Anadolu Agency into a western news agency. This new administrative structure declared the "Anadolu Agency Corporation" on 1 March 1925. Anadolu Agency Corporation acquired an autonomous status with an unexampled organizational chart not existed even in the western countries in those days. Ottomans had censuses ( 1831 census , 1881–82 census , 1905–06 census , and 1914 census ) performed, and financial information collected under Ottoman Bank for
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2646-503: The parliament. They also removed the "references to religion" from the decorum. The only Friday sermon ( khutba ) ever delivered by a Turkish head of state was given by Atatürk; this took place at a mosque in Balıkesir during the election campaign. The reformers said that "to repeat the sermons [by a politician in the parliament] of a thousand years ago was to preserve backwardness and promote nescience." The abolishment of Caliphate removed
2709-583: The powers of the Shaykh al-Islam. As specified by law, the duties of the Diyanet are “to execute the works concerning the beliefs, worship, and ethics of Islam, enlighten the public about their religion, and administer the sacred worshiping places”. The Diyanet exercised state oversight over religious affairs and ensuring that people and communities did not challenge the Republic's "secular identity". The reform movement chose Ankara as its new capital in 1923, as
2772-408: The practice was continued for a period of 18 years. Following the victory of the Democrat Party in the country's first multi-party elections in 1950 , a new government was sworn in, led by Adnan Menderes , which restored Arabic as the liturgical language . The reformers dismissed the imam assigned to the Turkish Grand National Assembly, saying that prayer should be performed in a mosque, not in
2835-568: The promotion and maintenance of Atatürk's Reforms, with its espousal of secular values and equality for all, including women. In Ottoman society, women had no political rights, even after the Second Constitutional Era in 1908. During the early years of the Turkish Republic educated women struggled for political rights. One notable female political activist was Nezihe Muhittin who founded the first women's party in June 1923, which however
2898-488: The public. These Turkish Qurans were fiercely opposed by religious conservatives. This incident impelled many leading Muslim modernists to call upon the Turkish Parliament to sponsor a Quran translation of suitable quality. The Parliament approved the project and the Directorate of Religious Affairs enlisted Mehmet Akif Ersoy to compose a Quran translation and an Islamic scholar Elmalılı Hamdi Yazır to author
2961-422: The purpose of payments on Ottoman public debt . One of the Atatürk's major achievement is the establishment of a principal government institution in charge of statistics (economic and financial statistical data) and census data. Modern statistical services began with the establishment of The Central Statistical Department in 1926. It was established as a partially centralized system. Turkish Statistical Institute
3024-465: The relatively better educated civil servants adopted the hat with their own he gradually moved further. On the 25 November 1925 the parliament passed the Hat Law which introduced the use of Western style hats instead of the fez. Legislation did not explicitly prohibit veils or headscarves and focused instead on banning fezzes and turbans for men. The law had also influence of school text books. Following
3087-608: The sex, rank, and profession (both civil and military) of the wearer. These styles were accompanied with strict regulation beginning with the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent . Sultan Mahmud II followed on the example of Peter the Great in Russia in modernizing the Empire and used the dress code of 1826 which developed the symbols (classifications) of feudalism among the public. These reforms were achieved through introduction of
3150-434: The society, some were established within the state organisation of the Ottoman Empire . The Kemalist reforms brought effective social change on women's suffrage. In the Ottoman public sphere religious groups exerted their power. The public sphere , can be defined an area in social life where individuals come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action. It
3213-500: The subsequent marginalization of religion in European societies. To them, a reformed religion had only a temporary role to play as an instrument for the modernization of society, after which it would be cast aside from public life and limited to personal life. The Young Turks and other Ottoman intellectuals asked the question of the position of the empire regarding the West (primarily taken to mean Christian Europe). The West represented intellectual and scientific ascendancy, and provided
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#17327768621243276-457: The time. Translated Qurans existed in private settings. A major point of Atatürk's Reform was, according to his understanding; "...teaching religion in Turkish to Turkish people who had been practicing Islam without understanding it for centuries" Turkish translations published in Istanbul created controversy in 1924. Several renderings of the Quran in the Turkish language were read in front of
3339-455: The ulema and promoting the 'civilized' way ("westernization"). The ban on the ulema's social existence came in the form of dress code. The strategic goal was to change the large influence of the ulema over politics by removing them from the social arena. However, there was the danger of being perceived as anti-religious. Kemalists defended themselves by stating "Islam viewed all forms of superstition (non-scientific) nonreligious". The ulema's power
3402-521: The ulema. They excoriated those who used herbal medicine, potions, and balms, and instituted penalties against the religious men who claimed they have a say in health and medicine. On 1 September 1925, the first Turkish Medical Congress was assembled, which was only four days after Mustafa Kemal was seen on 27 August at Inebolu wearing a modern hat and one day after the Kastamonu speech on 30 August. Official measures were gradually introduced to eliminate
3465-671: The view that social progress in Europe had followed the Protestant reformation, as expressed in François Guizot 's Histoire de la civilisation en Europe (1828). The reform-minded Muslim thinkers concluded from the Lutheran experience that the reform of Islam was imperative. Abdullah Cevdet , İsmail Fenni Ertuğrul and Kılıçzâde İsmail Hakkı (İsmail Hakkı Kılıçoğlu), who were westernist thinkers, took their inspiration rather from
3528-414: The wearing of religious clothing and other overt signs of religious affiliation. Beginning in 1923, a series of laws progressively limited the wearing of selected items of traditional clothing. Mustafa Kemal first made the hat compulsory to the civil servants. The guidelines for the proper dressing of students and state employees (public space controlled by state) was passed during his lifetime. After most of
3591-508: Was abolished by the Turkish Grand National Assembly and Sultan Mehmed VI departed the country. This allowed the Turkish nationalist government in Ankara to become the sole governing entity in the nation. The most fundamental reforms allowed the Turkish nation to exercise popular sovereignty through representative democracy . The Republic of Turkey ("Türkiye Cumhuriyeti") was proclaimed on 29 October 1923, by
3654-754: Was confined to activities related to some of the relevant functions of the government with population censuses every five years, and with agriculture and industry censuses every ten years. Gradually the activities of the GDS widened in accordance with the increasing demand for new statistical data and statistics. In addition to those censuses and surveys, many continuous publications on economic, social and cultural subjects were published by this institute to provide necessary information. Some social institutions had religious overtones, and held considerable influence over public life. Social change also included centuries old religious social structures that has been deeply rooted within
3717-503: Was established during the Ottoman Empire with the conception that secular institutions were all subordinate to religion; the ulema were emblems of religious piety, and therefore rendering them powerful over state affairs. Kemalists claimed: The state will be ruled by positivism not superstition . An example was the practice of medicine. Kemalists wanted to get rid of superstition extending to herbal medicine, potion, and religious therapy for mental illness, all of which were practiced by
3780-400: Was from Sunday to Thursday and the weekend was Friday and Saturday. A law enacted in 1935 changed the weekend, which now began Friday afternoon (not Thursday afternoon) and ended on Sunday. During a meeting in the early days of the new republic, Atatürk proclaimed: To the women : Win for us the battle of education and you will do yet more for your country than we have been able to do. It
3843-443: Was not legalized because the Republic was not officially declared. With intense struggle, Turkish women achieved voting rights in local elections by the act of 1580 on 3 April 1930. Four years later, through legislation enacted on 5 December 1934, they gained full universal suffrage, earlier than most other countries. The reforms in the Turkish civil code, including those affecting women's suffrage, were "breakthroughs not only within
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#17327768621243906-584: Was replaced by the Presidency of Religious Affairs. The abolishing of the position of Caliphate and Sheikh ul-Islam was followed by a common, secular authority. Many of the religious communities failed to adjust to the new regime. This was exacerbated by emigration or impoverishment, due to deteriorating economic conditions. Families that hitherto had financially supported religious community institutions such as hospitals and schools stop doing so. Atatürk's reforms define laïcité (as of 1935) as permeating both
3969-402: Was replaced with the following: Tanrı uludur Şüphesiz bilirim, bildiririm Tanrı'dan başka yoktur tapacak. Şüphesiz bilirim, bildiririm; Tanrı'nın elçisidir Muhammed. Haydin namaza, haydin felaha, Namaz uykudan hayırlıdır. Following the conclusion of said debates, the Diyanet released an official mandate on 18 July 1932 announcing the decision to all the mosques across Turkey, and
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