Chapter 4: Atatürk: His Life, Ideas, and Ideals

Atatürk’s Background

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born in 1881 in Salonika (Selanik), an important economic and cultural center in the Ottoman Balkans (in current-day Greece).

Mustafa Kemal was born into a Turkish-Muslim family. He was given a Muslim name, Mustafa, an epithet of Prophet Mohammed.

Mustafa Kemal’s father was Ali Rıza Efendi and his mother was Zübeyde Hanım. His parents’ families, known as Turcomans (Yürük Türkmeni), came to the Balkans from Anatolia. Ali Rıza Efendi and Zübeyde Hanım married in 1871. The couple had six children. Mustafa Kemal was the fourth child. He had an elder sister Fatma, and elder brothers Ahmet and Ömer, who died in childhood.

Mustafa Kemal’s father Ali Rıza Bey earned his life as a customs officer. He later started a joint enterprise with a timber merchant. In 1887, the timber business declined. Then he entered the salt trade. Ali Rıza Bey died in 1893 when he was 54 years old. At that time, Mustafa Kemal was 12 years old.

When Mustafa Kemal reached school age, his parents had disagreements over his education. His mother Zübeyde Hanım wanted her son to attend a local traditional Muslim school (mahalle mektebi) while Ali Rıza Efendi wanted him to receive a modern education. To fulfill his mother’s wishes, Mustafa Kemal first went to the religious school. After a while, he enrolled Şemsi Efendi’s private school, where where he received a western education and was introduced to critical thinking.

In 1893, he entered the Salonika Civil Middle School (Selânik Mülkiye Rüştiyesi). He left this school when he was beaten by a teacher nicknamed Kaymak Hafız; he had used force with other students, too. As he was fascinated with the army officers around him, Mustafa Kemal decided to enter the military school. Although his mother objected to his becoming a soldier, he secretly took the entrance exams, and in 1893, at the age of 12, he entered Salonika Military Preparatory School (Selânik Askerî Rüştiyesi).

In 1895, Mustafa Kemal entered the Monastir Military High School (Manastır Askerî İdadîsi) in Monastir, a military town where the headquarters of the Ottoman Third Army located. There, he studied many subjects such as mathematics, history, science, and French. He found mathematics too easy and loved history because of his history teacher, Mehmed Tevfik.

Mustafa Kemal became a nationalist during his time in Monastir since gangs of Serbs and Bulgarians raided the Turkish villages and there was also the ongoing OttomanGreek war in 1897; indeed, he was eager to join the Turkish volunteers to fight against the Greeks. He was also under the influence of nationalist poets, such as Namık Kemal.

After his graduation from the Monastir Military High School in 1898, Mustafa Kemal went to Istanbul. There, in 1899, he entered the War College (Harp Okulu Piyade Sınıfı). In 1902, he went to the War Academy (Harp Akademisi). During the Academy years, he, together with his friends, released a newspaper called Minber.

Mustafa Kemal graduated from the War Academy as a staff captain (kurmay yüzbaşı) in 1905, when he was 24 years old. Following his graduation from the War Academy, Mustafa Kemal was imprisoned because of his opposing activities and thoughts on the Sultan and his authoritarian rule. After his short period of imprisonment, he was sent to Syria. Thereon, he entered an active military life.

From 1905 until 1907, Mustafa Kemal was an intern at the 30th Cavalry Regiment of the Fifth Army in Damascus. In 1907, he was promoted to AdjutantMajor and sent to the Third Army at Salonika. There, the Society of Homeland and Freedom merged with the Ottoman Society of Freedom (Osmanlı Hürriyet Cemiyeti) and the latter joined the Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) (Osmanlı İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti), which forcefully persuaded Sultan Abdülhamid II to restore the constitution of 1876 and open the parliament.

From June 1908 to January 1909, he was appointed the Railways Inspector General of the Eastern Rumelia Region. He was in the Redif Division of the Third Army in 1909. As the chief of staff (kurmay subayı) in the first rank of the Action Army, Mustafa Kemal took part in suppressing the revolt known as the March 31 Incident in Istanbul, which appeared to be a religious revolt but turned out to be a counter revolution.

In 1909, Mustafa Kemal attended the second CUP congress as a delegate from Tripoli and continued to criticize the army’s involvement into politics; at that time, this idea of Mustafa Kemal’s was not shared by the upper echelons of the CUP.

In 1914, Mustafa Kemal was promoted to lieutenant colonel (yarbay). In 1915, after he formed the 19th Division in Tekirdağ, he went to Maydos in Gallipoli.

In 1918, after the Ottoman Empire signed the Mudros Armistice, the Allied fleets entered Istanbul, and this led to the dissolution of the Ottoman Parliament. In April 1919, Mustafa Kemal was appointed as the Nineth (later Third) Army Inspector in Anatolia with the approval of the British, who at that moment were advising the Sultan on the matters of the state.

Mustafa Kemal and the War of Independence

On July 9, 1919, Mustafa Kemal decided to resign from all of his official duties, and he declared himself a civilian since he realized that he could not go on with his liberation activities as an Ottoman officer.

In those days, a representative committee was formed and Mustafa Kemal became its president. He convened the Sivas Congress, where all the Defense of Rights Associations united under his leadership. After signing of the Amasya Protocol between Istanbul government and the Representative Committee, a new Parliament was elected in Istanbul with a nationalist representation. Mustafa Kemal was elected as deputy from Erzurum, but he did not go to Istanbul. Instead, he established the headquarters of the resistance movement in Ankara with the Representative Committee.

In January 1920, the National Pact (Misak-ı Milli), which came out of the decisions reached at two congresses, Erzurum and Sivas, was adopted by the Ottoman parliament as well. Its goal was to have national independence, territorial integrity, and armed resistance to foreign occupation.

As the last Ottoman parliament was dissolved in March 1920 and Istanbul fell under the British occupation, Mustafa Kemal and his supporters opened the first Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA) in Ankara on April 23, 1920. Mustafa Kemal became its president.

In 1920, the Greek army advanced into Anatolia. The Treaty of Sevres was signed between the Istanbul government and the Allied powers, it was but never ratified. On the other hand, the Treaty of Gümrü was signed between the Ankara government and Armenia. This created more duality over the legitimacy of the executive power in the country: the Istanbul Government or the Turkish Grand National Assembly.

In 1921, the War of Independence continued, the TGNA in Ankara adopted the Constitution Act -it was the first Act that described and defined the position, rights, formation and make-up of the Assembly and the National Government.

Additionally, the Treaty of Moscow between Ankara government and the Soviet Union was signed, augmenting the authority of the the Ankara government. Throughout these political events, the struggle against the Greek forces continued; the Greek army was stopped at the Second Battle of İnönü during the summer of 1921. However, after the Greek army broke through and occupied Afyonkarahisar-Kütahya line and the important railroad junction of Eskişehir, the TGNA asked Mustafa Kemal to lead the army. Mustafa Kemal accepted on the condition that all powers of the assembly needed to be vested on him for three months. Then, the army under him took up positions along the Sakarya River. The epic battle ended with the Turkish victory in September 1921. Mustafa Kemal was given the rank of marshal and Gazi (a veteran of an important battle). In 1921, the Ankara government signed the Treaty of Kars with Transcaucasian Soviet Republics and the Treaty of Ankara with France, which signified the French acceptance of the Ankara government. The Sakarya battle marked a both military and diplomatic victory. Mustafa Kemal expressed his feelings on the Sakarya battle in 1927.

After the battle of Sakarya, for almost a year, the Greek occupation remained at the Afyon-Karahisar– Eskişehir line. Finally, after a year of preparation and planning, on August 26, 1922, Mustafa Kemal gave his order to his troops, “Soldiers, your goal is the Mediterranean! March Forward!” Within a few days, he defeated the Greek army at the final battle of the National Struggle–The Grand Offense (Başkomutanlık Meydan Muharebesi) in Afyon. The victorious Turkish army entered İzmir on Septemter 9, 1922. Thereafter, his army advanced onto Istanbul and the Dardanelles. This decisive offense signaled the final defeat of the Greek forces. On October 11, 1922, an armistice was signed at Mudanya between the representatives of the Ankara government and the Allied powers, resulting in Turkey’s complete military and diplomatic victory. At the end of August, Turkey was liberated from all occupying powers. The 30th of August has been celebrated as a national holiday to commemorate this grand victory.

1923 was crucial in Mustafa Kemal’s personal life. In this year, he lost his mother, and he married Latife Hanım, the well-educated daughter of a wealthy merchant family from İzmir, and the epitome of what Mustafa Kemal expected of Turkish women. They were married from 1923 to 1925.

In 1923, Mustafa Kemal also opened the İzmir Economic Congress, and the Treaty of Lausanne was signed to conclude the War of Independence. The treaty was also important because it recognized Turkey as a sovereign nation. In the same year, Mustafa Kemal formed the People’s Republican Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi, CHP) on August 9. Ankara became the official capital of Turkey on October 13, and the Turkish Republic was declared on October 29.

Mustafa Kemal’s Presidential Years

After the declaration of the Republic, Mustafa Kemal was elected unanimously as the first president of Turkey. During his presidency in the 1920s, the office of the Caliphate was abolished, the Ottoman dynasty was exiled, the Directorate of Religious Affairs was founded, the new constitution was accepted in 1924, and the newly married couple, Mustafa Kemal and Latife Hanım, toured Anatolia.

In November 1925, Mustafa Kemal toured the Kastamonu province, where he announced the abolition of fez to support the new dress code. Furthermore, religious brotherhoods were disallowed, and sacred tombs, as places of worship, were closed. 1925 was also the year when Mustafa Kemal opened the Ankara Law School and the European/Gregorian calendar replaced the former Islamic calendar.

In August 1930, Mustafa Kemal encouraged some of his friends to form a new party, named the Free Republican Party (Serbest Cumhuriyet Fırkası). This new party had, among its members, Mustafa Kemal’s close associates, such as his friend Ali Fethi (Okyar) and his sister, Makbule. In 1930, the Free Republican Party was dissolved when a religious riot took place in Menemen, where reserve officer Kubilay was killed by lynching.

In 1931, the Turkish Historical Society was founded and Mustafa Kemal was re-elected as the president of Turkey. In 1932, the Turkish Language Society was founded and Turkey became the member of the League of Nations in 1933, Istanbul University was established.

1934 was also important in that the Balkan Pact was signed by Turkey, Greece, Rumania, and Yugoslavia; Mustafa Kemal adopted the surname ATATÜRK, Father of Turks, bestowed to him by the TGNA. In addition, women received the right to vote in the parliamentary elections and to become deputies.

In 1935, in the Fifth Grand National Assembly, Mustafa Kemal was re-elected as president of the Republic. In 1936, the dispute regarding the future status of Alexandretta (Hatay) was discussed in the League of Nations. In addition, the Montreux Convention was signed, and thus the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits were put under the control of the Turkish State.

In the mid-1930s, Mustafa Kemal had irregular and sleepless hours. He usually spent many nights making decisions or reading into late hours. He was also busy with inspecting army maneuvers. In 1930s, Mustafa Kemal gave up riding but continued to swim in the summer time at his new beach house in Florya, Istanbul.

According to the doctors’ reports, he had cirrhosis of the liver. Its first symptoms appeared in January 1938. Nevertheless, he did not slow down and was always present in public.

Mustafa Kemal’s health went worse and he fell into his last coma on November 8 and he died on November 10, 1938 at the age of 57; according to some, he died of liver failure, while some argue that he died of malaria.

The Speech (Nutuk)

From October 15 to 20, 1927, Mustafa Kemal delivered a thirty-six-hour-and-33-minute speech over six days at the second general assembly of the Republican People’s Party. This speech was later compiled into a book-the Speech (Nutuk). Mustafa Kemal wanted to leave future generations a document reporting past events, explaining conditions, and giving descriptions and an extensive account of the War of Independence.

Principles

Mustafa Kemal was inspired by the eighteenth century Enlightenment thinkers as well as the intellectual and political trends of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century Europe and of the Ottoman Empire, such as scientism, materialism, social Darwinism, positivism, Turkism, and other popular theories.

Republicanism (Cumhuriyetçilik)

The Turkish Republic was declared in 1923. With its declaration, it was sought to satisfy the exigencies of the time. Mustafa Kemal was elected its first president and remained so until his death in 1938. The Turkish Republic thus became the first true Republic among the Muslim countries although there had been short lived experiments in Azerbaijan, Tripoli of Barbary. The Turkish Republican ideology was under the influence of an important eighteenth century French thinker of the Enlightenment, Jean Jack Rousseau. Mustafa Kemal’s ideal Republic was in fact what was in the French Third Republic (1870- 1940), which to him was a success story. French practices and theories on solidarism, secularism, and statism affected his thinking in establishing the principle of the Republicanism.

Republicanism was the ideology giving priority to the principles of national sovereignty in the composition of the laws for all types of organizations, for all the details of administration, in public education and in the sphere of economics. It certainly meant a government by the will of the people. Popular sovereignty was the key to Republicanism.

Secularism (Laiklik)

Both secularism and nationalism had already been promoted by the Young Turks in the Ottoman Empire in the 1910s. Secularism in the 1930s went beyond the Young Turks’ views that meant separating state and religion and removing religion from the public life, a French type of secularism. The aim was to establish state control over religion and religious institutions.

Nationalism (Milliyetçilik)

The ideology of Turkish nationalism did not stem from within the Ottoman lands. Crimea and Kazan Turks, especially in the Turkish communities who lived in Tsarist Russia, developed a concept of nation before the Ottoman Turks since they were under Russian pressure, which led to nationalist reactions by the Turks.

For Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, nationalism meant to have an independent country free from any foreign influence and domination. He said: “This nation has never lived without independence. We cannot and shall not live without it. Either independence or death!” (Atatürk, 2005, p. 10). For him, independence was not only about political independence. He defended full independence, which could be achieved with economic independence.

Statism (Devletçilik)

Statism meant that the state took its place as an entrepreneur in economic life. This principle was resorted to as there was no time for individual entrepreneurs to accumulate capital for investment. Therefore, the state took over and made the necessary investments. According to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Statism was for the highest interests of the nation. Like Mustafa Kemal’s other principles, Statism was born as a product of the conditions arisen in the 1920s Anatolia, where infrastructure and industry were weak or practically non-existent. Initially, during the period of 1923-1930, private enterprises were expected to come up with the necessary investments to develop the country.

Statism that Mustafa Kemal envisioned was the most advanced economic path, entailing that the state’s job was to encourage private enterprises and to regulate and supervise them. It did not mean, however, an excessive state control over any economic activity; it did not prevent free trade and private property holding or capital accumulation. Statism meant that the state took the role of being the locomotive in economy to ensure a rapid economic growth.

Populism (Halkçılık)

Populism, also called “peoplesim” meant that the people were the government, the governments were the people. It was not a rule by the elite like it was with the Sultan and the Ottoman ruling household. Populism in Turkey rejected the dominance of any class. It was also in contrast to fascism that at that time claimed that the people existed for the state, not the state for the people.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s understanding of Populism provided individual freedom and considered a shepherd or a worker, a merchant, a doctor, or an artisan equal to one another. To establish total equality, suffrage rights of women were recognized and women were given the right to vote and become deputies in 1934; they had already been given the right to vote and to be elected in local elections in 1930.

Revolutionism (İnkılapçılık)

Mustafa Kemal also found parallelism between The Turkish War of Independence and the French Revolution (Turan, 2004, p. 73). According to him, the French Revolution spread the idea of freedom to the whole world as its main source. Mustafa Kemal said that humanity had progressed since the French Revolution. Turkish democracy followed the path of the French Revolution, but evolved in a distinctive manner.

Mustafa Kemal defined the Revolutionism as the revolution to break down the institutions that had left the Turkish nation behind in the last few centuries and to put in place new institutions that could lead the Turkish nation to the level of the most civilized nations. The second element of this principle was a constant revolution. This was parallel to the fact that Mustafa Kemal did not leave verses, dogmas, frozen and stereotyped rules as his spiritual heritage.

Atatürk’s Legacy

Each year, on November 10, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is officially commemorated nationwide. Sirens are sounded at 9:05 a.m., the exact time of his death, and flags fly halfmast. On this particular date, an official ceremony is held at Atatürk mausoleum in Ankara to honor him.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk strove to establish peace at home and peace in the world. In other words, one of his great achievements was to establish the domestic and foreign balance. World War II was approaching and thus Mustafa Kemal took measures. He was not an irredentist, who would pursue a pan-Turkist and/or Pan-Islamist policy. He achieved full control of the straits with Montreux Treaty in 1936 and was able to annex the territory the sanjak of Alexandretta (Hatay) in 1938.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk believed that humane thinking was the only true guide in life. He wanted to be in step with the civilized world wherever it was and contribute to its development further and be an active participant. His principles of humanism and the vision of a united humanity are still respected today. The UNESCO Resolution on the Atatürk Centennial explains well how he was seen by the world.

Today people admire Mustafa Kemal Atatürk for a variety of reasons. One of them was his being farsighted, which is clearly seen in his statements on importance aviation.