series of sweeping reforms
Kemal Atatürk set for himself a daunting goal to reform the entire political, social and economic system of the Turks. His ideology came to be known as Kemalism – a blend of republicanism, populism, nationalism, and secularism.
He desired nothing than to make Turkey a modernized economy with similar ideals as that of the West. During the dying years of the Ottoman Empire, technological advancements and political reforms had sharply stagnated. Kemal hoped to roll back the glory days of the defeated Empire. Instead of look for solutions in religion, he underpinned those sweeping reforms with strong democratic systems, religious tolerance and love for the nation.
Protected the rights of Turkish women
Post the independence of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal looked to the West to incorporate their values into the Turkish society. He even married Latife Hanim – a western-educated woman – in 1923. The couple became a model of the environment they were trying to create in Turkey. They also advocated the protection of women and the end of violence against women and children.
Starting in the early 1930s, Turkish women were given enormous political and civil rights. For example, the GNA Act # 1580 of April 1930 granted voting rights to women in local elections. By 1934, the country could boast of being one of the first few nations in the world to grant universal suffrage.
Kemal Mustafa’s strong advocacy for women resulted in the opening of the Turkish Parliament to women. In the 1935 general election, a whopping 18 women won seats in the Turkish parliament. It was a truly remarkable accomplishment of President Kemal Mustafa.
He basically drew on legal codes from a number of European countries such as Italy, Germany and Switzerland. The codes were adopted to offer more protection to women, something that was a bit lacking during the Ottoman era under Islamic law. For example, he outlawed polygamy. Divorce came to be recognized in the courts. And marriage in Turkey had greater recognition under the law.
He developed a new Turkish language from scratch
Another significant accomplishment of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk came in the form of a completely new Turkish language. In 1928, he replaced Arabic script with Latin alphabets. Overnight, educated people who could read and write all of a sudden became illiterates. Realizing how daunting the task was, Kemal worked very hard, offering incentives for people to learn the new language.
His efforts paid off eventually. After about a decade or so, Turkey could boast of having one of the highest literacy rates among former Ottoman era countries.
Kemal even took the habit of personally teaching people in the villages (Koy) everything about the new language, i.e. pronunciation of the letters, grammar, and vocabulary.
He passed the law that encouraged people to take western-style names
The law passed by the Turkish Parliament in 1934 called on all Turks to take up surnames. Many Turks were also encouraged to select western-style names and clothes. And as for Kemal Mustafa, his surname “Ataturk” was particularly chosen for him by the Turkish Parliament. The name translates into “Father of the Turks”. He is undoubtedly the greatest reformer Turkey has ever seen.
He moved Turks’ attention and loyalty from religion to the state
In a bid to reduce the extensive power religious leaders had on the people, Kemal closed a number of religious schools and courts. People’s loyalty started to move from religion to the state.
He also abolished the wearing of head covering at public institutions with his wife Latife Hanim leading the reforms for gender issues.
As it was expected, Kemal was met with some pockets of resistance from the religious community. Bear in mind, the country was an extremely homogenous group that now had to embrace secularism and statism. It was quite a hard pill to swallow for many traditionalist and religious leaders. Some of these leaders had their organizations banned in order to make way for the reforms.
President of the Republican People’s Party
To help him carry out his d