The social reforms were also very important changes during the kemalist state. Turkish women also got the right to vote, were encouraged to play a full part in the public life and were also encouraged to choose any profession. The kemalist state claimed that “If a society consisting of women and men, is content to apply progress and education to one half of itself, such a society is weakened by half. A nation aiming at progress and civilization must not overlook this.” (This saying is a remark from Kemal Ataturk in a speech made in 1926. I thought it is appropriate because it delivers the main ideas of the kemalsit state about the rights of women and the importance they gave to it. See: Bibl.) The main purpose of these social reforms was to modernize the Turkish life with a new sense of dignity, freedom and equality. In the mid-1930s, 18 women, among them a villager, were elected to the national parliament. (This statistic is taken from an Internet site. See: Bibl.) Later on, Turkey had the world's first women Supreme Court justice. This government wanted to secularize the Turkish life by removing any religious symbols like the fez or the veils. The motive of this decision was the desire to show the nature of the changes being made in Turkey and also to demonstrate to the Turkish people the real westernized world. The decision to forbid the wearing of the fez (a covering of the hairs in public) and its replacement with the hat was made in 1925. In many part of Turkey, especially in the more developed areas in the west, thousands of men bought hats. The kemalist state forbade the wearing of veils, which according to them was not even required in the Kuran. The degree of success in these reforms on secularization was partial. This was because while the wearing of hat instead of fez, although with great difficulties, was accomplished, the veil was never really forbidden and these days there are still women who wear them.
Changes concerning the legal reforms were the adoption of the Swiss civil code and the Italian penal code on 1926. The legal position of women and their place in a society was greatly improved. The civil code made all citizens - men and women, rich and poor - equal before the law. This law also made polygamy illegal while giving the women the right to divorce. The penal code, apart it’s other issues, prohibited the forming of associations on religious basis. The law gave to people freedom of private property, financial responsibility and also freedom of contract.
Many changes were also made following the educational reforms by the kemalist government. One of the first and most important goals was secularizing education (education based on religion was abolished) and as a result all the schools were controlled by the state. One of the first reforms was the establishment of the new Law on The Unification of Education on 1924. The school system was divided up into three sections: primary, secondary and higher. In all three sections education was made free, secular, and co-educational while the first section was made compulsory. (Shows the important changes that the state made under the field of education. See: Bibl.) The purpose of this programme was to decrease the high level of illiteracy and encourage the importance of education. The kemalist state believed that education was a force that brings the nation into social and economic prosperity. Courses to encourage adult education were established and in 1925 a university was opened in Ankara. The results were positive but not very high. In the following decade the number of people attending school doubled while the illiteracy rate decreased from 90% to 78%. These statistics show that the results of these reforms on education although positive, were only partial. In the early 1990’s Turkey’s illiteracy rate was still very high, about 35%. (This statistic shows that although the kemalist state managed to descend the illiteracy rate to a certain point, the illiterate level continued to be very high. See: Bibl.)
Among the cultural reforms were the adoption of the Latin alphabet in 1928, the western clock and the calendar in 1926, international numeric system in 1928, the western weights and measures in 1931 and also the Surname Law in 1934. The state was determined to make the new Latin script compulsory in public use and also to be used in calls to prayers. These reforms according to the kemalist ideology were essential ingredients in removing the Turkish society from its old Islamic traditions and in creating a new modernized Turkey. It was also a kind of struggle against illiteracy, which had been extremely high because of the mismatched language the Islamic was. They served not only to make Turkey a more European country but also made easier its communication with the Western world. The kemalist government launched a campaign all over Turkey intended to promote and support the Latin scripts use. The kemalist state was successful in making this script compulsory in public communication while it was ineffective in making it be used in prayers. These reforms made accessible the culture of the West to the Turkish Nation.
However, on the struggle against illiteracy the kemalist reforms were not very successful.
In conclusion, I want to state that the kemalist government was an authoritarian regime because the means and ways it used to accomplish its goals were not always acceptable. The platform of the government could be described more as a set of attitudes and opinions, rather than a democratic platform. However, in my opinion this state made great changes in different structure of the Turkish state. In all fields that the reforms took place the results were mainly positive and only rarely partial. Therefore, I would state that the work of the kemalist state between 1923-1938 lay in leading Turkey along the path of the Western world.
Bibliography and References
- L. Macfie. “Profiles in Power-Ataturk.” Chap. 8: “Modernization, Westernization and Reform.”
- Zurcher, Erik J. “Turkey A Modern History.” Chap.11: “The Kemalist One-Party State, 1925-45.”
- Zurcher, Erik J. “Turkey A Modern History.” Chap. 10. “The Emergence of the One-Party State, 1923-7.”
-
Sansal, Bursak. Ataturk’s Reforms. 1999. Date visited: 22.November.02
-
Ataturk’s Reforms. Date visited: 22.Novermber.02
L. Macfie. “Profiles in Power-Ataturk.” Chap. 8: “Modernization, Westernization and Reform.” Pg.144
“Women’s Rights.” Ataturk’s Reforms. Date visited: 22.Novermber.02
L. Macfie. “Profiles in Power-Ataturk.” Chap. 8: “Modernization, Westernization and Reform.” Pg. 142
Zurcher, Erik J. “Turkey A Modern History.” Chap.11: “The Kemalist One-Party State, 1925-45.” Pg. 197
Sansal, Bursak. “Secularist Reforms” Ataturk’s Reforms. 1999.
www.allaboutturkey.com/reform