Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal is viewed as being the father of Turkey, similarly to how Mahatma Gandhi is respected as being the father of India. His plan of action was firs expressed to the public in the Bursa Speech. In his speech, he gave a simplistic outline of his ultimate goal, saying that “…our nation with its true qualities deserves and will become civilized and progressive.”

The first of these reforms, and one he emphasized primarily through his beginning stages, was clothing. He believed that clothing was a mark of civilization, and a certain one present with their country was harming them rather than helping. This piece of clothing was the Fez. Symbolic of the hardships and slavery of the past, Kemal believed that without it, Turkey would be able to become a greater nation. He ordered that now, brimmed hats must be worn, and dress clothing (ties, suits, etc) must be worn as casual clothes. This marked the start of Mustafa’s secularity, because it showed his willingness to break religious order to achieve a certain goal for his nation.

One of these reforms was to the status of people. Mustafa did not want to abide any longer the ideals of the past, where people were set into strict social orders, and personal movement was not encouraged, if not virtually impossible. Much like Japan during the Meiji Era, Kemal embraced the western style of society, and posed a new structure for his people to follow. He borrowed from Europe the theory of a classless, non-hierarchical society. He wished to break away from the class driven chains that Turkey had been caught in for so long, so he gave equal rights to all the citizens of Turkey, which included the freedom to practice any religion, and a formal education for all those who wished to enroll. He also stemmed an original form of education that based itself on individual’s skills; depending on a person’s job, they may be taught in the general areas of education, but also many side subjects to help sharpen the individual’s performance in the job (ex: a waiter learning economics for general knowledge, but also etiquette so that the job may be done properly).

Ultimately, all of the changes produced by Kemal increased the secularity of the Turkey. Secular is defined as “of or pertaining to worldly things or to things that are not regarded as religious, spiritual, or sacred.”