The capital city of Turkey is from now on Ankara

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the time, İsmet Pasha, proposed a single-item draft law to the Assembly on October 9, 1923. The bill was accepted in the Assembly with a great majority on 13 October 1923, after long discussions and debates. The accepted article of the law is as follows: “The state's makarr-ı administration (administrative center) is the city of Ankara.”

Thus, Ankara has become the center of the Republican Regime that will be declared 16 days later. In time, the capital Ankara; It had a first-degree say in the administration of the modern Turkish Republic, and became a "republican capital" beyond Istanbul.

How Ankara Became the Capital

The Ottoman Empire had to sign the Armistice of Mudros on October 30, 1918. As a result of this armistice, Mustafa Kemal Pasha had to abolish the 7th Army, which he commanded in the Palestine Front, and the Yıldırım Army Group, which he received from German Marshal Liman Von Sanders, and return to Istanbul.

Meanwhile, the French General Franchet d'Espery, who came to the city to represent the Entente Powers on 13 November 1918 to take over Istanbul, entered Istanbul on a white horse like Fatih Sultan Mehmet, and pioneered the establishment of the Crusader mentality in Istanbul. Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who closely witnessed the existence of the "occupation army" in Istanbul until his departure for Samsun to start the National Struggle, had difficulty in accepting that the center of the state was leaving our hands so easily.

Members of the Representative Committee of 19 people and their caravan, which was formed within the scope of the preliminary preparations of the national struggle that started in Samsun on May 19, 1919 and headed by Mustafa Kemal Pasha, departed from Sivas on December 18, 1919, in Kayseri, Kırşehir, Mucur and Kaman. He reached Ankara on 27 December 1919 by way of The people of Ankara embraced the delegation and the notables of the city gave the necessary support. On the other hand, it was decided that Ankara would be the permanent center while the delegation was still in Sivas, and it was announced in a published statement that Ankara was the temporary headquarters of the Representative Committee. Atatürk chose this city, which is located in the middle of Anatolia, as the headquarters of the national struggle.

After the closure of the Turkish Parliament in Istanbul on March 16, 1920 by the occupation forces, the Turkish Grand National Assembly was held in Ankara on April 23, 1920. This decision paved the way for the de facto establishment of the new state and introduced the new system based on the parliamentary government. From now on, Ankara has become the center of the national struggle, the ideal of freedom and independence, and the spirit of the national force. The central role and importance of Ankara has been fixed by events. Especially Sakarya Pitched Battles proved the success of site selection.

Mustafa Kemal in 1921, Le Temps newspaper writer Mme. He told Gaulis; "Our political capital will remain in the middle of Anatolia. Representatives of the west and east will contact us in this capital. … The government born from the heart of the nation will work in this capital." He declared his will for Ankara to be the capital.

It can be said that before Ankara was declared as the capital, it was a city that became the capital on 27 December 1919. What happened afterward reinforced this, and October 13 only made this truth official.

Examining the Factors Making Ankara the Capital

In general, each country's history, founding philosophy, geographical structure, the importance it attaches to cities, demographic structure, socio-cultural history, threat perception, etc. These factors play a guiding function on which city will be determined as the 'capital'.

While choosing the capital of a country in the modern sense, we can say that, although not a definite judgment, the four main points or criteria we have examined below are taken as a basis. According to these criteria, we will look at whether these four criteria are compatible with the considerations that Turkey took into account when choosing Ankara as the capital.

1. The Capital is the Center of the Governing Mechanism and is the Symbol of the Unity of the Country.

The capital, which acts as a "head" to which all the cities of a country are administratively bound, is the de facto center of the state administration. Control is done here. The government resides here. For this reason, capitals are cities that need to be protected as a priority. However, the capital is expected to be in a position to control the country and ensure its unity and solidarity. Therefore, in most countries, the capital is chosen as a city in the geographical center of the country's territory. It is desired that this city be the symbol of the unity of the country and be at a point accessible from all sides. For example, the capital of Spain, Madrid, is in the middle of the Iberian peninsula. Abuja, which was also made the capital of Nigeria in 1991, is a city rebuilt in the middle of the country as a symbol of the unity of this country divided by religious and geographical lines.

Atatürk, with a similar approach, expressed in his various speeches that Ankara should be the capital. E.g; In the meeting he held with the editors of the Istanbul newspapers in January 1923 in Izmit, he drew attention to the occupation of Istanbul.

He stated its military inconveniences and emphasized Izmir, Bursa, Eskişehir and Ankara among the cities that could be capitals. He said that Ankara could be the capital among these cities, climatic conditions, railway connection to the great centers of Anatolia and the west, that it served as a de facto capital during the War of Independence and that it could be considered natural and justified to continue this duty.

Where should the government headquarters be? Atatürk's answer to his question pointed to Ankara: “I think it is necessary to examine in two respects. One must have a place where he can keep his strength and tranquility by not moving from any kind of attack and attack. In this respect, naturally, it is necessary to investigate the center of the country. Otherwise, there cannot be a government center in a place that will be alarmed by the cannon of a ship.” In this sense, his second justification is “The headquarter of the government should be in such a place that the government can attribute its gaze to all regions of the country equally. If we retreat to a corner of the country, then we can forget places that are not prosperous and far from us.”

Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK stated the similar reason for Ankara to be the capital in his Speech: “Sirs, … Now it was necessary to determine the capital of the new Turkish State with a law. All thoughts converged on the need to choose the capital of New Turkey in Anatolia and Ankara as the city. In this election, the geographical situation and military strategy were of the utmost importance….”

2. The Capital is Chosen by Political Compromise.

Deciding where the capital will be is the monopoly of the political will that established the state. Likewise, within the framework of changing conditions, a decision may be made for a new place to be the capital city in a future period, depending on the decision to be taken by the political will. For example, Washington DC's becoming the capital is a result of political consensus. While supporters of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton wanted a city in the north to be the capital, supporters of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison tried to make a city in the south the capital. As a result, a political consensus was reached, and the point that George Washington pointed on the Potomac River has been the capital of the USA since then.

Ankara's becoming the capital was also determined by the decision taken in the Turkish Grand National Assembly on 13 October 1923 as a result of a political compromise. On this subject, Atatürk in his Nutuk: “… It was necessary to determine the capital of the state as soon as possible and to put an end to the indecision coming from inside and outside…. Some of the new deputies of Istanbul, especially Refet Pasha, were trying to prove that Istanbul should remain the center of government, based on some examples. They say that Ankara is not at all suitable and convenient in terms of climate, transportation vehicles, development capability and capacity, and existing facilities and establishments...” expressed his views.

3. The Capital is Determined According to the Flow of History.

A nation's territory can expand or contract for a variety of reasons. In these periods, when necessary, when favorable conditions arise, the relocation of a country's capital can be decided by political consensus, as we have stated in the second article. In this sense, before the fall of the Berlin wall, during the Cold War West Germany's capital was Bonn, and East Germany's was East Berlin. As a result of the reunification of the two Germanys, Berlin, which is seen as the historical capital of the Germans, was declared by the federal parliament as the capital of the United Germany on 20 June 1991. This change should also be seen as an extension of the country's complex history. Sometimes circumstances make reconciliation impossible. For example, after the agreement failed in 1910, more than one capital city emerged in South Africa: South Africa was divided between the capitals of Johannesburg (Constitutional Court), Cape Town (Parliament), Pretoria (Government) and Bloemfontein (Judicial). Similarly, Libya has the appearance of a fragmented capital with Tripolitania (Tripolitania) (Government/Judgment), Cyrenaica (Parliament) and Fezzan (Consultation).

According to the course of the history of the Turkish nation, due to the changing conditions, Ankara was chosen as the capital. The biggest factor in this is that Ankara is the center of the liberation war. It is the spirit of the Kuva-yı Milliye formed in Ankara that established the country. This spirit was formed by the fact that Mustafa Kemal and his friends, intellectuals of every duty and rank, and patriots from all four corners of the country, especially Mustafa Kemal and his friends, saw Ankara as a liberating symbol.

The proclamation of Ankara as the capital is a radical change that shows the establishment of a very different regime from the old administration. The American Historian Bernard Lewis explained this situation as follows: “The Sultan was gone, the imperial city was not a suitable place for the revolutionaries who overthrew him. For nearly five centuries, Istanbul had been the capital of an Islamic empire… It was too close in partnership with the past to provide a center for the new Turkey. symbolizing the changes that are taking place and a new capital was chosen, which clearly indicates…”

4. The Capital Reflects the Will of Those Who Founded the State.

Astana, which became the capital of Kazakhstan in 1997, has been a city that reflects the will of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has been ruling since 1991. Washington DC reflected the will of George Washington and his friends. Similarly, Ankara was made the capital city as a result of the will of Atatürk and his friends, who founded the Republic.

Atatürk said the following in his Nutuk within the scope of this title: If we pay attention to this expression, it is impossible not to find a difference between the meaning we mean by the term capital and the views of those who use the term capital in these expressions. For this reason, it was necessary to officially and legally announce our already finalized decision on this issue, and to show that the word "payitaht" did not need to be used in the new Turkish State. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, İsmet Pasha, proposed a one-article draft law dated 9 October 1923 to the Parliament.

Atatürk's thoughts on this subject in different places justify why they made Ankara the capital as the "founding fathers" of the state:

“Every part of Anatolia today, without exception, is in a state of ruin, in the form of an owl's nest. Why is this so? There are many reasons for this. But one of those reasons is that the headquarters of the government is in Istanbul. Istanbul is beautiful and wide, it is the most prosperous and civilized place of our country. But in this civilization and breadth, all of our gazes, our whole existence, remained inward. The real real and natural sources have remained out of sight. We couldn't deal with it…. Those who want to work in this country and those who want to rule this country should enter the country and experience the same conditions as this poor nation so that they can seriously feel what needs to be done. A person thinks differently in Ankara; He thinks differently in Izmir and Istanbul; In Paris he thinks quite differently. Therefore, for him, the headquarters of the government must be in Anatolia…. There should be no doubt that a modern and prosperous Ankara that will be built in the middle of Anatolia will be a center of civilization for the Turkish homeland, which has been neglected for centuries, and a very important pillar for the Turkish state. I drove more. I wanted to show the world once again the Turkish power that makes the impossible possible. One day, those barren fields, green areas stretching between the villas surrounded by green trees will be paved with asphalt. And we will all see it.”

Conclusion

The law stating that Ankara was the capital of the newly established State of Turkey was accepted by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on 13 October 1923. There are many reasons why Ankara is accepted as the capital city. Some of these, as a summary of what we have explained above, are as follows: Ankara's geopolitical, military, strategic and geographical situation, the railway passing through here, its connection with the largest city of the country, Istanbul, its location close to the war zones of the national struggle and proving its age as a center, Ankara was decided to be the capital because of the heartfelt support of the people of Ankara for the National Struggle and hosting the spirit of the Kuva-yı Milliye, the distrust of Atatürk and his friends against the political and social environment of Istanbul, and similar reasons.