Turkish Republic; 101 Years Old

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk talked about establishing the Republic when he visited his fellow prisoners in the Bekiraga Company in Istanbul before he set out for Samsun on 19 May 1919 and moved to Anatolia. When he set out for Samsun, he thought of ‘establishing a new fully independent Turkish State based on the sovereignty of the nation’. At the Sivas Congress, where the foundations of the war of independence and the Republic were laid, he showed the goal of ‘Republic’ with the words ‘I was obliged to carry the great development ability that I felt in the conscience and future of the nation in my conscience like a national secret and gradually implement it to a whole society’.
Atatürk dictated to Mazhar Müfit Kansu in Erzurum at dawn on the night of 7-8 July that the form of government would be ‘Republic’, which was one of the five main goals he wanted to keep secret. After the victory of the National Struggle, the time had come to realise these articles. It was necessary to reveal the name of the existing regime with all clarity and to elect the president of the new state. The Republic, the greatest revolution in Turkish history, was proclaimed 16 days after Ankara was chosen as the capital.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk walked step by step through the process leading to the proclamation of the Republic. In his Nutuk, he put forward the decision of the Republic, which he called ‘My greatest work is the Republic’, and the emergence of the new state in an understandable and simple manner. For this purpose, negotiations started on 9 August 1923 at the opening Congress of the People's Party under the chairmanship of Atatürk. On 11 August, the 286-member 2nd Parliament was opened and Atatürk was elected as the president. Upon Rauf Orbay's resignation from the Prime Minister's Office, Fethi Okyar formed the government and assumed the post of Minister of Interior.
Atatürk; ‘The time had come for the implementation of an idea that I had been waiting for. Let me confess this.’ He said that the time had come for the establishment of the Republic. Fethi Okyar, who was asked to resign as the Minister of Interior, resigned on 24 October and Ali Fuat Cebesoy resigned as the 2nd Speaker of the Parliament on the same day. Atatürk convened the cabinet at Çankaya on 26 October and after examining the situation, he decided that the cabinet should resign, except for the Chief of General Staff Fevzi Çakmak, who was in charge of the armies. On 27 October, the government resigned, but there were great difficulties in forming a government. Atatürk described this process in the Nutuk as follows: ‘We leave the dissident group completely free to form a government. We see no harm in them forming a Council of Ministers and governing the country as they wish without involving any deputy in the cabinet. But we are sure that they will not be able to form a government and govern the country.’ ‘Since it would not be permissible to continue the crisis and confusion in the event that the group of mischief-makers trying to deceive the Assembly failed to form a government, I thought that I would intervene personally at that time and settle the matter once and for all by doing what I had envisaged, that is, by declaring the Republic.’
When the efforts to form a government failed to materialise, on 28 October 1923, under the chairmanship of Fethi Okyar, the party's executive board invited Atatürk for his opinion and to solve the problem. Atatürk said; ‘Late on 28 October 1923, I was invited by the Party Executive Board, which was in a meeting. The chairman was Fethi Bey. Mr Fethi said that they had invited me to their meeting because a list of candidates for the Government had been organised by the Board of Directors on behalf of the Party, and since I was the General Chairman of the Party, they thought it was right to ask my opinion on this matter. I looked over the list and said that I thought it was favourable, but that it was necessary to obtain the consent of the people on the list. My suggestion was approved.’ Some of the people on the list of the Council of Ministers did not want to be on the list, so a definite list was not formed. Atatürk advised them to determine a final list and left the meeting.
While returning to Çankaya from the Assembly, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk decided that the expected moment had arrived and wrote about the evening of 28 October in his Nutuk: ‘On the night of 28 October, as I was leaving the Assembly building to go to Çankaya, I came across Kemâlettin Sami and Hâlit Pasha who were waiting for me in the corridors. I had read in the newspaper of that day under the title of a farewell and a welcome that they had come to Ankara while Ali Fuat Pasha was leaving Ankara. When I realised that they were waiting there until late to talk to me, I informed them through Kâzım Özalp Pasha, the Minister of National Defence, to come to dinner. I also told İsmet İnönü Pasha, Kâzım Pasha and Fethi Okyar Bey to come to Çankaya with me. When I went to Çankaya, I met Mr Fuat Bulca, Deputy of Rize, and Mr Ruşen Eşref Ünaydın, Deputy of Afyonkarahisar, who had come to see me. I took them to dinner. During the meal, I said, ‘Tomorrow we will declare the Republic.’ The friends present there immediately agreed with me. We stopped eating. From that moment on, I made a short programme on how to act and assigned my friends. In order to decide on the proclamation of the Republic, I did not see any need or necessity to invite all my friends in Ankara to meet and discuss with them. Because I did not doubt that they actually and naturally thought like me. However, some people who were not in Ankara at that time considered the fact that the Republic was proclaimed without their authorisation, without informing them, without their opinion and consent as a reason for resentment and separation from us’. In this way, Atatürk explained the process of the proclamation of the Republic and those present at the dinner agreed with him. From that moment on, a programme was made on how to act and he assigned his friends.
İsmet İnönü describes the evening of 28 October as follows: ‘That evening Atatürk called us to Çankaya. We had dinner together. When the guests were leaving, Atatürk told me to stay. We sat at the table. We first discussed the text of the Law on Organisation and Principles. We were making comparisons between the old and the new on each article. Atatürk was dictating the result. After it was completed in this way, I read the whole text from top to bottom once. Atatürk listened attentively. After it was finished, he thought for a while. ‘The preparation is complete,’ he said. That night I was his guest at the mansion. I retired to my room. The next morning we reviewed the text once more and went to the Parliament together. It was done.’
On Monday 29 October, at the group meeting to be held, Kemalettin Sami Pasha made a motion and it was decided to invite Atatürk to the group. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, while sitting in his chair, remembered the night he said ‘we will not be hopeless’ in his house in Şişli and after that night, he lived 4 years in great struggle. From Gallipoli to Tripoli, from Yemen to Sinai, from the Caucasus to Eskişehir and Afyonkarahisar, there was no geography he did not fight in. He swept imperialism into the sea, gave sovereignty to the will of the people and put an end to the sultanate. In Lausanne, he took the title deed of the country and created a free, fully independent state. Thinking that it was time to move towards the goal he had set in his mind, he dreamed of boarding the Bandırma Ferry by saying ‘We are at the edge of the cliff, they want to throw us alive into the grave, the last dare, maybe we can save us, we are moving to Anatolia’. After the meal, he asked İsmet İnönü to stay at the mansion and they went to his study. In Nutuk; ‘The friends we were with left early. Only İsmet Pasha was a guest at Çankaya. In this draft, I added the sentence ‘The form of government of the State of Turkey is a Republic’ at the end of Article 1 of the Constitution of 20 January 1921. Article 3 reads as follows: ‘The State of Turkey shall be governed by the Grand National Assembly. The Assembly administers the branches of administration from which the government is separated through the Ministers.’ The President of Turkey is elected by the General Assembly of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey from among its members for an election term and the President of Turkey is the head of state.’
On Monday, 29 October 1923, the People's Party Group convened at 10:00 a.m. under the chairmanship of Fethi Okyar and the list of the Council of Ministers prepared by him was discussed. No consensus could be reached on the proposed list and the Council of Ministers could not be formed. In order to find a solution, Atatürk's opinion was requested and Kemalettin Sami Pasha's proposal to solve the problem was accepted. Atatürk; ‘I was at home in Çankaya during the negotiations. Upon the acceptance of Kemalettin Sami Pasha's motion, I was invited to the meeting. I entered the meeting hall and went straight to the rostrum and put forward the following opinion and proposal. Sirs, it has been understood that there is confusion of opinions and lack of consensus in the selection of the members of the government. Allow me about an hour. I will present the solution I will find’. He said that the difficulty encountered in forming a government stemmed from the fact that the deputies had to choose the ministers one by one and that the necessary amendment should be made in the Constitution.
Thereupon, at the meeting held at 13.30 under the chairmanship of Fethi Okyar, Atatürk said: ‘Dear friends. I believe that the reason and cause of the problem we are having difficulty in solving has been understood by all our friends. The defect is in the method and manner we are following. Your Supreme Committee has entrusted me with the solution of this problem. If my proposal is accepted, it will be possible to form a strong and cohesive government. It is necessary to clarify some points of the Constitution, which determines the form and nature of our state and which is an aim for all of us. My proposal is as follows.’ The law proposal he submitted to the clerk of the parliament, consisting of a 5-article draft he had prepared 4 months earlier, stated that the true form of the state was “Republic”.
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey convened at 18.00 on 29 October and the ‘Bill of Law’ prepared by the members of the Constitutional Commission was presented to the parliament by İsmet İnönü, the Speaker of the Assembly. The proposed law was as follows: ‘Article-1; Sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation. The form of government is based on the principle that the nation personally and de facto manages its own destiny. The form of government of the State of Turkey: Republic. Article-2; Religion of the State of Turkey: Islam. The official language is Turkish. Article-4: The President of the Republic of Turkey shall be elected by the Grand National Assembly of the State of Turkey and from among its members for one election term. The presidential duty continues until the election of the new President. Re-election is possible. Article-11: The President of Turkey is the President of the State. In this capacity, he presides over the Assembly and the Council of Ministers as deemed necessary.  Article-12: The Prime Minister shall be elected by the President of the Republic and by the members of the Assembly.’ was submitted to the Parliament for approval. With the acceptance of the proposal, Antalya Deputy Rasih Kaplan said: ‘The most appropriate form of government in terms of religion is the Republic. Long live the Republic.’ The oldest member of the Assembly, Istanbul Deputy Abdurrahman Şeref Bey; ‘It is unnecessary to count the forms of government one by one. Sovereignty belongs to the nation unconditionally. No matter who you ask, this means republic. It is the name of the child born. But this name is not pleasing to some, so be it’.
İsmet İnönü said: ‘The nation has de facto taken its supremacy and future into its own hands. Then why do we hesitate to express this legally? It would be illegal to propose the election of a prime minister without a president. Gazi Pasha's proposal must become law.’ After these speeches, the Constitutional Commission said: ‘Since the unconditional and unconditional sovereignty belonging to the nation and the form of government being based on the principle that the future of the nation is to be governed by the nation itself and in a real way already means a Republic, it has been deemed legally and importantly appropriate to use this sentence, which absolutely rejects the personalised Sultanate, and to explain by adding a section to the relevant article of the Constitution that the form of the State of Turkey is the Republican Government. After the establishment of a Republic, it is natural that a Presidency, which is the representative of this Republic, should be established. The appointment of the Prime Minister, who will form the Government, by the President of the Republic is necessary for the determination of responsibility. Therefore, in order to determine the existing form of the State, the Constitution has been amended and corrected with a special article stating that the religion of the State is Islam and the language is Turkish.’ The bill was finalised with the speeches of the deputies in the parliament, which were applauded with the voices of ‘Long Live the Republic!’. President İsmet İnönü said, ‘I now put the whole law to your vote. Those in favour, raise your hands.’ All 158 deputies in the Assembly voted yes and the Speaker of the Assembly announced the result with the words; ‘The bill has been accepted unanimously’.
With the announcement of the proclamation of the Republic at 20.30 on 29 October 1923 with 101 rounds of cannon fire, the excitement was carried to the streets of Ankara and the Turkish people celebrated with great enthusiasm. Turks have attained the form of state they deserve, have become a Republican State and have taken their place among the most modern countries. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who said ‘The most appropriate form of government for the character and customs of the Turkish Nation is the Republic’, with the declaration of the Republic by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, sovereignty has been the Turkish Nation after centuries. The Republic, as an administration with high moral values and qualities, the Turkish Nation has taken its will into its own hands by electing the people who will govern the state. For the election of the first President of the Republic of Turkey, on 29 October 1923, MP Dr Fikret Onuralp submitted the motion ‘To the Supreme Presidency: I propose that the “President of the Republic” be elected immediately according to the provisions of the adopted law.’ Konya Deputy Eyüp Sabri Hayırlıoğlu made a motion for the election of the President of the Republic: ‘To the Supreme Presidency: I propose that it be decided to fire 101 rounds of cannon after the election of the President of the Republic by the Supreme Assembly.’ Voting was started in the parliament for the election of the President. İsmet İnönü announced the result to the General Assembly at 20.45; ‘159 people participated in the voting for the Presidency of Turkey and 158 members unanimously elected Ankara Deputy Mustafa Kemal Pasha Hazretleri as President of Turkey.’ The only abstention was Atatürk's vote. At the age of 42, ‘Long live Gazi. Long live Mustafa Kemal Pasha’, he became the first President of the Republic of Turkey.
After his election as President, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk said in the parliament: ‘Dear friends, due to the adoption of the draft law proposed to your high committee by the special commission established to clarify some articles of the Constitution, which is a valuable document to the real vigilance and consciousness of our honourable nation in the face of important and extraordinary events around the world, the nature of the Turkish State, which is already known and should be known all over the world, has been named by its international name. As a natural consequence of this, you are entrusting this duty, which until today you have entrusted directly to your friend, who has been the President of the Assembly, to this same friend, this humble friend, with the title of President. On this occasion, you have once again demonstrated the love, sincerity and trust you have shown for me until now, and proved your high appreciation. Therefore, I express my sincere thanks to your honourable delegation. In recent years, the ability, will and insight which our nation has demonstrated in practice have proved very well that those who think ill of it are ignorant and far from seeing the future and are deceived by appearances. With the new name of the government, our nation will be able to show its qualities and values to the civilised world much more easily. The Republic of Turkey will prove by its works that it is worthy of its place among the states of the world. Friends, the victory of the Turkish nation, which has created this high regime, in the last four years will be manifested several times over in the future. I am obliged to present a need which I consider very important. That need is the continuation of the love, trust and support shown by your honourable delegation towards me. Only in this way, and with the help of God, I hope that I will be able to fulfil in the best possible manner the duties which you have entrusted to me and which you will entrust to me. I shall work by clinging very sincerely and firmly to the hands of my honourable colleagues and by not considering myself to be a moment distant from them. We shall go forward together, always relying on the love and trust of the nation. The Republic of Turkey will be happy, successful and victorious.’
Atatürk thanked his friends in this way with his sincere, sincere, clear and concise words. The Republic has been the name of enlightenment, science, modern life and civilisation. Turgut Özakman; ‘A brand new, fully independent, respected people's state, the Republic of Turkey, had been established from a collapsed outdated state.’
On the first day of the Republic and in his letter to İsmet İnönü on 30 October 1923, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the first President of the Republic, wrote: ‘Dear pasha, I am thinking of you as the first prime minister of the Republic. Wait, don't object at all. Now you will understand why I chose you. A great war awaits us again. As the Commander of the Front and Chief Delegate to Lausanne, of course you know part of our situation. You told us on the return from Lausanne that the great powers, looking at this miserable situation, thought that we would soon give up. I will now summarise the general situation, which is even more pathetic than you know. We inherited a backward, indebted and diseased homeland from the Ottoman Empire. We are a poor peasant state. We have almost no roads that can be used in four seasons. We have about 4,000 km of railway. Not even one metre of it is ours. And they are inadequate. We must connect the north to the south, the west to the east, and ensure the integrity of the country. Our maritime industry is in a pitiable state. We must land our peasants and make them farmers by giving them a pair of oxen and a plough. The tribal, bey, agha, sheikh system in the east is incompatible with the Republic and humanity. We must correct this situation and save the people. Everywhere, usurers are oppressing the people. We are an agricultural country, but we import most of our bread flour from abroad. Cattle plague is killing our livestock. The number of doctors in the whole country is 337 and the number of health officers is 43. 150 districts do not have a single health worker. We have 40-odd thousand villages, the number of midwives is 136. Epidemics are crushing our people. 3 million of our people have trachoma. Malaria, typhus, tuberculosis, syphilis, typhoid are epidemic. Lice is a serious problem. Half of our population is sick. Infant mortality rate exceeds 60 per cent. 80 per cent of the population lives in rural areas. A significant part of this is nomadic. There are no telephones, motors, machines. We buy industrial products from abroad. We even import tiles. Electricity is available only in some neighbourhoods of Istanbul and Izmir. The number of villages burnt down by the enemy is 830. The number of buildings burnt down is 114.408. We almost have to rebuild the country. The number of immigrants coming from Greece will exceed 400 thousand. Our economic and educational situation is deplorable. We have very few economists. We can only educate a quarter of the children of compulsory school age. Public education has never been solved. However, we must prepare the human material of the Republic and strengthen the front of honour. Cultural artefacts have been and continue to be smuggled. Give these to the ministers and the party executive committee. Let them know the general situation. Our budget and income are insufficient. I have an idea I have developed to get out of the economic deadlock. We will talk about this idea when the day comes. Our goal is a national economy, and economic independence must be our basic principle in order to maintain our independence. The Ottoman Empire realised this reality too late. When it realised it was too late. We need a constitution suitable for the Republic. There is neither an example nor an experiment to show how to get out of this difficult situation. But we must not give up, we must not be content with cheap, temporary remedies, we must solve problems to save the people, we must develop, we must progress, we must create a civilised and free society based on national sovereignty, we must reach the level of our century, in short, we must modernise, we must fully achieve this great ideal. We have come this far by protecting this ideal. From now on we have to walk faster. We will seek and find the necessary method and way together. We will be an example for the poor and captive countries. This is a sacred duty that fate has imposed on our generation. I wanted to share the weight and honour of this great duty with you.’
With the election of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as the President of the Republic, İsmet İnönü was appointed as the Prime Minister after Fethi Okyar's resignation. İsmet İnönü, the first government of the Republic and the first Prime Minister of the Republic, took office on 30 October after receiving a vote of confidence from the parliament. Fethi Okyar was elected as the Speaker of the Parliament. The Republic of Turkey, which emerged from the ashes of the fire, set out to realise the miracle on the path of a civilised and modern state. The Turkish state's system of government officially became ‘Republic’ and the name of the regime and the form of the state were determined. Now it is time to turn towards the reforms to be carried out in the following years. The steps to be taken in this direction will be revolutionary moves that will fundamentally change the centuries-old administrative, political and cultural structure of Turkish society. Rauf Orbay and those who took office at the highest level of the state were uncomfortable with the administration of the Republic and there were those who could not digest it.
Atatürk said to them: ‘Gentlemen, the meaning of these writings and the purpose of these thoughts are easily understood today. Tomorrow it will be more clearly understood. Do not think that future generations will be surprised to see that on the day the Republic was proclaimed in Turkey, the most ruthless attackers were those who said they were ‘Republican’. On the contrary, the enlightened and republican children of Turkey will not hesitate in analysing and determining the real thoughts of those who pretend to be republicans.’
İsmet İnönü convened the first Council of Ministers in the Governorate building and Atatürk, who honoured the first meeting, said: ‘There is a thousand years of experience behind the middle age we are trying to destroy. It knows a thousand kinds of dirty games. Our Republic is a newborn child. They can easily strangle the Republic. Therefore, be very careful and vigilant. Choose your colleagues carefully. I saw some officials coming from Istanbul. They don't seem to realise that they have come to the capital of a revolution. The great Ottoman ship did not sink for no reason. Indifferent, lazy, unexcited, small minds like these have a great responsibility. Bad civil servants alienate citizens from their state. The Ottoman Empire gave positions in the state to minorities, but not to Alevi citizens in the last 200 years. We put an end to this unreasonable and inhumane situation as soon as the National Struggle began. We will carefully maintain this attitude. Whoever is in Anatolia, we are all one nation. We are brothers of homeland and destiny. This is how we conducted the National Struggle, and this is how we will govern the Republic. We will not allow this understanding to deteriorate. We know well what happens when it is broken. Our ideal is to create a civilised society and state based on national sovereignty. At no stage will we lose sight of this ideal. There are many problems. We cannot solve them all in our lifetime. Our patriotic children will complete what we cannot reach. Our main principle will be to respect, enlighten and educate the people, to protect their health and to ensure that they live in security.’
In 1925, Atatürk said: ‘Our present government, our state organisation is a state organisation and government that the nation has directly and spontaneously made by itself, and its name is the Republic. There is no longer any separation between the government and the nation. The members of the government have now fully realised that they are not other than the nation and that the nation is the master. I wish success for the progress and rise of the nation, which is the master of all of us, and for the civil servants who serve it.’ In 1927, in his speech, he said: ‘We were trying to centralise the state administration in a way that is moving towards the Republic at every moment within the principles of national sovereignty without mentioning the Republic. The Republic is an administration based on high moral values and qualities. Republican administration raises virtuous and honourable people. The administration that best suits the nature and character of the Turkish Nation is the Republican administration.’
With the proclamation of the Republic, a new era in Turkish history was opened and Atatürk's principle of Republicanism was put into practice. The Republic was the result of an anti-imperialist war and a diplomatic victory against the imperialist states after that war. The idea that national sovereignty belongs to the nation unconditionally, which was taken as a basis during the National Struggle, was officially realised. Atatürk described the Republic as follows: ‘Our Republic is not weak as it is thought to be. The Republic was not won for free. We shed blood to obtain it. We shed our red blood on every side. We are ready to do what is necessary for its defence if necessary.’ He stated that the Republic was not established easily and that much blood was shed to establish it. The Republic established under his leadership was realised after a life and death war against the most powerful states of the world.
The basis of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's political views was based on national sovereignty, for which he handed over the administration to the nation, the original owner. ‘Therefore, the people must prevent all threats and dangers to national sovereignty. Because national sovereignty is such a force that all dictatorial regimes are doomed to collapse in its face. The Republic, which is based on national sovereignty, is not based on fear and oppression like the sultanate. Therefore, while the Republic provided the opportunity for virtuous and courageous people to grow up, sultanates could survive with introverted and miserable people. There are some criteria that indicate that a government is bad. One of them is to make the nation happy and secure, and the other is to be free and independent. We can call the governments that comply with these principles good and those that do not comply with these principles bad. The measure of regimes based on national sovereignty is political parties and free elections.’ In order to clarify these ideas, he founded the ‘Republican People's Party’ on 9 September 1923 as an ideological institution.
He defined political parties as organisations established by people who share common views in order to seize political power and encouraged the establishment of parties. For this purpose, the first opposition party in the history of the Republic of Turkey, the ‘Progressive Republican Party’ was founded on 17 November 1924. The founders and leaders of the party included Kazım Karabekir, Rauf Orbay, Ali Fuat Cebesoy Pasha, Refet Bele Pasha and Adnan Adıvar, who were Atatürk's closest comrades-in-arms during the National Struggle. The Progressive Republican Party, which Atatürk criticised with the words ‘Our first party that used religion as a tool for politics’, was closed down on 5 June 1925. Rauf Orbay's criticism of the Republic before the party was founded, the gathering of some regime opponents around the party shortly after the party was founded, the use of religious sentiments as propaganda in the party and the outbreak of the Sheikh Said rebellion were effective in its closure.
President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk asked Ali Fethi Okyar to establish a party that adhered to republicanism and secularism, since the presence of a single party in the parliament made it difficult to control the government. A political party named ‘Free Republican Party’ was founded by Fethi Okyar on 12 August 1930 and it was an attempt to transition to multi-party political life. Its founders were his sister Makbule Atadan, Nuri Conker, who was as close to him as his own brother, and his close friends, the MPs, were its first members. Poet Mehmet Emin Yurdakul, Ahmet Ağaoğlu, one of the leading figures of the Turkism movement, İbrahim Süreyya Pasha and Adnan Menderes, who served as Prime Minister between 1950 and 1960, were also present. In the local elections held in October, the first multi-party election in the history of the Republic, the Free Republican Party won 31 of the 502 municipalities. This election caused tension in the country and despite Atatürk's insistence on democratic struggle, Ali Fethi Okyar dissolved the party and it was closed down on 17 November 1930. The party was allowed to organise freely and what was seen as a well-intentioned initiative was misused and became a party of counter-revolutionaries, bigots and sultanists. The sultanists and sects wanted to seize power through democratic means, put an end to the Republic and abolish the enlightenment revolutions. Multi-party life was tried twice under Atatürk, but both times the parties were closed down due to the focus of counter-revolutionary and reactionary groups. During the Republican period, Turkish democracy had to fight against cults, counter-revolutionaries and those who saw politics as a means of enrichment by using religion.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk said on the 10th anniversary of the Republic: ‘Turkish Nation! We are in the 15th year of the war of liberation. Today is the greatest holiday in which our Republic celebrates its tenth anniversary. Congratulations! At this moment, as a member of the great Turkish nation, I am in the deepest joy and excitement of reaching this blessed day. My fellow citizens! We have done many and great things in a short time. The greatest of these deeds is the Republic of Turkey, the foundation of which is Turkish heroism and high Turkish culture. The foundation of the Republic was established in the conscience, mind and consciousness of the great Turkish nation and of our great army composed of its heroic sons. Its principles were also born from the spirit of the nation. We owe this success to the determination of the Turkish nation and its valuable army to march with determination as one and together. But we can never consider what we have done sufficient. Because we are obliged and determined to do more and greater works. We shall raise our country to the level of the most prosperous and civilised countries of the world. We shall provide our nation with the widest means and sources of prosperity. We shall raise our national culture above the level of contemporary civilisation. For this purpose, in our opinion, the measure of time should not be considered according to the slackening mentality of past centuries, but according to the concept of speed and movement of our century. Compared to the past, we will work harder. We will accomplish greater works in less time. I have no doubt that we will be successful in this too. Because the Turkish nation has a high character. The Turkish nation is hardworking. The Turkish nation is intelligent. Because the Turkish nation knows how to overcome difficulties with national unity and solidarity. Because the torch that the Turkish nation holds in its hands and minds on the path of elevation and civilisation is positive science. I should also emphasise that a historical characteristic of the Turkish nation, which is a high human society, is to love and excel in the fine arts. For this reason, it is our national ideal to nourish and develop the high character, tireless industriousness, creative intelligence, devotion to science, love for fine arts and sense of national unity of our nation continuously and through all means and measures. This ideal, which suits the Turkish nation very well, will make it successful in fulfilling its civilised duty in providing real comfort to all mankind. Great Turkish Nation, you have heard many of my words promising success in the endeavours we have been undertaking for the last 15 years. Today, I say with the same conviction and certainty that the whole civilised world will soon recognise once again that the Turkish nation, which is marching towards the national ideal with complete unity, is a great nation.’ In 10 years, it has shown the point reached.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk; ‘Republican regime means a form of government with a democratic system. We have established the republic. As it turns ten years old, it should put into practice all the requirements of democracy as it comes to its turn.’ Development has been achieved in dimensions admired by the world and this miracle development has been achieved without borrowing a penny from abroad. From today onwards, the squares where festivals are celebrated have been named as ‘Republic Square’, 101 rounds of cannon were fired in every city and a minute of silence was observed for the martyrs. On the 10th anniversary of the Republic, the ‘Tenth Year Anthem’ was written by Cemil Reşit Bey, with lyrics by Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel and Kemal Çağlar. Ataturk crossed out the last line of the motto brought to him and wrote ‘We wove the motherland with iron nets from the four corners’.
Atatürk said in the parliament in 1927: ‘Do not think that future generations will be surprised when they see that on the day of the proclamation of the Republic in Turkey, those who attacked it without mercy were those who said they were “Republican”! On the contrary, the enlightened and republican children of Turkey will have no difficulty in analysing and determining the true beliefs of those who pretend to be republicans. They will easily realise that in a state where a rotten sultan's lineage, under the name of caliph, is obliged to remain in power, the Republic cannot survive even if it is proclaimed.’
On 6 February 1933, in Bursa Çelik Palas Hotel, he said to the youth: ‘Turkish youth is the guardian of the state order according to the revolutions. He believes in the necessity and correctness of these more than anyone else. He has adopted the state order we have implemented. When he hears the smallest or the biggest stirring and behaviour that may weaken these, he will not say that this country has police, gendarmerie and judiciary. They will immediately get involved in the incident. They will protect their artefacts with their hands, stones, sticks, weapons and whatever else they have. The police will come and catch him as a criminal, leaving the real criminals behind. The youth will think that the police are not yet the police of the revolution and the Republic, and will certainly not beg. The court will convict him. He will think that it is necessary to organise the judiciary, to adapt it to the state order. They will put him in prison. He will not send telegrams to me, to İsmet Pasha, to the Assembly and ask for his release because he has been wronged and is innocent of any crime. He will say, ‘I have acted according to my convictions, I have intervened in the incident and I am justified in this behaviour, and if I have come here unjustly, it is my duty to correct the causes which have led to this injustice. This is the Turkish Youth and Turkish Youth as I understand them.’ He said that Turkish youth would be the guardians of the regime and revolutions.
In 1937, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk said: ‘You can be sure that among the nations that have lived and are living in the world, the Turks are the only nation born democratic in spirit. We Turks are a nation born democratic in spirit. However, in order to protect themselves and their gilded thrones, the sons of Osman, who ruled our nation for centuries, tried to blunt and numb these intellectual traits that were inherited from our ancestors. This is the sole cause and reason for our backwardness in every field.’ And in the book ‘Civilised Knowledge’; ‘The complete and obvious form of government of democracy is the Republic. The Republic of Turkey is a state based on democracy.’ He showed the basis on which the Republic is based. On 17 March 1937, he said: ‘Man should think about the peace and prosperity of all the nations of the world as much as he thinks about the existence and happiness of the nation he belongs to’, and one of the most fundamental principles of the Republic of Turkey has been ‘Peace at Home, Peace in the World’. Atatürk, the leader of the 21st century and the leader of world peace, not only transformed the Turkish people into a modern, contemporary, civilised, free and independent nation, but also led and guided the oppressed and exploited countries. He fought for full independence against imperialism and realised that where there is imperialism, there can be no real peace. Atatürk, who spent his life on the battlefield; ‘Peace is the best way to bring nations to prosperity and happiness. The salvation of humanity must be determined by civilised, humanitarian and peaceful ideals. All oppressed nations will destroy and ruin the oppressors. Then the words oppressor and oppressed will disappear from the face of the earth, and humanity will attain a social state worthy of itself.’ He predicted that the cruel behaviour of the imperialist states, their aim of seizing and sharing energy and oil resources, would replace peace in our region with war and bring blood, violence and fear.
The first steps for the Republic were taken with the National Struggle and while the war of ‘Full Independence’ was fought against imperialism, at the same time, the struggle for the Republic, which was based on ‘National Sovereignty’ against the palace / sultan, put an end to the sultanate order that continued for more than 700 years. Because the Republic is virtue, Turkey's greatest revolution, civilisation, modernisation, freedom and independence. It is the most developed and advanced, modern state and form of government. It is the way to progress in every field, to live humanely and to reach the level of contemporary civilisation. The first goal of the Republic is democracy. The Republic is primarily an ‘Enlightenment Revolution’ and its spirit is secular. The proclamation of the Republic first and foremost changed the source of sovereignty. Religious sovereignty was replaced by secular sovereignty. The reign of the palace was ended and sovereignty was given to the nation. With the Secular Republic, ‘Secular Revolutions’ that created an individual from a servant and a nation from a nation were made, a modern, contemporary, civilised and civilised state based on ‘Reason’ and ‘Science’ was established and the principle of ‘Democratic, Secular, Social and Legal’ state was created.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk; ‘I have full confidence that the cherished republic, which is the precious work of national heroism and consciousness, will rise and become stronger in the iron hands of today's and tomorrow's generation.’ To the Turkish youth to whom he entrusted the Republic of Turkey, which he called his greatest ‘work’; ‘The result we have reached today is the result of the vigilance created by the national destructions suffered for centuries and the reward for the blood that irrigates every corner of this beloved homeland. I leave this result as a sacred gift to the Turkish youth. O rising new generation. You are the future. We founded the Republic, it is you who will raise it and keep it alive. O Turkish youth! Your first duty is to preserve and defend Turkish Independence and Turkish Republic forever. As the children of the Turkish future, our first duty is to protect Turkish Independence and Republic and to keep them alive for generations to come, no matter what the circumstances and conditions may be. The strength you need is in the noble blood in your veins.’
He believed that the value of our freedom and independence would be well known by modern educated, self-sacrificing young people with a high mental structure. With the idea that they would know the value of the Republic better than anyone else, it was his will to the Turkish youth. The Republic was established under the leadership of Atatürk, and with the decree issued on 26 October 1924, it was decided that the proclamation of the Republic would be celebrated with a 101-gun salute and events to be held, and on 29 October 1924, the events marked the beginning of the celebrations. On 2 February 1925, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' proposal for a law on the celebration of 29 October as a national holiday was accepted by the Turkish Grand National Assembly on 19 April 1925 and it was declared a “National Holiday”. Since 1925, ‘29 October Republic Day’ has been celebrated with enthusiasm and excitement as a national holiday. Ataturk; ‘My humble body will surely one day become soil. But the Republic of Turkey will remain forever’.
On the 10th anniversary of the Republic; ‘I have no doubt that the forgotten great civilised quality and great civilised ability of Turkishness will rise like a new sun on the horizon of high civilisation of the future with its further development. Turkish Nation! I sincerely wish you to celebrate this great national holiday with greater honours, happiness, peace and comfort in every decade that flows into eternity. Happy to be a Turk!’ The “Founding Philosophy” and “Core Values” of the Republic will always “rise” and “live forever” in the hands of the young children entrusted to it. Founded on 29 October 1923 with the determination and resolve of the Turkish nation, the Republic of Turkey has grown, developed and progressed for 101 years. Happy 101st Anniversary of our Republic, which we look to the future with hope.