ATATÜRK’S PRINCIPLES
Atatürk’s Principles are the six principles that Turkey’s first president, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, put into effect under his administration and determined the pragmatic policies of the period. The six principles, called “Six Arrows”, were first called “Kemalism” in 1931 and were adopted as the program principles of the Republic People’s Party, which was the founding and only party of the country, under the name “Kamalism” on 13 May 1935. Later, the principles added to the 1924 Constitution by a law enacted in 1937 became the national ideology of Turkey constitutionally.
Republicanism
Republic; It means government in which the sovereignty belongs to the people. A republic is a form of democracy and means a regime in which the people have a say in the administration by self-governing. Republicanism, on the other hand, means the presence of a republic in the state administration. It comes from the word “cumhur”, which means people in Arabic. In this respect, “demos” and “kratos”, where the words people and government come together, can be accepted as synonyms for democracy.
Atatürk, for the republic; He used the expression “the administration most suitable for the character and customs of the Turkish nation”.
The republican government has been added to the constitution since 1923 and is the first article of the constitution. In the second article of the constitution, the characteristics of the republic are stated. Accordingly, Turkey is a democratic, secular and social state of law, respectful of human rights, loyal to Atatürk’s nationalism.
Atatürk adopted the democratic republic. Regarding this, he said, “The full and most obvious form of democracy is the republic”. At the same time, Atatürk entrusted the republic to the Turkish youth and tried to ensure that the country is in constant renewal and modernization.
Nationalism
According to Atatürk, the nation; It is a community of people who have lived together in the past, who have the belief and decision to live together in the future, who have the same homeland, and who have a unity of language, culture and emotion. Nationalism defined by Atatürk; It is a civil nationalist understanding of patriotism that bases the definition of nation on citizenship and upper identity values, regardless of religion or race.
In the 66th article of the 1982 Constitution, which reflects Atatürk’s nationalism, “Everyone who is bound to the Turkish State by citizenship is a Turk.” It is called. Atatürk made the definition of nation in his book Civil Information for Citizens as “The people of Turkey who founded the Turkish Republic are called the Turkish nation.”
Populism
The principle of populism, first of all, is aimed at the realization and establishment of a progressive, western democracy, which means “the administration of the people by the people for the people”. It also prioritizes national sovereignty. The state aims at the welfare and happiness of the citizens. It envisages division of labor and solidarity among citizens. It ensures that the nation enjoys equal access to government services. It is understood from Atatürk’s populism principle; It means not giving any privileges to any person, group or any class in society. Everyone is equal before the law. According to the principle of populism; No one can have a religious, linguistic, racial or sectarian superiority over others.
Populism is defined in the program of the Republican People’s Party founded by Mustafa Kemal as follows: “For us, people must be treated equally before the law. No distinction can be made between class, family and individual. We believe that the people of Turkey are not as a whole made up of various classes, but as a whole. We see it as a society that has various professions according to the needs of social life.” However, it should not be confused with collectivism. The “populism” that Atatürk refers to here is not a socialist ideology used by left-wing countries and is not incompatible with individualism. Atatürk’s populism, as mentioned in the 1935 CHP program and Atatürk’s Civil Information book, defends solidarism based on the common solidarity of classes and egalitarianism, in which social discrimination (religion, language, race, etc.) is ended.
Necessary measures have been taken for equality between women and men; realization of the teaching union; The measures taken to prepare a new Turkish alphabet that every citizen can learn and to treat every citizen equally before state organs support the principle of populism.
According to Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, Kemalist populism wanted to strengthen the poorest and most uneducated segment of the society and to ensure social solidarity.
Secularism
Secularism means that the state does not discriminate on the basis of beliefs in its relations with its citizens, and also prevents any belief, especially the dominant belief in a society, from oppressing the beliefs held by minorities in the same society. In other words, it is the principle that advocates the non-reference of any religion in state administration and the impartiality of the state against religions, which aims to base the state order, educational institutions and legal rules on reason and science, not on religion. In addition, it allows the individual to protect his/her freedom of religion by leaving the religious affairs to one’s conscience.
According to secularism, all kinds of savings in human life, other than worship, are made according to the constitution, laws and rules, not according to religion (the holy book). Religion is part of one’s private life. Secularism is the separation of religion and state.
In a speech he made in 1924, Mustafa Kemal said, “Science is the truest guide for everything in the world, for civilization, for life, for success. It is heedlessness, ignorance, and heresy to seek a guide other than science and science.” he said.
Secularism is included in the preconditions of all other principles except statism: It is the precondition of democracy; because without secularism there can be no real freedom of thought. It is the precondition of revolutionism; Because in a society that has not accepted secularism, even the discussion of changing institutions that are behind the requirements of science and the age cannot be made. It is the precondition of populism; because in a religious state, the opinions of the religious “elites” are important, not the wishes of the people. In his book “Civil Information”, which he wrote in his own handwriting, Atatürk attributes his understanding of secularism to the principles of separating not only religion and state affairs but also religion from politics, and making laws according to the needs of society, not religion.
The stages of secularization in Turkey are as follows:
Abolition of the sultanate (1922)
Abolition of the caliphate (1924)
Enacting the Law of Tevhîd-i Tedrisât (Teaching Union Law) (1924)
Closure of dervish lodges, zawiyas and tombs (1925)
Adoption of the Civil Code (1926)
“The religion of the state is Islam.” removal of the phrase from the constitution (1928)
Entering Atatürk’s Principles into the Constitution (1937)
Statism
Atatürk’s statism principle; What is necessary for a contemporary and modern order that Turkish society wants to achieve is the strengthening and nationalization of the economy. The principle of statism is moderate statism, as Atatürk called it. According to Moderate Statism, although the Kemalist economy is based on the free market and the individual, the state can take over the places that the free market cannot or does not want to enter, but the state should never get ahead of the individual. As Atatürk said, this moderate statism should never be confused with Marxist statism, because the principle of statism is different from “collectivism and communism based on the socialism principle,” as Atatürk said. Atatürk also supported foreign capital, making the Kemalist economy model equivalent to social liberal economy. To this end, he said:
“The state cannot take the place of the individual, but it should take into account the general conditions for the development and development of the individual. The works to be done by the state include the works that the individual will not do because it does not bring great profit, or the economic works necessary for national interests. Ensuring and protecting the freedoms and homeland independence, Just as the regulation of the affairs of the state is the duty of the state, the state has to deal with the education, education and health of its citizens.The state is closely related to roads, railways, telegraph, telephone, animals of the country, all kinds of vehicles, general wealth of the nation for the security and defense of the country. In his defense, these things are more important than cannons, rifles, any kind of weapon (…) Private interests are often in contradiction with general interests, and private interests are ultimately based on competition. However, an economic order cannot be established with this alone. Those who are of the opinion subject themselves to being deceived in the face of a mirage. they are the ones who hate. (…) Also, the individual’s personal work must remain the main source of economic development. It is an important basis of the principle of democracy not to hinder the development of the individual, especially not to create an obstacle to freedom and initiatives in the economic field, with the state’s own activity.”
Atatürk, who advocates that the state fulfills social justice with social aids, mentions that he has adopted the social state model as follows:
“Democracy leaves the citizen with the freedom and opportunity to realize his life and fulfill all kinds of individual and social duties. However, on the other hand, it has to provide a life for some citizens, such as the sick, the weak, the disabled, who cannot fully enjoy their freedoms. Social assistance sees such tasks. (…) The opening of hospitals by the state and the admission of some of them free of charge, with the decision of the local government, are among the services provided by the social assistance institution.In addition, social institutions such as civil servants and servants’ pension funds for workers and villagers, and insurance boxes for accident and death cases. In many states there is “social insurance” for everyone against old age, unemployment and death.”
Moreover, Atatürk added the following in his parliamentary opening speech on November 1, 1937:
“Markets are not interfered with unless absolutely necessary; however, no market is idle.”
Revolutionism
Revolutionism is the adoption, development and protection of Atatürk’s Revolutions made for the modernization of the Turkish nation against all kinds of dangers.
This principle is a Turkish nationalist understanding of revolutionism that clearly denies elitism and attaches great importance to integrating with the people and thus democratic methods. There are two sides to the Kemalist Revolutionary approach. The first aspect is about destroying the outdated institutions of the old order and replacing them with institutions that will meet the needs of the age. But Kemalism is not satisfied with this, it also constantly describes revolutionism as openness to innovations and changes and opposes stereotypes.
Atatürk regarded the protection of what his revolution brought to the country as a necessity of the revolutionary principle. But for him, the problem did not end there. He was aware that the conditions would change, that changing conditions would require new institutions and new breakthroughs. For this reason, he was against the stereotype of Kemalism and, in a sense, the freezing of the revolution. He knew that in line with the circumstances, not only institutions but also ideas had to change. This is why Kemalism’s Revolutionism principle also reflects a “Permanent Revolutionary” understanding. Even the most progressive institutions wear out in circumstances. Those who are content with the watchdog of a most advanced revolution cannot escape from being behind the changing conditions and becoming conservative one day. This is the main reason for Kemalism’s understanding of permanent revolution.