Atatürk's Principles consist of six principles that determine the pragmatic policies of Turkey's first president, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, which he put into effect under his administration. These principles came to be the fundamental pillars of the Republican People's Party, the founding and sole party of the country, on 13 May 1935. Later, the principles were added to the 1924 Constitution with a law enacted in 1937 and thus became the national ideology of Turkey with this practice.
The Six Arrows are widely used as a visual symbol to represent Atatürk's principles. The Republican People's Party continues to use the Six Arrows as its symbol today.
Basic Principles
Republicanism
Republic: A government in which the sovereignty belongs to the people. A republic is a form of democracy, and it is a regime in which the people have a say in the administration. Republicanism (Turkish: Cumhuriyetçilik), on the other hand, means the presence of the Republic in the state administration. It comes from the word "cumhur", which means people in Arabic.
Atatürk's view on Republicanism: "The administration most suitable for the character and customs of the Turkish nation".
The republican administration has been added to the Turkish 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 and are: "Turkey is a democratic, secular and social state of law, respectful of human rights, loyal to Atatürk's nationalism."
Atatürk adopted a democratic republic in Turkey. 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 was in constant renewal, industrialization, and modernization.
Development of the principles Ali Suavi, Namık Kemal and other Young Ottomans demanded a regime that would limit the sultan's authority, especially with the influence of the American and French revolutions. Especially during the reign of Abdul Hamid II, in which the views of French philosophers spread widely among the Young Turks. Atatürk was also a part of this formation. However, the idea of reform did not go beyond the idea of a constitutional monarchy until Atatürk.
It was especially possible for the idea of a republic to find the opportunity to develop in the period following the First World War. After the war, empires such as Russia, Germany and Austria were replaced by republican regimes. In 1918, Azerbaijan was established as the first Muslim-majority republic. Other Muslim peoples in Russia also declared themselves republics. The idea of a republic thus spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa.
It is not known exactly when Atatürk started to plan the project of establishing a republic. On the other hand, looking at the reports of the nationalist meetings in 1919, it can be said that the independence struggle was influenced by Atatürk's republican ideas from the very beginning.Paul Dumont (1999). Kemalist İdeolojinin Kökenleri. Jacob M. Landau (Yay. Haz.) (1999). Atatürk ve Türkiye'nin Modernleşmesi, İstanbul: Sarmal, ISBN 975-8304-18-6 (s. 49-72) içinde. s.53. However, due to the strong loyalty to the sultanate and caliphate, Atatürk and those who thought like him had to wait to bring their ideas to life. The republic was proclaimed almost a year after the abolition of the sultanate.
Nationalism
According to Atatürk, the nation 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. Atatürk's view on nationalism is a patriotist civic nationalism which bases the definition of nation on citizenship and upper identity values, regardless of religion and 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." In his book Civil Information for Citizens, Atatürk defined the nation as "The people of Turkey who founded the Turkish Republic are called the Turkish nation."
Populism (Folkism)
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 the 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 that: No privilege is given to any person, group or any class in society. Everyone is equal before the law. According to the principle of populism, no one can gain superiority over others in terms of religion, race, sect or money when judged before the law.
Populism is defined in the six pillars of the Republican People's Party founded by Mustafa Kemal as follows: "For us, people must be treated equally before the law. No distinction should be made between class, family and individuals. We believe that the people of Turkey are not as a whole made up of various classes, but as a whole; as one. We see Turkish society as having various professions according to the needs of social life." However, this 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 also not incompatible with individualism. Atatürk's populism, as mentioned in the 1935 CHP program and Atatürk's Medeni Bilgiler book, is solidarist based on the solidarity of the classes and also egalitarian.
Necessary measures have been taken for equality between women and men, the end of sex segregation in schools, 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.
History During the reign of Sultan Abdulaziz, some Ottoman intellectuals, especially Ali Suavi, were influenced by the Narodnik movement in Russia and began to deal with the problems of the people. At the end of the 19th century, many literary figures, especially Mehmet Emin Yurdakul, were affected by populism. After the Young Turk Revolution, the word 'folk' found wide usage. For a long time, populism was thought of as the act of benevolent intellectuals for the benefit of the masses.
This understanding began to change after World War I. Ziya Gökalp concluded, under the influence of Durkheim, that class conflict was bad, and shortly after the Soviet Revolution in 1918, opposed it and defended populism against it. Gökalp defined populism as follows:
This approach largely lends itself to solidarism. This understanding greatly influenced nationalists, especially the Kemalists, during the Turkish War of Independence. Although the corporations proposed by Gökalp were not realized, the principle of no classes was accepted by the Kemalist leaders. Kemalist leaders, especially Atatürk, insisted that classes were not yet developed in Turkey. They adopted the idea of solidarity in order to fight communism and the idea of class struggle. They also saw this as the justification for the one-party system.Paul Dumont (1999). Kemalist İdeolojinin Kökenleri. Jacob M. Landau (Yay. Haz.) (1999). Atatürk ve Türkiye'nin Modernleşmesi, İstanbul: Sarmal, ISBN 975-8304-18-6 (s. 49-72) içinde. s.60.
Although populism is a principle that is quickly adopted, after World War II, it remained largely in the background during the rapid industrialization and capitalistization process.
Laicism
Laicism means that the state does not discriminate on the basis of beliefs in its relations with its citizens, especially the dominant belief in a 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 enables the individual to protect his/her freedom of religion by leaving the religious affairs to one's conscience.
According to laicism, religion is part of one's private life and thus the state has no say in religious matters. Laicism is the separation of religion and state.
The stages of laicization in Turkey are as follows:
Abolition of the Ottoman sultanate (1922) Abolition of the Ottoman Caliphate (1924) Enactment of the Law of Tevhîd-i Tedrisât (End of sex segregation in school) (1924) Closure of dervish lodges, zawiyas and shrines (1925) Adoption of the Turkish Civil Code (1926) The clause "The religion of the state is Islam." removed from the constitution (1928) The adoption of Atatürk's Principles (Six Arrows) into the Constitution (1937)
Statism
Statism envisages the regulation of the general economic activities of the country, and the entry of the state into areas necessitated by national interests. Atatürk's etatism 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 etatism in Turkey is moderate etatism, as Atatürk called it. According to this moderate etatism, although the Kemalist economy supported an eventual transformation into a free market economy based on individualism, 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 etatism should not be confused with socialist statism, because it is not in a collectivist structure like socialist statism. The fact that Atatürk also supports foreign funding into the economy, makes the Kemalist economic model equivalent to the social liberal economy. He said the following:
"State can't take the place of individuals, but, it must take into consideration the individuals to make them improve and develop theirselves. Etatism includes the work that individuals won't do because they can't make profit or the work which are necessary for national interests. Just as it is the duty of the state to protect the freedom and independence of the country and to regulate internal affairs, the state must take care of the education and health of its citizens. The state must take care of the roads, railways, telegraphs, telephones, animals of the country, all kinds of vehicles and the general wealth of the nation to protect the peace and security of the country. During the administration and protection of the country, the things we just counted are more important than cannons, rifles and all kinds of weapons. (...) Private interests are generally the opposite of the general interests. Also, private interests are based on rivalries. But, you can't create a stable economy only with this. People who think like that are delusional and they will be a failure. (...) And, work of an individual must stay as the main basis of economic growth. Not preventing an individual's work and not obstructing the individual's freedom and enterprise with the state's own activities is the main basis of the principle of democracy."
Atatürk, who advocates that the state fulfills social justice with social aids, mentions that he has adopted the social state model as follows: