Encyclopedia of world history (facts on file library of world history) 7 volume set ( PDFDrive ) 2310
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Atatürk, Mustafa Kemal
from German military officers who had been sent to
train the Ottoman armies.
ALLIED DEFEAT AT GALLIPOLI
The CUP-led Ottoman Empire fared badly in both the
Balkan Wars and World War I. The only major victory was at Gallipoli, where Mustafa Kemal soundly defeated the British invasion. In 1915 the British
army and navy valiantly fought to open the Dardanelles in a plan created by Winston Churchill. It
was essential for the Allies to take Istanbul in order
to reopen the Bosphorus Strait. The Allied defeat in
Gallipoli compromised that situation and possibly
lengthened the war.
Mustafa Kemal was heralded as a hero among the
Turks during a war that saw few victories and many
defeats for the Ottomans. At the conclusion of the
war, the remaining Ottoman territories were divided
amongst the Allied powers. France was given control of southern Turkey (near the Syrian border), Italy
was given the Mediterranean region, and Greece was
given Thrace and the Aegean coast of Turkey. Istanbul
was to be an internationally controlled city (mainly
French and British). The Kurds and Armenians were
also granted territory under the Treaty of Sèvres. The
Turks would have only a small, mountainous territory
in central Turkey.
Mustafa Kemal was outraged, as were most Turks.
Of all the occupying armies, he viewed the Greek army
as the most dangerous threat. Greek nationalism was
at an all-time high, and many wanted to reclaim all
of ancestral Greece (which extended well into Asia
Minor). This fear was confirmed by the Greek invasion
of Smyrna (present day Izmir) in 1919.
In May 1919 Mustafa Kemal secretly traveled to
Samsun (on the Black Sea coast) and journeyed to Amasya, where he issued the first resistance proclamation.
He then formed a national assembly, where he was
elected chairman. Next he organized a resistance army
to overthrow foreign occupation and conquest. Under
his leadership the Turkish resistance easily drove out
the British, French, and Italian troops, who were weary
of fighting and did not want another war. The real conflict was with the Greek troops and culminated in horrible atrocities committed by both sides. In September
1922 the Turkish army drove the Greek army into the
sea at Izmir as the international community silently
observed.
In 1923 the Treaty of Lausanne was signed and
replaced the Treaty of Sèvres. This treaty set the borders of modern-day Turkey. On October 29, 1923,
the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed, with Mustafa Kemal as president and Ismet Inönü as prime minister. Even though the government appeared democratic, Mustafa Kemal had almost absolute power.
However, he differed from several rising dictators of
the time in several respects. He had no plans or ideology pertaining to expansionism. His primary focus
was the modernization and domestic reform of his
country. He wanted to make Turkey self-sufficient
and independent.
He believed that the only way to save his country was to modernize it, and by force if necessary. He
moved the capital from Istanbul to Ankara, a centrally
located city. He then abolished both the sultanate and
the caliphate, and his fight against religion became one
of his most contested reforms. He believed that Islam’s
role in government would prevent the country from
modernizing. He was not antireligion but against religious interference in governmental affairs. He closed
the religious schools and courts and put religion under
state control. He wanted to lessen the religious and
ethnic divisions that had been encouraged under the
Ottoman system. He wanted the people of Turkey to
identify themselves as Turks first. He established political parties and a national assembly based on the parliamentary system. He also implemented the Swiss legal
code that allowed freedom of religion and civil divorce
and banned polygamy.
Atatürk banned the fez for men and the veil for
women and encouraged Western-style dress. He replaced
the Muslim calendar with the European calendar and
changed the working week to Monday through Friday,
leaving Saturday and Sunday as the weekend. He hired
expert linguists to transform the Turkish alphabet from
Arabic to Latin script based on phonetic sounds and
introduced the metric system. As surnames did not exist
until this time, Mustafa Kemal insisted that each person
and family select a surname. He chose Atatürk, which
means “father of the Turks.”
Some of his most profound reforms, however, were
in regard to women. Atatürk argued that no society
could be successful while half of the population was
hidden away. He encouraged women to wear European
clothing and to leave the harems. Turkey was one of
the first countries to give women the right to vote and
hold office in 1930. He also adopted several daughters.
One of them, Sabiha Gokcen, became the first woman
combat pilot in Turkey.
These reforms did not come easily and in many cases
garnered little support. Many religious and ethnic groups
such as the Sufi dervishes and Kurds staged rebellions and
