In addition to the influences of late Ottoman intellectuals, Ziya Gökalp has a special role in Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s opinions on westernization. In his article at Yeni Gün on 1922, Ziya Gökalp explains the Western civilizations and says, “If we do not accept it, we will be captured by the Western countries. We should choose one of these options: we will either dominate the Western civilization or we will be enslaved by the Western countries. Today, the truth is: In order to defend our freedom and independence against Europe, we need to accept European civilization. The European civilization is composed of positive sciences, industrial techniques and social organizations.”
The words of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in February 1924 explain his strategy about the western civilization: “Which state wishes to enter civilization but does not turn towards the West?
After the war against Western imperialism, no harm is seen in accepting the western science and western thinking on the path to protect contemporary civilization. “Because the Western civilization is based on ‘Rational Thinking,’ which helps the development of the science; ‘Technology,’ which helps us dominate the nature and to provide and economic welfare thanks to applying science to practical life; ‘Sense of Justice,’ which guarantees the fundamental rights and freedoms of the human being, the creator of all kinds of civilizations” and ‘Rational State Governance,’ which is based on freedom that ensures the happiness of the people.”
What Mustafa Kemal Atatürk says civilization or calls “Contemporary Civilization” mostly, is the civilization which is created with the contributions of human mind, science and technology after thousands of and owned by the whole humanity.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s target for a contemporary Türkiye had three major steps. The first target was to liberate the Anatolia from invasion and to throw the imperialist powers out of the country. The second target was the elimination of Ottoman State and its institutions, which were responsible for this situation of the Turkish people. And the third target was to set up a contemporary State and its institutions instead of disposed institutions.
After realizing his first target, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk took steps for his prime and most important target. Perhaps it was the most difficult one because he would face with many obstacles. Nonetheless, he believed that the basic dynamic of establishing modern Türkiye was “Westernization.”
In his interview with French author Maurice Pernot, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk said, “We want to modernize our country. All our efforts are for establishing a modern and Western government in Türkiye.” He also emphasizes that one of the reasons for the decline of the Ottoman Empire break off the relations with the West: “There may be a great many countries in the world, but there is only one civilization, and if a nation is to achieve progress, she must be a part of this civilization. The Ottoman Empire began to decline the day when, proud of her success against the West, she cut the ties that bound her to the European nations. It was a mistake and we will not repeat it … We always walked toward the West from the East.”
Why Western Civilization?
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk explains why he adopts Western civilization: “None of the civilizations is the effort of a single religion or a single nation. Civilization is the product of an international effort. It is beyond the borders of a country. It should be the common property of mankind. Western civilization is the dominant civilization, the only civilization … Since it is the strongest and cannot be gotten ahead, it is necessary to be a part of it. It is a case of existence and development. Going toward the West from the East is a historical law. In this case, the final decision of the Turkish revolution is: we will be a part of the Western family. The main issue is to support Turkish people to develop their dignity and individuality in an environment of freedom like the Western citizens. Turks can be a part of the western civilization family. Turks are not strangers to civilization. Being a part of the Western civilization is a principle of life.”
Reference: The Thoughts of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk About Westernization
Mesut ERŞAN
The republic of Türkiye, born from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire!
The 2nd Constitutional Monarchy Period, which was declared after the Young Turk Revolution in 1908 against the oppression of Sultan Abdulhamid II, could not stop the ongoing course of the Ottoman Empire. The last Sultan Mehmed VI speeded up the decline and the Ottoman Empire lost the World War I and had to sign the Mondros Agreement, which ended the Empire, with the allied powers in 1918.
After the War of Independence, which started when the allied powers started sharing Anatolia following Mondros Agreement, Republic of Türkiye was founded. One of its purposes was to catch the West in all areas and to leave it behind. Undoubtedly, the proclamation of the republic was a social leap which was never experienced by the Islamic world, because the principle of secularism, which was introduced after the proclamation of the Republic resolved the religion-state-society relationship, and ended the ongoing tradition (inherited from the Seljuks to the Ottoman Empire), which claims Islam to be the official state religion.
The Importance of Secularism!
The dominant ideology in the Ottoman Empire and the society based on the importance of religion more than everything else blocked the way of scientific developments and caused missing the opportunity of enlightenment and modernization processes of the West. In fact, the Ottoman and Islamic worlds, which thought that the conquest of Istanbul closed the Middle Age and opened a new age, were not aware of the fact that the conquests and military victories were only an illusion in terms of progress and got lost in the mists of time by being defeated by the innovations made by the Western world.
Authoritarian Democracy!
The multi-party era in Türkiye started in 1050, and Celal Bayar and DP government refused to establish a constitution based on separation of powers. The multi-party era that started in 1950, without separation of powers, independence of judiciary, independent constitutional court and superiority of law carried he country to the 1960 coup.
In 1953, Adnan MENDERES summarizes the corruption of the governments by citing one party period:
The history taught us the fact that when an uninspected decree lasts for long, state affairs are corrupted while the nations which experience such corruption becomes a society full of dissatisfied people.
69 years after this important confession, it is realized that the main source of the underlying problems in Türkiye is the lack of democratic culture and the separation of powers in constitutional institutions.
AKP and New (!) Türkiye
Before the 2002 elections, AKP set out with the slogans of joining the European Union. This vision was a Westernization stand of Türkiye people who are open to innovation and gained acceptance. After the election, in addition to many positive steps, the government’s initiative policy for the Kurdish people (2012-2015), created satisfaction and increased confidence throughout the European Union. The increasing foreign capital entering the country helped economic growth and increased the purchasing power of the citizens. AKP won all the elections and became the ruling party permanently.
Breaking Point!
With the Constitution Referendum on April 16, 2012, all powers were given to the President and a bossism era started in Türkiye. Problems in economic situation got worse and led to crisis due to high inflation. The principle of being a secular state as defined in the Turkish Constitution lost its importance. In terms of religion-state-society relations, religion-state collaboration is highly strong in almost every field and the religious orders are prominent in government structures including the national education field.
With the Presidential System, separation of powers is removed and the legal system has been politicized when the Supreme Court of Judges and Prosecutors was subordinated to the Ministry of Justice.
What is experienced in Türkiye today can be summarized as: we do not go toward the West but the Middle East comes to us. Today, there is approximately 5 million immigrants in our country. While our country opened its borders on the East and South East to the immigrants of the war in Syria and the Taliban opponents running away from Afghanistan and closed its borders on the West and became the country which protects the European Union countries from the immigrants.
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