Read Aloud the Text Content
This audio was created by Woord's Text to Speech service by content creators from all around the world.
Text Content or SSML code:
For all those who do not speak English or are not familiar with the American music scene of the 50's, these are the lyrics of the song "Istanbul not Constantinople" by Four Lads and in a figurative sense mean "it's a matter of Turks", meaning that the world does not interfere in Turkish affairs. It is probable that, apart from the verse of this song, there is no better way to describe in a few words the specificity of the ideology that is value-based and formally incorporated into the political, legal and socio-cultural order of the modern Turkish state. For the first two decades of its existence, this Eurasian republic, due to its neutral and pacifist foreign policy, was so mysterious that it was classified as a Western capitalist by Eastern countries, while Western democracies still viewed it as a backward Asian country or a potentially disguised communist country product, all in the spirit of fears of the growing Bolshevik threat from the east, with which Turkey cooperated in the early period of its existence. Regardless of the different historical circumstances and contexts in which Turkey developed in the fragile international community and the later bipolar world, the global division that marked almost the middle of the 20th century, the ideological foundation of its existence in the form of Kemalism positioned itself through Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's reforms. , as a unique ideology, which contributed to the radical turn of a state and society, ie their transformation from religious despotism to a secular modern republic in a relatively short period. In terms of value, he is closest to Western political ideologies, especially the French one, from which he drew secular and republican doctrine, as well as the political philosophy of Montesquieu and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In addition to French, the teachings and works of Namik Kemal, a Tekirdag writer and journalist on liberalism, constitutionalism and democracy, were the main domestic source of political inspiration for Ataturk, the founder of Kemalism, and other officers and few educated Ottoman citizens. The historical context in which Kemalism originated, as well as the society and the country whose formation it influenced, made it specific, especially in terms of development through the rule of the first President of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who was its central political figure in the first two decades. . With this in mind, in order to view this ideology most effectively, a comprehensive approach is needed that includes an analysis of several aspects and sectors that have been influenced by this ideology. This primarily refers to the reforms and transformation of the political system. However, what made these reforms special, and thus the first President of the Republic of Turkey Mustafa Kemal (since 1936. Ataturk) after whom the ideology is named, is the positioning of cultural reforms and education of the population at the very top of state priorities.