All About Turkey - Information About Turkey - Traveling Turkey

The Founding of the Turkish Republic



October 29, 1923, is a fateful date in Turkish history. On that date, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the liberator of his country, proclaimed the Republic of Turkey. The new homogeneous nation-state stood in sharp contrast to the multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire out of whose ashes it arose. The dynastic and theocratic Ottoman system, with its Sultanate and Caliphate, thus came to an end. Ataturk's Turkey dedicated itself to the sovereignty of the national will -- to the creation of, in the President's words, "the state of the people."

The Republic swiftly moved to put an end to the so-called "Capitulations," the special rights and privileges that the Ottomans had granted to some European powers.

Ataturk established basic principles for the young Turkish Republic stressing the republican form of government, secular administration, nationalism, populism, mixed economy with state participation in many vital sectors and modernization. "Ataturkism," as the sixth principle is widely called, introduced to Turkey the process of parliamentary and participatory democracy together with an evolving and dynamic societal structure.The first Moslem nation to become an independent Republic, Turkey has served since the early 1920s as a model of modernization developing nations.

 




 

Return to Turkey, "The Cradle of Civilization"

Regions Contact Us Special Events Reservations Index Visitor's Guide Search
Home | Ana Sayfa | All About Turkey | Turkiye hakkindaki Hersey | Turkish Road Map | Historical Places in Adiyaman  | Historical Places in Turkey | Mt.Nemrut | Slide Shows | Related Links | Guest Book | Disclaimer | Send a Postcard | Travelers' Stories | Donate a little to help | Getting Around Istanbul | Adiyaman Forum