One-party period of the Republic of Turkey

Atatürk, modern Turkey's founder and first President

The history of modern Turkey begins with the foundation of the republic on October 29, 1923 (the Republic was declared on January 20, 1921), with Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) as its first president.

The government was formed from the Ankara-based revolutionary group, led by Atatürk.

Reforms

On March 3, 1924, the National Assembly abolished the ministry of sacred law, all schools were placed under the ministry of education and a new constitution was approved on April 20, 1924. For the next 10 years, there was a steady process of secular westernization, guided by Mustafa Kemal. Some of the reforms:

Implementation of European Laws instead of the Sharia (Swiss Civil Code, Italian Commercial Law), 1926
Latin alphabet replaces Arabic script. May 24, 1928
The wearing of the turban and the fez, a traditional Ottoman hat, is outlawed. 1925
All people are required to adopt family names. Mustafa Kemal himself is given the name Atatürk (Father Turk) and all others are banned from using this name.
The use of Persian and Arabic words is discouraged. Instead, words from Central Asia (including countries north of Turkey) are imported and their use is encouraged, with spotty success. The climax of this movement is the proposal of the Sun Language Theory by Mustafa Kemal himself. Many government documents from this period are unreadable by anybody because they use a language which nobody adopted.
Imams are now appointed by the government. 1924
Call to prayer had to be held in turkish instead of arabic. 1940
Sufi-Orders were banned. 1925
Caliphate was abolished. 1924

Politics of Single Party

After the foundation of the Liberal Republican Party by Fethi Okyar, the fanatically religious groups joined to well-intentioned liberals and consecutively widespread bloody disorders took place especially in the eastern territory. The liberal party was dissolved on November 17, 1930 and no further attempt for a multiparty democracy was made until 1945. Turkey was admitted to the League of Nations in July 1932.

National Chief

Atatürk's successor after his death on November 10, 1938 was Ismet Inönü. Ismet Inönü was a strong believer in caution and preparation in state management. During his presidency, two forces continuously counter acted with each other. One group wanted to increase the control over state functions, another group wanted to debate domestic and foreign affairs. Inönü's main legacy was the method he left to Turkey to balance these forces.

Inönü did not have too much chance to play among these forces, as the WWII was just fall on his shoulders. What we know from the history, he chose the first side, and he increased his control over the state. We also know that his control moved a big group of politicians, journalists, landowners and elites from different segments to the other opposing side. The political pendulum moved beyond what was expected from it and this first generation republic elites became the source of 1961 constitution. Even though the movement of the pendulum was beyond Inönü's control, the design of the pendulum can be easily attributed to him.

The national chief period can be seen like an intersection in the history of Turkey. His policies were unique in the sense that instead of following complete suppression of expression or fully representative democracy, he personally forced the system into multi-party politics. Politics of Anatolia did not yield to personal politics because of the geoplitical position. And maybe it did not fit to Inönü 's way of taking secure steps, in a place full of unexpected turns. History of Ottoman Empire shows that Turkish state can not change its politics with its neighboors as easily as it can change a sultan. However, the Turkish state needed a leader to mobilize the nation for its own strategic goals. Turkey needed a leader without having the full control of presidency. Multi-party project gave that chance to Turkey. Multi-party politics was shaped during Inönü's watch. In multi-party politics, as shaped in Turkey, there is a leader who controls a party that is balanced with other parties. Besides the definition of presidency, it also produced different definitions of freedom, equality, and justice. Multi-party politics introduced coups into the system, which acts as mandatory shift in the political party design. If we say Ataturk defined the nation, Inönü defined the politics of that nation.

Politics before WWII

Politics of WWII

When all its western neighbours were under Axis occupation during World War II, Turkey signed a peace treaty with Germany and officially remained neutral until near the end of war.

In 1945 Turkey joined the UN, and in February 1945 it declared war on Germany and Japan. This was largely symbolic, as no Turkish troops engaged in battle. Turkey joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in 1952.