DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN POLICY OF TURKEY UNDER KAMAL ATATURK

Introduction:-
Located in the continent of Asia, turkey covers 769,632 square kilometers of land and 13930 square
kilometers of water, making it the 37th largest nation in the world with a total area of 783,562 square
kilometers. Turkey was founded as a distinct and original nation in 1453.
Turkey shares land borders with 8 countries:
Greece, Bulgaria, Syrian, Arab Republic, Iran, Iraq, America, Azerbaijan, Georgia. 1
Domestic and Foreign policy of ATATURK:-

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the great leader of our National War of Independence who pioneered the
revolutions and reforms that founded modern Turkey, appeared for the first time in the stage of history
through his military genius, though the characteristics that make him immortal in the hearts of the Turkish
people and place him in a privileged position among the most important leaders of the world are his
statesmanship, the outstanding success he showed in the field of governance and his peaceful and
democratic vision, which is still valid today. The domestic and foreign policy vision adopted by Ataturk,
the goal set with his maxim of “Peace at Home, Peace in the World” and the resolute policies he
followed to that end have constituted the most significant factors that have enabled the Republic of
Turkey to attain its current position.

The Domestic Policies of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk:-

Mustafa Kemal embarked on a serious of domestic political and social reforms in Turkey. The various
principles that were central to Mustafa Kemal’s domestic reforms were:

Reformism
Republicanism
Nationalism
Populism
Etatism
Secularism

1
Şaban ÇALIŞ, ATATÜRK’S FOREIGN POLICY UNDERSTANDING AND APPLICATION,p.g 4
With regards to reformism, Ataturk focused on innovating Turkey, with an emphasis on nonviolent
developments in the state. Ataturk also pushed for republicanism within the political structures of the
new Turkish state. Following establishing Ankara as Turkey’s new capital city, in 1924, the Turkish
government passed a constitution, one in which spoke about the importance of republicanism, as well as
the necessity of citizen voices in the political process. In fact, one could see his vision of the country in
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s 1920 address to the National Assembly, where he said: “I think that the
fundamental reality of our present-day existence has demonstrated the general tendency of the
nation, and that is people’s rights and people’s government. It means the passing of government
into the hands of the people” (Lewis, 2002: 256).

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk also established voting rights, although those rights were only granted to males
over the age of 18 (Cleveland & Bunton, 2013). Until Ataturk passed away in 1938, “the president of the
republic was chosen by the assembly from among its members” (Cleveland & Bunton, 2013: 166). Yet,
While Ataturk made some moves towards democratization, until his death, there was only one political
party, which was the Republican People’s Party (RPP) (Cleveland & Bunton, 2013).

With regards to issues of nationalism and populism, according to scholars, these two elements of
Ataturk’s new government “had overlapping objectives. Nationalism invoked the attempt to create pride
in Turkishness and to promote symbols of cultural identity for the new state” (Cleveland & Bunton,
2013). Part of this materialized in his emphasis son introducing a new Turkish alphabet which relied on
phonetic sounds, and on Latin script. This was a distinct break from Ottoman past, which used Arabic
script. Furthermore, Ataturk also highlighted Turkish history before Islam and the Ottoman Empire. As
we shall see, this was also working off of his principles of secularism. He carried out various propaganda
on this issue of nationalism, such as some arguing that the Turkish language was the first language
spoken by humans (Cleveland & Bunton, 2013).

Populism, for Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, meant that the state would help establish various community
initiatives and community centers for the Turkish population. This was often in the form of education
programs, sports clubs, as well as other places where the RPP message could be heard. Part of this
included investments in literacy for a population that he hoped would continue his work after his passing
(Cleveland & Bunton, 2013).
Economically, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s policies revolved around Etatism, which combined (although
limited) imports with government attention to internal development projects. But because of the lack of
capital in the private sector within Turkey, “the government decided to intervene directly in the economy
and to divert state funds to the construction of major projects. Etatism, usually defined as state
capitalism” (Cleveland & Bunton, 2013) focused on the development and establishment of various
factories (such as steel, paper, and cement, amongst other industries). And while there were some benefits
of these programs, many have also criticized them for their inefficiencies, as well as the government’s
lack of attention to agriculture (Cleveland & Bunton, 2013: 170).

Despite the diversity of Ataturk’s reform policies, Kemalism is arguably most known for the principle of
secularism. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was adamant about the importance of secularism with regards to the
new Turkish state. Ataturk believed that for Turkey to progress forward, it would have to remove the role
of Islam in the government, and instead, secularize the state. 2

However, there were many conservatives upset with his move against the Ottomans and the Caliphate in
particular. As Lewis writes (2002): “The main objection to the Republic, on the part of its
conservative opponents in Turkey, was that it endangered the links of the Turkish people both with
their own Islamic and Imperial past, and with the larger Muslim world of which they had for so
long been the leaders. It was inevitable that the forces of tradition should rally around the person of
the Caliph, the living symbol of their attachment to both…” (263).
Nonetheless, he carried out a number of secular reforms with the hopes that Turkey would be transformed
in this fashion. For example, to begin, only did he separate the Sultanate from the Presidency (as
discussed above), but in March of 1924, he completed ended the caliphate and also exhaled everyone who
was a part of the Ottoman royal family. The idea seemed to completely break from Turkish Ottoman past
(Cleveland & Bunton, 2013), something that Ataturk wanted (Lewis, 2002). But along with this, Ataturk
began a heavy and intense secularization campaign. For example, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk closed Islamic
schools, or madrasas. In addition, he rid of the Ministry of Religious Endowments position, as well as the
sheikh-of-Islam office. Moreover, in 1926, the Turkish government voted to completely end shariah, or
Islamic law in the country. Instead, the government implemented civil code law from Switzerland, along
with other secular law influenced from Italy, as well as Germany (Cleveland & Bunton, 2013), thus ended
Islamic courts. Moreover, the civil law directly challenged elements of sharia under the Ottoman Empire.

2
Michael A. Reynolds, ECHOES OF EMPIRE: Turkey’s Crisis of Kemalism and the Search for an Alternative Foreign
Policy, p.g,20
For example, polygamy was officially banned, and married women were given additional divorce rights
(Cleveland & Bunton, 2013).

Turkish Foreign Policy during Ataturk's Era

Following international developments, diplomacy and foreign policy closely since his youth Ataturk was
aware that the Republic of Turkey, the establishment of which he dreamt of even at those times, could
attain a well-deserved position among modern nations only with an effective foreign policy and foreign
relations on a solid basis. For this reason, foreign policy and Turkey’s position in the international arena
had always been a high priority for Ataturk. He thought that Turkey’s future depended on a solid vision
and resolute policies to be followed in this direction.
“Elimination of disputes should be the primary wish of civilized humankind.”3
The primary objective of Turkish foreign policy was gaining independence through military and
diplomatic struggle against the warring states of that time. Afterwards, Turkey’s fundamental foreign
policy principle was defined as “peace”.

“A direction of peace aiming at the security of Turkey and which is not against any nation will always be
our principle.”

In line with this objective, efforts were exerted in order to create a regional and international
environment of safety and stability that would enable Turkey to realize its great potential in every
field. Likewise, the Republic of Turkey, which was founded on modern values and making headway
in order to become a secular, democratic and social state of law, strengthened her friendly relations
with countries that share the same principles. This was realized without being hostage to the
problems of the past and a friendly and cooperative hand was extended to all countries, as required
by Turkey’s interests. The most concrete example of this was Turkey’s bringing to an end the
antagonism towards Western states against whom it conducted its struggle of independence, trying
to benefit to the maximum extent possible from the opportunities offered by peace and laying solid
foundations of relations with these countries that would subsequently strengthen further.

The settlement of several issues such as Turkish-Greek problems, Mosul, Hatay and the Question of the
Straits in a peaceful way through diplomacy formed the most striking examples of the realistic diplomacy
implemented in light of the conditions of the time as well as the importance Turkish foreign policy
attached to peace.Thanks to this balanced and rational foreign policy pursued during her weakest period
in military and economic terms, Turkey reinforced her sovereignty over the Turkish Straits; the country’s
geopolitical

3
Nicholas Danforth, IDEOLOGY AND PRAGMATISM IN TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY OF ATATURK,p.g8
and strategic integrity was maintained; Hatay which was part of the National Pact was integrated to
Turkey without any wars; an improvement which was not witnessed before in Turkish-Greek relations
was achieved and resulted in a period of friendship and cooperation between the two countries which also
spread throughout the Balkans. As regards the Mosul Question, the League of Nations’ arbitration was
accepted instead of unilateral acts. As a result of this, although Mosul was not assigned to Turkey, this
demonstrated very clearly her respect for international law and peace. Thus, Turkey became the only
Country to be invited to the League of Nations without submitting an application and she joined the
organization in 1932.
Hence, the most important characteristics of Turkish foreign policy during the Ataturk era are its peaceful
nature, its realism, the utmost importance it attributed to international law and legitimacy, the priority it
gave to regional and international cooperation and dialogue. Furthermore, another remarkable feature of
Ataturk was his capacity to monitor closely the developments in the international arena, foresee their
evolution accurately and take timely steps as deemed necessary in Turkey’s interests.

In this framework, assessing thoroughly the developments in the world and especially in Europe,
Ataturk predicted years in advance that a new world war would break out. In his discussions and
statements; he touched on this issue as early as in 1932. At a time when the Nazi Party came to
power in Germany, Italy made efforts to expand to the Mediterranean and the Balkans, and the
European states were engaged in an arms race, Ataturk accelerated regional cooperation efforts
upon accurately analyzing these developments threatening world peace and the process leading to
World War II. Consequently, on 9 February 1934, the Balkan Entente was signed between Turkey,
Greece, Yugoslavia and Romania, and on 8 July 1934, the Sadabad Pact was signed between
Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus, Turkey took important steps to ensure security and
cooperation both in the east and the west at a time when the whole world was being dragged into a
new all-out war. Furthermore, Turkey paved the way for the policy of neutrality she would follow
during World War II.
Main features of ATATURK Foreign Policy:-

(1)Turkey refused to enter into any international alliances or to attend any international conferences on
the basis of common religion. Obviously, the secular identity of the Turkish state determined to a great
extent Ankara's attitude towards the Islamic countries and conferences.
(2) Kemalist Turkey repudiated all adventurist, imperial and irredentist policies.
(3) Turkish decision makers put an end to historical enmity towards the West and tried to establish strong
ties and friendship with the Western world
(4) Turkey preferred acting as an anti-revisionist country and favored the preservation of status quo in
international relations. Therefore, Ankara during the period of Atatürk supported all initiatives and efforts
as much as possible, aiming to achieve regional and international cooperation.
Conclusion:-
We conclude that the domestic and international affairs of Modern Turkey were essentially formed by
Mustafa Kemal, intended to integrate with the Western World and complete Turkey’s modernization
project. In this context, Turkish state changed its identification radically and accepted secular character
instead of religious components in her identity in order to run western oriented foreign policy and create a
modern nation.

Bibliography
Şaban ÇALIŞ, ATATÜRK’S FOREIGN POLICY UNDERSTANDING AND APPLICATION, 2000
Michael A. Reynolds, ECHOES OF EMPIRE: Turkey’s Crisis of Kemalism and the Search for an
Alternative Foreign Policy, 2012
Ayla GÖL, A SHORT SUMMARY OF TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY: 1923-1939, 2003
Nicholas Danforth, IDEOLOGY AND PRAGMATISM IN TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY OF ATATURK