U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the other day
that “We need more Ataturks.” Rumsfeld was referring to the
fact that we need more Muslim nations like Turkey which
recognize that all in the West is not bad.
As for Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk), we wrap up his story with his
dramatic move to assume power in 1923. Actually, he had
telegraphed what he would do in a 1918 diary entry.
“If I obtain great authority and power, I think I will bring about
by a coup – suddenly in one moment – the desired revolution in
our social life. Because, unlike others, I don”t believe that this
deed can be achieved by raising the intelligence of others slowly
to the level of my own. My soul rebels against such a course.
Why, after my years of education, after studying civilization and
the socialization processes, after spending my life and my time to
gain pleasure from freedom, should I descend to the level of the
common people? I will make them rise to my level. Let me not
resemble them: they should resemble me.” [Macfie]
What Mustafa Kemal meant by the ”desired revolution” was in
effect the complete secularization, modernization and
westernization of the Turkish state.
And so it was that whereas the Treaty of Sevres was a total
failure for post-war Turkey in 1920, the Treaty of Lausanne in
1923 created the modern nation, leaving Turkey holding some
territory on the European side of the straits, which were declared
open to all nations. Turkey then renounced its claims to the Arab
lands and the islands of the Aegean, Cyprus and Rhodes.
Meanwhile, the Kurds, an ethnic minority in Turkey and Iraq,
were left without an independent state. And one of the truly
tragic events of the treaty was the forced, internationally
supervised exchange of Greek and Turkish populations; with
Greeks in modern-day Turkey being sent to Greece, while Turks
from northern Greece were moved to Turkey. What became
known as “The Great Catastrophe” resulted in large-scale
atrocities, thus ensuring the hatreds of these peoples for
generations to come.
As for Mustafa Kemal, he became president of the Republic of
Turkey, establishing the capital in Ankara. Kemal then set about
creating a secular society, thereby incurring the wrath of the
scholars at the University of Al-Azhar in Egypt, the most famous
of all centers of Islamic learning. Over the next few years,
Mustafa sought to swing his new country to the West, and he
began by abolishing the requirement for the teaching of religion
in schools. Latin script was introduced, Arabic characters for the
Turkish language ceased, wearing the fez (the round felt hat with
the flat top that was a symbol of Islam) became a criminal
offense, and wearing a veil was openly frowned upon (though it
wasn”t banned). Western dress was encouraged. In addition,
Turkish law was modeled after the Swiss code, the Muslim
calendar was abandoned, and in 1928 the constitution was
amended to remove the statement that Turkey was an Islamic
state.
Mustafa Kemal wanted to rule a European state in every respect.
In the schools, for example, the imam and the mosque were no
longer held up as the model, now it was the schoolteacher and
the schoolroom. Higher education became a status symbol.
[Kemal added at the time, “For everything in the world – for
civilization, for life, for success – the truest guide is knowledge
and science.”]
Ataturk (the name was conferred upon him by the National
Assembly in 1934, which means “Perfection” or “Father Turk”)
never let up until his death in 1938, and in some ways under his
rule Turkey was one of the most advanced nations in the world,
let alone the Islamic sphere. Historian J.M. Roberts writes that
Ataturk had a bit of Peter the Great in him (though Ataturk was
not interested in territorial gain), as well as something of that of
an “enlightened despot.”
As for his personality, Ataturk cut an imposing figure. He was
highly intelligent, shrewd, overbearing, and unscrupulous.
A great example of his manner can be found in Martin Gilbert”s
“A History of the Twentieth Century.” In 1937, the small,
disputed territory of Hatay became an international incident
when both Turkey and Syria claimed this region that included the
port of Iskenderun. France, in an effort to keep the peace,
mandated the territory, also known as Sandjak, be made into an
independent republic. This proposal was upheld by the League
of Nations, but Ataturk would have none of that. Gilbert picks
up the story.
“While dining at a restaurant in Ankara he saw the French
Ambassador, Monsieur Ponsot, at a nearby table. He at once, in
the words of his biographer Lord Kinross, ”called upon the ladies
at this table to raise their hands and shout, ”We want Hatay!”
One of his adopted daughters chanced to have a toy revolver in
her bag and he made her fire it off. The explosion took M.
Ponsot aback and Ataturk playfully sent for the police and had
her arrested for the illegal use off firearms.” He then informed
his Prime Minister, ”that the women of Turkey must have Hatay”
and instructed him to make representations on their behalf to the
French Government.
Turkey was planning on taking unilateral action, and so when
Ataturk sent his troops a year later to annex Hatay, both Syria
and the League of Nations didn”t even send a force to dislodge
them.
But all was not good, in the eyes of some. Noted Islamic scholar
Bernard Lewis wrote in his book “The Middle East” that, “For a
while the modernizing Turkish republic, like the Islamic
Ottoman Empire before it, seemed to be showing the way for the
whole Islamic world. But Ataturk had no such desire. His
disestablishment of Islam, his secularization of the state and the
law, and his oft-declared intention of making Turkey part of
Europe, antagonized many Muslims who had at first acclaimed
his victories.” [An example of the grievances against Ataturk
was in his installing statues of himself, a practice viewed as no
better than pagan idolatry.]
Kemal was a heavy drinker, particularly of the national drink of
Turkey, raki, which he would often consume at the rate of half a
litre a day (more than a pint) and he stayed up half the night
playing poker or carousing with his friends. Ataturk was also
rather sexually promiscuous.
But despite the mood swings that were exacerbated by his
drinking and partying, in the words of author Stephen Kinzer,
Kemal “had a rare ability to temper and manage the jealousies
and ambitions of his entourage. He did not tolerate failure. He
was not vindictive, but had no time for sentimentality in politics
beyond his own mystical belief in the sanctity and purity of the
Turkish nation.”
It has been over 60 years since Mustafa Kemal”s death in 1938,
yet the cult of Ataturk is as strong today as it was decades ago.
In Turkey he is a deity and “Kemalism” is still a strong
movement in today”s politics.
It is said that in Turkey one can say bad things about God, but
never about Ataturk. And it”s amazing that so little is known
outside of Turkey about this man who the current coalition on the
war on terrorism should want to uphold as the model for a more
modern Islamic world.
It”s also true, however, that the Turkish military, ever loyal to
Kemalism, didn”t allow free multiparty elections for parliament
until 1950, and the military has launched three coups since then,
the last being in 1980. So since Ataturk, it has been a struggle,
sometimes two steps forward and one back, sometimes one forward
and two back. At the end of the day, though, Ataturk and the
secularization of Islam is the model the West desires. Stephen
Kinzer writes that “without Ataturk”s vision, without his ambition
and energy, without his astonishing boldness in sweeping away
traditions accumulated over centuries, today”s Turkey would not
exist and the world would be much poorer.” And, I would add,
even scarier.
Next week, we might take a break from Islam and the Muslim
world…then again, we might not.
Sources:
“The Balkans,” Misha Glenny
“Crescent & Star,” Stephen Kinzer
“Ataturk,” A.L. Macfie
“A History of Modern Europe,” John Merriman
“Europe: A History,” Norman Davies
“Twentieth Century,” J.M. Roberts
“The Middle East,” Bernard Lewis
Note: Stephen Kinzer”s 2001 work is not only timely, it is highly
readable and entertaining. I heartily recommend it. “Great for a
long flight.” -BT
Brian Trumbore
