The Sacred Leader

Hindsight allows for at least a partial reassessment of Mustafa Kemal’s path to power. There is undoubtedly some truth to the heroic aura that envelops most depictions of him. Keen political and military instincts, as well as his stubborn perseverance, provided him a foundation upon which he launched himself into positions of leadership. Yet once in the spotlight, he carefully cultivated an evocative public persona suited to his political ambitions. Creating and upholding the Gazi’s legendary status was equally the work of his trusted friends and minions. His ability to hold on to power, as well as deflect discord and defeat opposition, was greatly beholden to a small coterie of personally loyal followers. The reforms that many today equate with Atatürk’s brilliance and authority would not have been possible without their contributions.

Defiance and Submission

The Turkish Republic was founded upon the conceit that it represented the unanimity and loyalty of all who lived within its borders. Yet from the earliest stages of the National Struggle, Mustafa Kemal and his followers regularly betrayed a strong distrust for citizens otherwise upheld as faithful and true. Internal reports and private meetings conducted through the course of Atatürk’s rule make clear the degree officials tried, and often failed, to coerce Kurds, religious conservatives, and others into conforming as Turks. To better shape and govern the Anatolian east, republican officials employed a host of measures meant to re-engineer the region’s native inhabitants into responsive, deferential citizens. Failing that, Atatürk’s government stood prepared, and a times were eager, to impose their will through violence. By the time of Atatürk’s death, even those who were most defiant had begun to adapt to the rhetoric and the abrasiveness of the republic.

A New National Spirit

This chapter surveys the ideological underpinnings and aspirations of the key reforms of Mustafa Kemal’s reign. The philosophical tenets associated with Kemalism had long incubated within the folds of the late Ottoman political elite. Like other Young Turks who reinvented themselves as partisans of the young republic, Atatürk and his supporters viewed the postwar era as an unequaled opportunity to carry out and refine policies originally devised to save the Ottoman Empire. Declaring a republic, revising the constitution, adopting European systems of law, and redefining the role of religion were the first steps of a broader campaign aimed at refashioning society along unitary lines. Once engendered, Mustafa Kemal’s revolution was aimed at producing a Turkey where each citizen spoke Turkish, worked productively, and behaved in ways that warranted the republic’s ascendency as a “civilized state.”

Fallen Patriots

No appreciation for the early history of the Turkish Republic can begin without a proper understanding of the origins, desires, and tribulations of the Young Turks. Their era by no means constituted a mere placeholder or prologue to the dramatic events that occurred thereafter. Turkey, as it came to be defined philosophically, was the unintended offspring of this movement. The most profound attributes of Atatürk’s state, its thirst for radical social change, its predilection for chauvinistic nationalism, and its oligarchic structure, descended directly from the Committee of Union and Progress’ approach towards politics. Ultimately, their displacement from the imperial stage allowed for Mustafa Kemal to rise to prominence and paved the way for an altogether new regime.

Introduction

There was a time when the name Dolmabahçe (or “covered garden” in Turkish) carried no metaphoric significance. For much of history, it was simply a name given to a quaint glen bordering the western shores of the Bosphorus Straits. Lying just north of the walled confines of Istanbul, Dolmabahçe (or Iason in Greek) hugged a stretch of shallow water suitable for fishing boats as well as warships. The name took on a more exclusive, regal air in the early seventeenth century with the construction of a small imperial residence along its banks. Little is known about the interior or design of this palace, dubbed Beşiktaş by its proprietor, Sultan Selim II. The resonate significance and beauty associated with the home came more from the gardens cultivated in and around the building. A British visitor insisted that the palace, while “gay with paint and bright with gold,” yielded its place to a warm collection of “groves and kiosques overhanging the water.”...

A Culture of Revolution

By the time of Atatürk’s death, millions of Turkish citizens had joined him in constructing a new political and social culture in the Republic of Turkey. They would adopt new surnames, vote for and join the Republican People’s Party, learn to read the Gazi’s alphabet, embrace sports and art favored by the government, and celebrate the winning of the country’s independence. Large numbers of Turkish citizens integrated into this emerging culture despite arriving as immigrants from abroad. Yet both immigrants and natives regularly acted in ways that were not becoming of the Kemalist revolution. There was little denying that many places retained “un-Turkish” traits in spite of the government’s best efforts. The limits to which the Republican People’s Party could affect an absolute change in the morals, tastes, and behavior of its citizens were on display everywhere. Officials were forced to make compromises on issues that were considered ideologically too sensitive.

The Eternal Leader

In the final year of his life, Mustafa Kemal’s health had deteriorated significantly. His temperament changed, leading to a dramatic shift in the character and stability of his rule. Long-simmering divides between the president’s oldest associates grew more apparent while confusion reigned as to who was to succeed him. Although somewhat obscured by the mythos that surrounds Atatürk’s death struggle, it is clear that the Gazi begot a government beset by deep personal grudges and ideological differences. In death, Atatürk’s veneration created a culture and an ideology that demanded obedience to the state and the revolution he engendered. In upholding Turkey’s era of transformation as finished and unflawed, Atatürk’s successors committed themselves to the fiction that the nation had consented to all that the Gazi had prescribed in their name. The idolatry of this culture, along with the insecurities it thinly conceals, ranks still as his most visible legacy.