Mustafa Kemal (Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

He was the first president of Turkey.Mustafa Kemal grew up during the last parts of the Ottoman Empire. By now the Empire had become corrupt and lost many of its Islamic ways. Kemal, was to go on to complete the destruction of the caliphate which was already in decline. Ataturk is regarded by all scholars as a non-Muslim.

The fez was established by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826 as part of the Ottoman Empire's modernization effort.The fez and the veil were forbidden, the Latin alphabet was substituted for the Arabic, and, in 1934, women were enfranchised. The revolution also employed such symbolic measures as replacing the fez with Western-style hats (1925), obliging religious authorities to wear their particular garments only when officiating (1934), and banning the use of such honorific titles as (1934).

Mustafa Kemal secularism didn't mean separation of state and reglion. It meant independence of thought and independence of institutions from the dominance of religious thinking and religious institutions.Thus, the Kemalist revolution was also a secularist revolist Many Kemalist reform were made to bring about secularism, and others were realized because had been achieved.

The major problem In Turkish politics were since the foundation was in struggle between secularism represented by Ataurk followers.Which meant that there would be no state religion and there would be secular control of law and education. In 1924, the Caliphate was destroyed, followed by the abolition of the Shari'a courts together with the adoption of the Swiss civil and Italian penal codes. Secularism really means in Kemalism principles abolition of class distinctions and of political differences between men and women.