a p olitic al re volu tion; a c hange fr om the m ultinational Ot to ma n Empire to the e sta blis hment of the n ation st ate of Turkey and the re aliza tio n o f n ational id entity o f mo dern T urkey. Kemalis m o nly recognize s a Republi can regime f or T urk ey. Kemalis m b elie ve s t hat it is only th e republic an regime wh ich can b est re present the 2. Popul ism:
The Kemal ist revoluti on was al so a
soci al revol uti on in ter m of it s content and goals. Thi s w as a revol ution led by an el ite wi th an ori entati on towards the peopl e i n general . The Kemal ist ref orm s brought about a revol utionar y change in t he status of wom en thr ough the adopti on of Western codes of law in Turkey, in part icul ar the Swi ss Ci vi l Code. 4. Secula rism did not
Kemal ist pr inci pl e of
secul ari sm did not advocate athei sm. It was not an an ti - God pri nci pl e. It was a rati onal ist, anti- cl eri cal secul ari sm. The Kemal ist pri nci pl e of secul arism wa s not agai nst an enl ighte ne d Isl am, but agai nst an Isl am whi ch was opposed to mod erni zati on. 5. R efo rmi sm or revol uti oni sm Ref ormism or revol utioni sm. Thi s pri nci pl e meant that Turkey made ref or ms and that the country replaced tradi tional instituti ons w ith mod ern insti tuti ons. It mea nt that tradi ti onal concepts were eli mi nated and modern concepts w ere adopted 6. Nationali st Re vo lu tio n • Revol uti on was al so a nati onal ist revol ution. Kemal ist nati onal ism was not raci st . • It was meant to Statism: preserve the independence of the Republi c of Turkey and also to hel p t he Republ ic' s pol iti cal devel opment . It was a nati onal ism whi ch respected the ri ght to independence of al l ot her nati ons. It was a nati onali sm wi th a soci al content. It was not only anti - imperi al ist, but it was also agai nst the rul e of a dynasty or of any parti cul ar soci al cl as s over Turki sh soci et y. Kemal ist national ism bel ieves in the pr inci pl e that the 7. Sta tism
Kemal At atür k m ade clear in his s tatements
and policies t hat T urkey' s complete moder ni zat ion w as very much dependent on economic and t ec hno lo gi cal dev elopment . The pr inciple of stat is m was interpr eted t o mean that the stat e w as t o regulate the count ry' s general economic activit y and t he stat e w as t o engage in areas whe re privat e ent erpr ise was not willing to do so, or where pr ivate enter prise had proved t o be inadequat e, or if nat ional inter es t requir ed it . In the applicat ion of the pr inciple of stat ism , however, t he s tate emerge d not only as the pr inciple s our ce of economic act ivi ty but also as the owner of t he ma jo r indust ries of the count ry.