THE PRINCIPLES OF ATATÜRK
The principles of Atatürk could be brought together in six major titles:
Republicanism:
Atatürk's revolutions possesses political attributes. A transition from a very noble empire to a noble nation was achieved and therefore, Turkey had gained the modern nation identity. In forming this identity, it is an important point for people who are qualified as servants to earn a citizenship. Atatürk had seen this path in Republic, meaning democracy, in which people administrate themselves.
Populism:
When looking at the content and also the goals, Republic Revolutionary possesses a social revolution as well. The status of women in Turkey had essential changes with performing of the West laws, especially the Switzerland civil laws and with the law that was put in force in 1934, women gained the right to choose and be chosen. Atatürk, in a few occasions, had said that the villagers were the real administrators of Turkey. Actually, this situation is the goal, rather than the reality. The populism principle means, resisting the classification privileges and differences, and not accepting that any individual, relationship or a class is better than the other. Populism relies on the idea which expresses the Turkish citizenship. The idea of the citizenship which is combined together with pride, provides the psychological encouragement which is necessary for the community to work more, and it also helps to gain the ideas of nationalism and association.
Laicism:
Laicism doesn't only mean separating government and religion from each other, it also means being independent of culture and living fields. Laicisim means, the government being independent and not being influenced by religious thinking and religion institutions; generally, it means latitude of thought. Most of the revolutions had been done to actualize luacism and the others were because of having reached the laicism. Laicism principle keeps the religion out of politics. Just like how printing was delayed in Ottoman days, it is important to prevent religious influence on the civil being for the Republic of Turkey, as it happened before on the previous reforms in which religion became a strong weapon on them.
Revolutionism:
One of the most important principles Atatürk had brought up was revolutionism. The meaning of this principle is revolutionizing the traditional institutions into the modern institutions in Turkey. It means putting the traditional concepts on a side and adopting the modern concepts instead. Revolutionism principle passes far beyond the reforms to be known and accepted.
Nationalism:
The reform of the Republic is also a nationalist reform. The nationalism does not have a racist structure, it is limited with the patriotism. The point of this reform is to defend the independence of the Republic of Turkey and to develop the Republic towards political sense. This nationalism has respect for all the other nations' rights of independence, has a social stability; not only being anti-imperialist, but at the same time it is against any class administrating Turkish society and at last; this nationalism is the belief of a principle in which, Turkish state being indivisible whole with its homeland and people.
Statism:
In the policies and remarks Mustafa Kemal Atatürk had made; He expressed that Turkey as a whole with modernization, depends very much on the economic and technological development. In this context, it is interpreted that statism principle will appear in the situations of arranging the country's general economic actions and entering the private sector or fail to, or meaing in the necessity of national benefits. However, in applying the statism principle, the government didn't only form the basic source of the economic actions, but at the same time it became the owner of the country's great industrial institutions.
