7 Pri nci pl es of

Kemal is m

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 1. Republ ic an ism:

• The Ke malist re fo rm s represent

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.