Kemal and the New Turkey

About ten years ago a Sultan reigned in Constantinople. The Turks wore the fez. Women were kept in harems, and when they appeared in public they were required to wear heavy veils. The religious elements wielded immense influence and possessed almost unlimited power; even education was in their hands and woe over-took anyone who tried to usurp their authority. The peasants were ignorant and oppressed, while even among the townspeople the standard of civilization and knowledge was astonishingly low. Frequent wars bad drained the exchequer dry. The Balkan wars, the Tripoli campaign and the World War had crippled and killed thousands and thousands of Turkish soldiers. And the national life of Turkey was at a low ebb. It is no wonder therefore if some spoke of Turkey as "The Sick Man of Europe." In 1919, however, Mustapha Kemal appeared on the scene. He organized a revolutionary movement in Anatolia, drove the Greek army into the sea at Smyrna, and dictated peace terms to the Allies at Lausanne. Then he set about "modernizing" Turkey, his motto being: "Turkey for the Turks and a Clean Sweep with the Past." He established a republic and set himself as President; and then he separated religion from the State and divested the priests of their powers. He did not stop at that. To the amazement of the Western world, he emancipated the purdah-ridden women, forbade the wearing of the fez, introduced a new alphabet and initiated a score of other reforms.

Even the internal progress of Turkey during the last ten years under the lash of the Gazi is said to be very satisfactory. According to the recent report of the Minister of the Interior, the present population is nearly 14,000,000 out of which 11,000,000 persons, inhabiting more than 40,000 villages, are engaged in rural occupations. At the present rate of increase, the population would number, says the Report, some 25,000,000 in less than fifteen years. Since Turkey is in the main a rural country, it is interesting to notice the care and forethought bestowed upon the rural population. The reforms introduced by the Republican Government have gone far towards improving the economic and moral standards of life in country districts. Even so ward a province as Hakiari is now reported to be modern both in her buildings and schools. When the Gazi went on a tour to the different provinces some eighteen months ago, he started a co-operative movement, and seized every opportunity to encourage agricultural producers to form groups in order to protect their interests and market their produce to the best advantage. Now that the movement has spread rather extensively, there comes the next move of initiating a system of State co-operatives.

More crops mean more commerce and greater prosperity, and hence the Nationalist Party is paying at present special attention to commercial matters and to the tapping of Turkey’s natural resources. A rice expert has been engaged to advise Turkish planters as to how to improve their rice cultivation and double their crop. Other agricultural experts have also been provided to help the farmers. Farmers are now forbidden to plough behind the slow oxen and water buffalo. The order of the Government demands that where tractors are unavailable, horses must replace the old slow pullers. Tractors, harvesters, ploughs, harrows, disks and other agricultural implements are imported in large quantities from the United States, and experimental demonstrations are held for the benefit of the Turkish peasants and to encourage them to use such machinery in the cultivation of their own farms. In 1928 President Mustapha Kemal built on his model farm of 10,000 acres the first irrigation system in the country with mechanical power. A motion picture of this model farm is also shown in different sections of the country, in order to help the farmers to see for themselves the different ways in which they can improve their own lands.

The Popular Party believes in State control of the important industrial and commercial activities. In pursuance of this principle, the Government has, during the last ten years, gradually acquired most of the railroads in Turkey; the production, manufacture and marketing of such commodities as tobacco, cigarettes, salt; gun-powder and alcoholic beverages have all been placed under State monopolies. Almost all the clothing and uniforms for the army and the navy are now being manufactured by Government factories; the bulk of the Turkish mercantile marine belongs to a State concern known as the Seiri Sefain Steam Navigation Company, and all important ports have Turkish monopolies even in such services as discharging or loading of all foreign ships. Further, most of the banking business is now in the hands of the Turks, and the capital of the Turkish banks has been entirely or in large part furnished by the Government.

Though the Turk proved to be a poor business man, in the past, yet every encouragement is now given to develop business enterprise in him. The Grand National Assembly has, in fact, passed a law reserving certain trades and professions. Only Turkish citizens can now be barbers, bootmakers, builders, chauffeurs, chemists, dancers, hall porters, hatmakers, interpreters, musicians, music-hall performers, photographers, printers, stevedores, stockbrokers, waiters and waitresses, watchmen and veterinary surgeons. Foreigners following any of these callings have been granted a year's time in which to abandon them, but the Council of Ministers reserves, of course, the right to make special exceptions and to list any other trades or professions, should the interest of the country so demand. Foreign doctors and lawyers, although not included in the new list, are already prohibited from practising in Turkey, except those enjoying acquired rights. Countries whose subjects are particularly affected by the new law are Greece, Italy, and France; for, it is emigrants from these countries who have been monopolizing all forms of domestic service and different kinds of business. Thus the New Turkey seeks through legislation not only to encourage the Turk to interest himself in business but also to keep out foreigners from holding posts of responsibility, even compelling those who are already holding such posts to relinquish them.

The enactment of this law marks the last stage of the evolution of the foreigner in Turkey. Until the Great War and the signing of the Lausanne Treaty, foreigners living in Turkey enjoyed the privileges of extra-territorial jurisdiction known as capitulations. Their origion dates from the earlier days of the Ottoman Empire when Suleiman the Magnificent was Sultan, and the privileges were originally accorded to French merchants. In reality these capitulations were made in a spirit of contemptuous indifference by a warrior race at the height of its power to infidel merchants whose petty interests were deemed unworthy of the attention of the Turkish courts. The privileges were gradually extended to other foreign residents, and the 1830 treaty of commerce and navigation granted most favoured-nation treatment, which meant that they too benefited by the capitulations. Some idea of the scope and importance of these privileges may be formed from the fact that they included even immunity from arrest and trial by Turkish authorities. Offences committed by foreigners were tried before their own consular courts, and lawsuits between foreign residents and Turkish subjects could be heard by local courts only in the presence of the dragoman from the consulate of the foreigner concerned. Judgments against him could only be enforced with the consent of his consul. Foreigners, moreover, were free of all taxation and the merchandise they imported could be subjected to only a specified rate of duty, which, until 1910, was 8 per cent ad valorem. Some European powers had even their own post offices, sold their own stamps and handled their own incoming and outgoing mails.

Naturally Turkish resentment grew slowly against this system which not only diverted revenue from the State but also removed all chance of competition in business against foreigners who were free from taxation. It was not surprising, therefore, that in 1908, when the Young Turk Revolution led to constitutional changes, the foremost desire was to rid the country of capitulations. However, early efforts were successful only to the extent that customs duties were increased from 8 to 11 per cent and the foreign post offices were suppressed. All other privileges enjoyed by foreign residents remained intact and were only abolished on Turkey's entrance into the World War. But when Istanbul was occupied by the Allied forces, the capitulations were re-introduced only to be removed immediately after the defeat of the Greeks by Kemal in Anatolia in 1922. When finally the Allies and the representatives on the new national government met at Lausanne, the question whether the capitulations should be revived was one of the most difficult problems which confronted the conference. But the Turks gained their point and ever since the foreigner has been gradually ousted from the enviable position he once held in Turkey. Now outside of the restrictions on trade and professions, the foreigner enjoys much the same treatment accorded to the Turk.

As the Truk proved a poor business man, most of the important trade passed into the hands of foreigners. It is true, no doubt, the capitulations made it easy for aliens to trade at an advantage, but even if the capitulations had not existed, it is doubtful whether their position would have been materially changed. However, the Gazi's policy now is to train the Turk to become efficient in business, by giving him protection against the competition of others more fitted by experience and tradition, in the hope that the Turk himself will acquire similar qualities if given proper opportunities. Further, to wipe out ignorance and to make the Turks better business men and loyal citizens, the Republican Turkey is developing a new system of elementary and primary education. At the invitation of the Turkish Government, Dr. Beryl Parker of the School of Education, New York University, is now in Turkey under a three-year agreement to help in organizing a more suitable primary school system. For nearly ten years the Turkish system of education has been undergoing a change. The Turkish authorities believe that they are now ready for the development of new plans. Under the direction of Dr. Parker, they hope to put through a system of teacher training in order to get a capable staff of teachers. They have also planned to reconstruct the curriculum in accordance with the needs of modern Turkey, and to carry on a programme of English instruction in the school and in evening classes for young people and adults.

Besides these new developments, we find that the New Turkey, under the leadership of Mustapha Kemal, has been greatly secularized. The Caliph of Islam has been got rid of, the Koran has been set aside and all forms of religion have been disestablished. The Turkish Government has placed a wholesale ban on fortune telling, sorcerers cures and dervishes. Religious courts have been abolished, and with them the entire body of the Shariat law which had been developed but never codified through centuries of varied interpretations of the Koran. In their place, civil, criminal and commercial codes of the West have been introduced, making polygamy illegal, and marriage and divorce civil. Muezzins in derby hats cry the call to prayer. Women, casting aside their veils, vote in all municipal elections. And Turkey, shedding its medieval forms of theocratic government, has hastily adopted modern forms of Western secular government. A new alphabet and lunar calendar now mark the scene of Turkish revolution.

In fact, Turkey has made such great progress under Kemal's dictatorship that it may be said without any exaggeration that there is no precedent anywhere in history for so overwhelming a revolution. No previous case exists in which a country outlawed its own laws and enacted an entire body of foreign laws. No nation has ever been conscripted and sent to school to learn a new alphabet. No doubt the reforms have come from above, but even so the progressive measures adopted show the sincerity of the national leaders and their earnest attempt to overcome the force of age-old and unprogressive traditions and customs. All these changes, of course, could not take place without producing a definite effect upon the individual Turk. The peasant, in spite of the increased interest in his work and welfare, has been slow to realize the significance of what is taking place, and it will be some time yet before he becomes really Europeanized in outlook and character. Even the city-bred is somewhat dumbfounded at the sudden and sweeping changes, but as these reforms generally react in his favour, he accepts them cheerfully. Moreover, the Turks are a very disciplined and obedient people, and they like having a leader who will tell them what they require and what they must do. They have such a leader in the Gazi; his efforts to rejuvenate old Turkey cannot but command the admiration of the thinking world. Within a decade of his dictatorship, the progress Turkey has made is without parallel in the history of nations.