Kemal Ataturk was president of Turkish national for 15 years until he died. In order to complete the military revolution, Ataturk created the new Republic of Turkey in 1923 and established a new form of government. Between the years 1926 to 1930, Kemal made legal changes that abolished the Islamic religious laws and a secular system of Government emerged. In 1924, the Grand National Assembly adopted a new constitution to replace the 1876 document that had served as the legal framework of the Republican Government. Based on the new document, the assembly or parliament would be a body elected to a four-year term by general election. The main point of that step was to separate the country from religion. Kemal wasn’t satisfied with the changes in the form of Government and wanted to change the daily lives of all classes in the population. Two of the main changes were:
Changing the status of women Changing the Turkish language
In the past women were treated awfully and were controlled by men in different areas: Men could marry or live with as many women as they liked. Men could murder women and even bury newborn girls alive. Men testimony was equal to two women.
In 1923 series political and legal reforms were taken. Kemal wanted political and legal revolution and one way was given emancipation to the Turkish women base on changing Turkey to secular state.
Women gained legal rights and changes in family life style. A code banned polygamy with religious marriages. Women got equal rights in matters of divorce, marriage and child custody. Girls’ minimal age changed to 15. By laws women have equality in issues of testimony and heritage. Women got equal rights in the educational system. Women no longer had to wear the veils and long clothes.
Women granted the right to vote in the local elections
Women granted the right to vote in the national elections
*In the election in 1937 the number of women that were members in the Turkish Parliament was 18, which meant 4.5 % of all.
Urban women started to take part in labor force and rural women found work as maids in private homes. In 1960, world of opportunities opened for women in the industry and a new law came out and declared equal wages for both sexes for equal work in 1966.
New significant state called ‘feminism’ started their new meeting. It was different from other previous stages because women who spoke for themselves establish it. Women started to write about women’s issues common to all societies such as discrimination at education, workplace because of the background of sex. The feminism women argued for their physical needs and the authorities of Turkey.
9 million of the 21 million working population of Turkey are women. Today, in rural areas, women work in addition to their housework and not to make a living. On the other side in urban areas, we can see that more than :
are women.
Although women’s contribution is substantial, their productivity remains low. But as the Turkish Phrase says, “A husband should know how to bring food and wife to make it suffice” confirming once again a woman’s place in the home. Today the husband is still the head of the family and the day that will bring us a full equality between men and women is still far ahead of Turkey.
The Turks in the Ottoman Empire had established only one main language in Turkey, the Ottoman Turkish. Main facts about the Ottoman Turkish: •The Ottoman Turkish was mingled of Arabic,Persian and Turkish. •The large number of linguistics that affected the Ottoman Turkish caused difficulties in spelling and writing.
The Turkish language reform process happened by two basic steps: adopting of a new alphabet and changing of the vocabulary.
The Turkish language reform officially started in may 1928. • Written numbers in Arabic replaced with their western forms. • That year in November, the Grand National Assembly confirmed changing the previous Turkish alphabet to Latin alphabet. • Ataturk himself took a chalk and a movable blackboard and traveled in the country and gave lessons in the new Latin Alphabet.
On January 1, 1929, it was illegal to use the Arabic alphabet to write in Turkish.
The Turkish Language Society has replaced foreign words in new Turkish folk words and phrases. Arabic and Persian words were taken off from dictionaries and have replaced them with new Turkish words.
Lists of new words were published in all over Turkey, By that more Turkish people became aware to reform.
The new Turkish words was started to be seen in the newspapers.
In the late 1940's was seen a very large resistance to this reform. This resistance was especially came from teachers, writers, journalists and others that said the vocabulary is too limited. In 1950 the Turkish Language Society lost its influence in the reform. Therefore, some words in Arabic and Persian came out in government publication
If we are looking at the reform that was made, we Can say that its effects are unclear. The shapes of the letters and numbers are still being used nowadays. The reform helped to reduce the tear between the classes. The cost of this reform had been a drastic impact for the literary and linguistic legacy of the ottomans. Nowadays the reform is still continues. Each decade is having its own changes, its expresses by using more traditional words or modern words. In the 1990's many Islamic words entered to the Turkish vocabulary. Nowadays, Turkish is spoken by more than sixty-million people, most of the Turkish speakers living in Turkey.