With his revolutions, Atatürk has a special position within both the history of Turkey and the World

Cyprus International University (CIU) Faculty of Arts and Sciences Academic Staff Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hasan Samani, speaking within the scope of the 10th November Atatürk remembrance day stated, “With his revolutions aimed at bringing Turkey to the level of contemporary civilizations, as the leader of the Anatolian Resistance Movement, and as the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk has a special position within both the history of Turkey and the world”.

Adding that the defeat of the Ottoman Empire from the First World War had left an environment of disaster and hopelessness, and thus, with the last effort, Mustafa Kemal managed to organize the Anatolian society, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Samani went on to say, “Under his leadership, they won the anti-imperialist liberation wars”.

Reminding that with the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, which upholds the quality of being the title deed of a new state, Mustafa Kemal began efforts in the institutionalization process in order to bring Turkey to modernity in a revolutionary manner, Samani continued, “The most important feature of Atatürk that makes him unique, is his belief that Turkey can only achieve modernity via the means of secular thoughts and institutions. And without hesitation, he eliminated the institutions that represent the medieval mentality”.

Samani stated that with the abolition of the Sultanate and Caliphate and, with the proclamation of the Republic, Atatürk clearly revealed the kind of Turkish state and society he was aiming for, Samani added that the revolutionary actions of Atatürk to establish a secular republic, are still very important today.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Samani added that within the post-Atatürk period, the main goal should be aimed at the democratization of the secular republic and the production of human policies, and he elaborated, "However, down to narrow interests and revanchist policies, in this process, it has been seen that from time-to-time, some circles have eroded the foundations of the secular republic established by Atatürk".

Expressing that such efforts as these are approaches distancing the Republic of Turkey from modernity, Samani underlined that in the 1920s, Atatürk had foreseen these approaches, and that to date, they have not brought any benefit to the Turkish society.