Kemalism

Kemalism, the political, economic, and social principles advocated by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and designed to create a modern republican secular Turkish state out of a portion of the Ottoman Empire. Mustafa Kemal’s guiding principle in setting out the early policy agenda of Turkey (Türkiye) was the existence of a permanent state of revolution, meaning continuing change in the state and society. The Kemalist program was embodied in the “Six Arrows”: republicanism, nationalism, populism, statism, secularism, and revolution.

The Six Arrows

The bases of Mustafa Kemal’s policies were first enshrined in the 1931 program of his political party, the Republican People’s Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi; CHP), and were written into the Turkish constitution in 1937 and reflected in the subsequent constitutions. Mustafa Kemal’s six fundamental principles were:

• Republicanism: Building a state around republican institutions, as opposed to the sultan’s absolutism that united the Ottoman state.
• Nationalism: Instilling a sense of nationalism around Turkish ethnic identity and the renunciation of Pan-Islamic, Pan-Turkish, and Pan-Ottoman goals in foreign policy.
• Populism: Mobilizing popular support and solidarity from the top. The characteristic devices in the early decades of Kemalist history included the People’s Houses, which spread the new concept of a national culture in provincial towns, and the village institutes, which performed the same educational and proselytizing role in the countryside.
• Statism: Moving toward state-controlled economic development, achieved through investment banks, monopolies, state industrial enterprises, and planning.
• Secularism: Adopting a common, secular system of education and family law, which under the Ottoman system had been relegated to self-governing religious communities (millets), and the rejection of religious symbols (such as hijab and clerical garb) in public life.
• Revolution or Reformism: Reorganizing of the political, social, and economic systems to serve the evolving needs of the Turkish state.

Decline in the 21st century

By the end of the 20th century many people in Turkey, particularly those outside the main economic centers, had come to associate Kemalism with an exclusive urban elite. A desire for liberalization, particularly in the realm of economic deregulation and allowing religious expression in public life, was a driving factor in bringing Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi; AKP) to power. Since the AKP’s rise in 2002 Kemalist politicians have struggled to assert a program popular with the public. Some of the most successful contenders—such as Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who came in a close second in the 2023 presidential election—capitalized on dissatisfaction with Erdoğan and were forced to bend Kemalist principles, such as those on secularism, to appeal to a broader audience.