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Post Info TOPIC: Atatürk
Cossack


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Atatürk
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Since my knowledge of history is rather shallow, I would like to hear from those who are more knowledgeable about a segment in history. It is the period when Atatürk transformed Turkey to its now secular format. Specifically, are there lessons to be learned from Atatürk that would be helpful in dealing with the present problems in the Middle East?

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Obviousman


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start at www.Ataturk.com

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Cossack


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Obviousman wrote

start at www.Ataturk.com

I had already read much that is on the web about Atatürk prior to posting my message. However, I did not see anything about relating it to current activites. Perhaps I missed it. Perhaps you have some insights you can share.

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Jameela Lares


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Hello, everyone. I waited until I returned from British Studies in London to register. I hope the avatar works--I went for the stack of books--as I'm not sure how to access it.

I don't think that what Ataturk did in Turkey after WW1 and the end of the moribund Ottoman Empire is particularly helpful here. You might, however, want to consult a book that turned up in a libraries database search--M. Hakan Yavuz, Islamic Political Identity in Turkey, Oxford University Press, 2003. Yavuz argues--at least according to a book review--that "Islamic social movements in Turkey offer important agents for promoting pluralism and democracy and "are not fueled by a deep-seated rage and frustration with the authoritarian policies of the secular elites, as is the case in Algeria and Egypt" (4) (reviewed by Michael M. Gunter in Middle East Policy 11.2 (2004): 183-84.

JL

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Cossack


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Thanks Professor Lares. The title sounds like what I was looking for. The one thing that Atatürk did that seemed to reduce the discord was to force separation of Church and State. Paraphrasing, we should restore religion to greater heights and remove it from playing a role in government. His concepts on that were similar to our founding fathers in that he did not want a state religion or one where the clerics were part of the government. However, his enforcement of that edict was a little brutal for our tastes. He hung the Mullahs that disagreed with his stance.

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LVN


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And it's still culturally not Western. My late sister loved Turkey but learned quickly that she could not conduct business unless her husband was with her. He didn't have to do anything, he just had to be present. She also had a favorite story of being scolded and nearly put off a bus -- for laughing out loud.

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