The Turkish Republican Era After the Ottoman Empire Collapsed

The Turkish republic came into being in the Anatolian Peninsula in 1923 following the fall of the Ottoman Empire. The empire had been a Sunni Muslim creation that led to the great development of business in the area. The Ottoman Empire cannot be linked to Europe as European countries themselves had recognized the power of the empire in business. It eventually fell following wrangles in the military ranks after the settlement of various traders from the European countries. The countries had campaigned tirelessly for the survival of the empire due to the desire to retain the political and social influence associated with the empire. Turkish troops invaded and began administration in the Ottoman Empire in 1918. They managed to drive out enemies such as the Western Allies and the Greeks due to assistance from the Soviet Union. Peace did not reign in the region until 1922 when a leadership plan was put in place. This was due to the differences in the leadership plans of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish republic. The people were allowed to vote in their leaders in 1923, electing Ataturk as their president (Landau, 1984).

Mustafa Kernal played an essential role in the growth of Turkey from changing the republic from that in which leadership belonged to the government to that in which leadership belonged to the people. The leader went further ahead to make Turkey a Republic through the formation of the Turkish Grand National Assembly in 1920. This was followed by choice of Ankara as the Turkish capital. The delivery of Izmir led to the signing of a peace treaty and conclusion of the Turkish freedom struggles. The success of Turkey as a republic required great commitment on the part of the government as well as on the part of the citizens. The process was significant through various positive developments such as formation of a constitution among others.

Initially, Turkey was a Muslim state. However, through the formation of a new constitution, various changes occurred including provision of the freedom of worship which greatly affected the solidarity between the state and the citizens. Gender rights were also changed. Contrary to the Muslim state where the men had greater rights such as the right to education and to vote, the new Turkish republic gave women similar rights making them influential in the society. Their roles changed significantly over the years. Furthermore, the women had equal rights to marriage and divorce. As a result, the Turkish republic faced several challenges in its take off. For instance, the population was the biggest challenge to the republic. The death rate during immigration was high and those who fought during the war rewarded themselves from the property left behind since there was no proper way for the protection of the property (Dadrian, 2004).

The war drove out productive people who would have helped to develop the Turkish economic much further. However, the Turkish government realized that it had the role of ensuring national growth. The signing of a treaty by Sultan Mehmet led to resistance by the Turkish people since the agreement made the Turkish people subjective to the Greek population. As such the Turks put in place rules guiding the relationship between people of different nationalities. The rules helped to guide trade while also enabling immigrants to come back to the country leading to an improvement of social and economic status of the country (White, 2013).

Work cited

Dadrian, Vahakn N. The History of the Armenian Genocide: Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to Anatolia to the Caucasus. New York: Berghahn Books, 2004. Print.

Landau, Yaʻaqov M. Atatürk and the Modernization of Turkey. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press u.a, 1984. Print.

White, Jenny B. Muslim Nationalism and the New Turks. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013. Print.

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