User:OttomanReference/Ataturk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881 – November 10, 1938), army officer, revolutionary statesman, the founder of the Republic of Turkey and its first President. Mustafa Kemal established himself as a successful military commander while serving as a division commander in the Battle of Gallipoli of World War I. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the hands of the Allies, and the subsequent plans for its partition, Mustafa Kemal led the Turkish national movement in what would become the Turkish War of Independence. His successful military campaigns led to the liberation of the country and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey. Kemal implemented what is known as Atatürk's Reforms which led to sweeping changes in the political, economic and cultural sphere of the Kemalist state, striving to create a modern, democratic and secular state based on Western principles of governance.

Mustafa Kemal or commonly "Kemal Pasha" was his name until his resignation from his post in the Ottoman Empire. During the independence war the Turkish National Assembly assigned the title Gazi, hence Gazi Mustafa Kemal. On November 24, 1934 he was presented by the Turkish National Assembly with the surname "Atatürk" (meaning "Father Turk" or "Ancestor Turk"), hence Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Early life
Atatürk was born in 1881, in the Ottoman city of Selânik (Thessaloniki in present-day Greece), the son of a minor official who became a timber merchant. In accordance with the then prevalent Turkish custom, he was given a single name, Mustafa. His father, Ali Rıza Efendi, was a customs officer who died when Mustafa Kemal was seven and it was left to his mother Zübeyde Hanım, to raise the young Mustafa.

When Atatürk was 12 years old, he went to military schools in Selânik and Manastır (now Bitola, Republic of Macedonia), centres of discontent towards the Ottoman administration. Mustafa studied at the military secondary school in Selânik, where the additional name Kemal ("perfection" or "maturity", not an uncommon name) was given to him by his mathematics teacher in recognition of his academic excellence. Mustafa Kemal entered the military academy at Manastır in 1895. He graduated as a lieutenant in 1905 and was posted to Damascus under the command of the 5th Army. In Damascus, he soon joined a small secret revolutionary society of reform-minded officers called Vatan ve Hürriyet (Motherland and Liberty) and became an active opponent of the Ottoman regime. In 1907, he attained the rank of captain and was posted to the 3rd Army in Manastır (Bitola in present day Republic of Macedonia). During this period he joined the Committee of Union and Progress, commonly known as the Young Turks. The Young Turks seized power from the Sultan ‘Abdu’l-Hamid II in 1908, and Mustafa Kemal became a senior military figure.

In 1910, he took part in the Picardie army manoeuvers in France, and in 1911, he served at the Ministry of War in Istanbul. Later in 1911, he was posted to the province of Trablusgarp to participate in the defense against the Italian invasion. Following the successful defense of Tobruk on December 22, 1911, he was appointed the commander of Derne on March 6, 1912.

He returned to Istanbul following the outbreak of the Balkan Wars in October 1912. During the First Balkan War, he fought against the Bulgarian army at Gallipoli and Bolayır on the coast of Thrace (Trakya), and played a crucial role in the recapture of Edirne and Didymoteicho during the Second Balkan War. In 1913 he was appointed military attaché to Sofia, partly to remove him from the capital and its political intrigues, and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1914.

Military career in World War I
When the Ottoman Empire joined World War I on the side of the German Empire in October 1914, Mustafa Kemal was still serving in Sofia.

Battle of Gallipoli, 1915
In 1914 defense of the Dardanelles was assigned to 5th Army under the command of German Marshal Otto Liman von Sanders. In January 1915, Kemal was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and given the task of organizing and commanding the 19th Division, which was attached to 5th Army. 19th Division was stationed in the Gallipoli (Gelibolu), which became the main force responding to landings of the Gallipoli campaign.

On 8 January 1915, British War Council decided to launch the operation "to bombard and take the Gallipoli peninsula with Istanbul as its objective". On 19-25 February during an initial British scouting, a sergeant named "Mehmet" rushed a British sailor with a rock, when his rifle was jammed. Kemal publicized this incident to improve the morale of his soldiers and gave birth to the term "Mehmetçik", which is used today as a nickname to the Turkish soldiers. In April 1915, during the first stage, Kemal held off allied forces at Chunuk Bair (Conkbayırı), which earned him the "full" Colonel title. The second stage of the Gallipoli campaign, that was opened on 6 August, put Kemal only three hundred meters away from the firing line. Before the war ended he was the commander at the major battles; Anzac Cove, Chunuk Bair, Scimitar Hill, Sari Bair.

While ironically the evacuation was the greatest Allied success, on the Ottoman Empire side Halil Sami (9th division) at Cape Helles, Esat Bülkat (III Corps), Yakup Şevki Subaşı (XV Corps), Otto Liman von Sanders (5th Army) and Enver Pasha (Minister of War) had significant achievements based on their role toward the defense of straits. However, Kemal became the outstanding front-line commander and gained much respect from his former enemies for his chivalry in victory. The Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Memorial has an honoured place on ANZAC Parade in Canberra, Australia. Kemal's commemorating speech on the loss of thousands of Turkish and Anzac soldiers in Gallipoli stays at Anzac Cove. Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives… you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets where they lie side by side here in this country of ours… You the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries, wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. Having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

Caucasus Campaign, 1916
Following the Battle of Gallipoli, Mustafa Kemal served in Edirne until April of 1916.

On April 1, 1916, he was given the command of XVI corps of 2nd Army and sent to the Caucasus Campaign, with the rank of Brigadier General. Most historians believe that Enver Pasha deliberately delayed his promotion. In 1916 the Russian Caucasus army had two branches. Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich was in north and moving toward Trabzon while pushing the 3rd Army. 2nd Army was on the south facing the insurgency and two organized military forces; Russian army under General Tovmas Nazarbekian and the detachment Armenian volunteer units controlled by Andranik Toros Ozanian. When Kemal assigned to his post, these forces were in constant advance and an Armenian provisional government was formed with a progressive autonomous region. The Armenian administration was incrementally grew from its initial set up around Lake Van. When Kemal arrived to the region Aram Manougian was controlling occupied regions since the beginning from the early Van Resistance. The initial stages of the Battle of Bitlis and the Battle of Muş were already developed and these centers were captured by opposing forces. The region was inhospitable at the best of times. Communication lines were under insurgency attacks. It was hard to find craftsmen to fix things. Kurds were roaming round towns whose social fabric had been destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of refugees, many of them Kurds, which had a bitter relations to Armenian units, came flooding in front the advancing armies. Kemal's initial task was to bring presence (order) to the scared people so that his Corps can function under this human suffering. Kemal succeeded in recapturing Muş and Bitlis. In September, he had to retreat from Muş under the heavy advance of Armenian volunteer units.

During his command, Kemal concentrated on inspection of the hospitals to check the wounded, the mosques which became the centers for helping refugees, alongside of the strategic goal to confine the enemy within the mountainous region. Same year as a recognition of his military achievement and the improvement of stability of the region, he was given the medal golden sword of the order of "Imtiyaz". On March 7, 1917, He was appointed from command of XVI corps to the 2nd Army.

Sinai and Palestine Campaign, 1917
His command to the 2nd Army was cut short, as he was transfered to Sinai and Palestine Campaign. He was assigned to the 7th Army. After a short visit to the 7th Army HQ, he returned to Istanbul on October 7. He joined the crown prince Mehmed Vahdettin on a visit to Germany. During this trip he fall ill and stayed in Vienna for a medical treatment.

He returned to Aleppo on August 28, 1918. He resumed the command of the 7th Army. His headquarters were in Nablus Palestine. He was under Liman von Sanders, whose group headquarters were in Nazaret. Afher he studied Syria throughly once again and visited the front line... His conclusion was that Syria is in a pitiable state (the 1915-1917 period had 500,000 Syrian casualties to famine ). There is no (overall Ottoman) civil governor or commander. Instead, there was an abundance of English propaganda and English secret agents are everywhere. The people hate the government and look forward to the arrival of the English as soon as possible. The enemy was stronger than his forces were in men and equipment. He said "We are like a cotton thread drawn across his path ."

Mustafa had Arab Revolt in his hand, which was organized by Great Britain. Liman von Sanders lost the Battle of Megiddo from the first day leaving 75,000 POW behind. Now, Allenby and Kemal's 7th Army were face to face. Kemal retreated east, towards the Jordan. In couple days the total size of the deserters reached to 300,000. Kemal's war was changed drastically from fighting against allies to fighting against disintegration. After a furious telegram to Sultan, "if we have a fool like Enver Pasha had not been the director-general of operations. If we did not have a commander (Ahmet Cemal Pasha) at the head of military force that abandoned the army. If above them we did not have group headquarters (Liman von Sanders) that lost the control within the first day of the battle... Now there is nothing left to do but to make peace . Kemal was appointed to the command of Yıldırım Orduları, replacing Liman von Sanders. Established his headquarters at Katma and succeeded in regaining control. He managed to resist at south of Aleppo, at the mountains. He stopped the advancing British forces (last engagements of the campaign), which Kemal's line became base of the peace agreement. Kemal's last active service to Ottoman Empire was organizing what was left behind in the southern part.

Partitioning of the Empire, 1918
In 30 October 1918 the Ottomans capitulated to the Allies with the Armistice of Mudros. Beginning with the armistice the creation of the modern Arab world and Turkey began. As a reaction to the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire, Turkish people waged an independence war to create the modern Turkey as soon as possible. The Arab rejection developed later, which had established independent Syria, Iraq...

At the end of the war, Kemal was 37 years old. He was known as a difficult man, ambitious and willful, proven to be correct in his every assessment, he had his signature in every front and big achievements (except the Mesopotamian campaign), and finally become the General that had the control of the biggest front, "Yıldırım Orduları". The "Yıldırım Orduları" was dissolved in compliance to armistice and Kemal returned to an occupied Istanbul on November 13, 1918. He was given an administrative position at the Ministry of War.

Independence
The English, Italian, French and Greek forces, leaving only a part of Central Anatolia as Turkish territory began to occupy the Anatolia. Occupation of Istanbul along with the occupation of İzmir mobilized the establishment of the Turkish national movement and the Turkish War of Independence.

Initial organization (May 1919-March 1920)
Establishment of the Turkish national movement was the first goal in Kemal's mind. The occupations generated disorganized local oppositions which were through numerous militant resistance groups and unions. Most of these oppositions faced with Allied crack downs. Some of their leaders were exiled to Malta, Malta exiles. Sultan kept his title during the occupation of Istanbul and to escape from allied pressure initiated the Turkish Courts-Martial of 1919-20.

Kemal's active participation to resistance began with his assignment as a General Inspector the East army. He task was to oversee the demobilisation. This assignment put him to an ideal position for organization of the resistance. Kemal stepped in Anatolia at May 19. Interpreting his powers liberally, contacted with local leaders and started issuing orders to provincial governors and military commanders — calling on them to resist occupation. In June 1919, he and his close friends issued the Amasya Circular which described why Istanbul's authority was illegitimate.

The British were alarmed when they learned Kemals activities. On June 23 High Commissioner Admiral Cathrope sent a report to the British Foreign Office. The following communications brought the Ottoman government's order for the execution of Kemal. On July 8 he resigned from the Ottoman Army, while he was in Erzurum. Erzurum was the gateway and the portal to Turkish tribes migrating to Eastern Anatolia. It was having the Erzurum Congress at the time. Kemal was declared a "Honorary Native" and freeman of the city, which issued him the first citizenship registration and certificate. Kemal became the city's deputy. The Sivas Congress, established after Erzurum, honored Kemal with the speaker title. Kemal called for a national election to establish a new parliament that would sit in Ankara. Nationalist call for the election was achieved. However, the assembly (Ottoman parliament) gathered in Istanbul, without Kemal. He decided to stay in Ankara.

The last Ottoman parliament declared the Misak-ı Milli (12 February 1920) and the coming days brought its dissolution by the British then subsequently the Sultan.

Jurisdictional Conflict (March 1920 - March 1922)
Kemal used the dissolution of the parliament as a chance to establish a new Assembly in Ankara. The first session of the "Grand National Assembly of Turkey" gathered on 23 April 1920. Kemal become its President. The goal that was declared was to liberate the sultan, that was in 1920.

A "jurisdictional conflict" occurred between Istanbul and the newly established parliament. This two entity had different policies (views), which had extended to the rejection of the Treaty of Sèvres, 10 August 1920, signed by the Istanbul. The Treaty of Sèvres signed between the Ottomans and the Allies further set up the occupation of Anatolia and caused a big drop in the legitimacy of the Istanbul government. Occupations were unacceptable. Kemal used this very effectively against the sultanate. Popular sovereignty passed with the new constitution of 1921 and Kemal later persuaded the deputies to move representative democracy (November 1, 1922), by abolishing the sultanate. Kemal was an established military strategist. He persuaded assembly to gather a national Army.

The conflict between the national Army, under Marshal Kemal, was faced Allies on three fronts; Franco-Turkish, Greco-Turkish, Turkish-Armenian. One of these was the western front with Greece, where Turkish forces fell back in good order to the Sakarya River, eighty kilometers from the Grand National Assembly. Atatürk took personal command and decisively defeated the Greeks in the twenty-day Battle of Sakarya from August to September 1921. Final victory over the Greeks came in the Battle of Dumlupınar on August 30, 1922.

Stage for Peace (March 1922- April 1923)
On the political front, Kemal signed the Treaty of Kars (October 23, 1921) with the Soviet Union - a treaty of friendship in which Turkey ceded the city of Batumi, in present-day Georgia — to Lenin's Bolsheviks in return for sovereignty over the cities of Kars and Ardahan, which were lost to Tsarist Russia in Russo-Turkish War of 1877–8.

The achievement at the fronts transfered to the negotiations at the Conference of Lausanne. İsmet İnönü was the leading negotiator at the Lausanne, while Kemal was doing the same with the Assembly in Ankara. There were deputies of the Assembly which demanded that peace can not be reached until the Misak-i Milli was established. Kemal was lenient to left some territories to a later time. Through the Treaty of Lausanne, Turkey finally entered a period of peace, despite irredentist opposition in the Assembly and elsewhere on July 24, 1923.

State

 * For the conceptual analysis see Kemalism

Kemal is the father of the Turkish State. The Treaty of Lausanne brought the Turkish Independence. However, Kemal's war did not end with the independence. He wanted to turn this achievement into a state which was westernized through adaption of the civilization of the western states, such as France. The state or the Kemalist idealogy is designated as an idealogy of modernization. Its constructs (including nationalism) is based on realism and the pragmatism is evident. The nature of the state, its organization and its functions are summarized in Kemalist ideology. Kemalist ideology constitutes ground rules for state nationalism in Turkey.

Defining, 1923-1924
Kemal was only 42, when the "Republic of Turkey" was declared. At the declaration public cheered 'We are returning to the days of the first caliphs', while Kemal managed to place three pillars (instruments) of his change in the important seats (Fevzi Çakmak, Kazim Özalp and İsmet İnönü). Kemal within the next couple going to establish reforms that was impossible to guess from the declaration day. In 1923, during the establishment of new institution, it was not just the old regime wanted to come back, also new ideologies wanted to have a word in its future and its organization. Some of these ideologies were are represented by famous people, like Nazım Hikmet. Opposing to old cosmopolitan Istanbul, the image of Kemal and Turkish revolutionaries were straightforward spirit of Anatolia. Kemal was determined not to jeopardize the outcome of the independence war after seeing the destruction of the Ottoman Empire. .

Resistance, 1925-1927
In 1925, partly in response to the provocations of Sheikh Said, the Maintenance of Order Law was passed, giving Atatürk the authority to shut down subversive groups.

Kemal saw the consequences of fascist and communist doctrine in the 1920s and 1930s and rejected both. As the time gets close to end of 1930s the Italian and German fascist models were also rejected, as new republic exposed to influence of these states. On may 1935, followers of these new idealist faced with "Who is to elect these bullies?" by Kemal. Kemal prevented the spread of totalitarian party rule which held sway in the Soviet Union, Germany and Italy. However, this was performed by silencing of the views and putting the state in the center. Some perceived it as the silencing of opposition, some perceived as preventing the rule of extremeness to the majority.

Economical Policies

 * For the conceptual analysis see Economic reforms

Kemal instigate economical policies not just to develop small and large scale business but also create a social strata that did virtually non-existent during Ottoman Empire. However, it needs to be mentioned that the primary problem of state (Kemalist state politics) was the lag in the development of political institutions behind social and economic change.

Initial Years
The choices that Kemal made on economical policies were reflection of the realities of its time; production in Anatolia was based on primitive agricultural methods, lack of roads and transportation facilities (establishment of railroads), inefficient marketing (control on taxation and local market regulations), the inelasticity of demand for agricultural goods (Sumerbank, Etibank, etc). Kemal and Ismet were the ones that promote the state projects. Their main goal was to knit the country together; eliminate the foreign control of the economy, improve the communications. The Istanbul as a trading port, with international foreign enterprises, was deliberately abandoned and resources channeled on other cities.

The Great Depression
The Great Depression hit very hard. The young republic found itself in crises: The country could not finance essential imports; its currency was shunned; zealous revenue officials seized the meager possessions of peasants who could not pay their taxes. Kemal faced with the same problems all the countries faced; political upheaval. The free republicans come out with a liberal program and proposed that state monopolies should be ended, foreign capital should be attracted, and that state investment should be curtailed. Kemal supported Inonu's point of view. Inonu "It is impossible to attract foreign capital for essential development". However, the effect of free republicans felt strong and state intervention was replaced with moderate state intervention, which was not close to capitalism; but a form of state capitalism. Kemal's one of the radical left-wing supporter Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu (Kadro movement (The Cadre)) claimed that Kemal found a third way between capitalism and socialism in his Marxist journal.

Democracy

 * For the conceptual analysis see Political reforms and Legal reforms

What Kemal cultivated between 1919-1920 was much more advance than the Ottoman Empire's experience with the democracy (first constitutional and second constitutional era). Kemal promised to have a "direct government by the assembly" in 1920. Kemal defended the idea that the power of constitution (sovereignty) originates from the national assembly (national sovereignty) and not from the absolute monarch of the Ottoman Empire. The assembly solidified Kemal's position in the constitution of 1921. Constitution of 1921 gave the Kemal tools to wage independence war. Constitution refuted the principles of the Treaty of Sèvres by assigning the legality to the the nation, not to the monarch or its representative (Ottoman government).

The activities towards national sovereignty intensified during 1923 with the initial backbone of legislative, judicial, and executive structures began to establish. Kemal took the position that country needed an immense task of reconstruction and this required the ability to make choices among policies. Idea of "direct government by the assembly" did not survive in this environment. The day before the Republic announced, Kemal defended the idea that there was a need in establishing a government with a Prime minister along side of President.

For Kemal total independence was not negotiable. In his view this had three dimension at that time. Kemal defended the position that a democracy can not be formed without the economic independence. Kemal was working on the abolishment of capitulations during the Conference of Lausanne. Kemal as adamant: the capitulations had to go, and with them all unequal concessions to foreigners and minorities, all outside interference. Kemal locked the Conference of Lausanne until the French and Italian economic demands changed. Another issue was the position of Caliph. Kemal wanted to integrate the power(s) of Caliphate into the powers of Assembly, and his initial activities began at January 1 1924. He worked at three fronts, development of a civic law, education system and the caliph himself. Regarding the civic law: "We must liberate our concepts of justice, our laws, our legal institutions from the bonds which hold a tight grip on us, although these bonds are incompatible with the needs of our century ." Kemal acquired the consent of İnönü, Çakmak and Özalp before abolition of the caliphate. March 1 1924 at the assembly; "The religion of Islam be elevated by ceasing to be a political instrument, as had been the case in the past ." The next coming days the assembly moved the powers of Ottoman Caliphate into itself, see Abolishment. As far as Kemal's only involvement to the rest of this process came at a speech days after, which he said "There is no need to look at them as something extraordinary ."

The political system was based on the single party politics. The only party was the Republican People's Party ("Cumhuriyet Halk Fırkası" in Turkish) which was founded by Mustafa Kemal in September 9, 1923. The basic structure of a democracy; elections, assembly, government with a PM and president was established under the Kemal's leadership. The extend of his leadership is sometimes questioned. There are historians claim that Kemal did not promote democracy, yet as his biographer notes "Between the two wars, democracy could not be sustained in many richer and better-educated societies. Atatürk's enlightened authoritarianism left a reasonable space for free private lives. More could not be expected in his lifetime."

Experiment with Multi Party, 1925
Kemal's cultural revolution caused opposition. In 1925 to ease the social tensions another party was seen as a chance. Mustafa Kemal asked Kazım Karabekir to establish the Progressive Republican Party as an opposition party in the assembly. The deputies, who want to, under the assembly became the first members of this new party. The party's economic program suggested liberalism as contrast to state socialism. The party's social program was conservatism as contrast to modernism. The politics became a two party system, for a short time. It was led by some of the same leaders, who strongly supported the Kemalist revolution in principle but differed mainly cultural revolution and secularism.

After some time, the new party was taken over by people Atatürk considered fundamentalists. The Progressive Republican Party was quickly disestablished under the new law, an act he claimed was necessary for preserving the Turkish state. The closure of the party was seen by some later biographers, such as Harold C. Armstrong, as an act of dictatorship.

Experiment with Multi Party, 1930
On August 11, 1930, Mustafa Kemal decided to try a democratic movement once again. He assigned Ali Fethi Okyar to establish a new party. In Mustafa Kemal's letter to Ali Fethi Okyar, laicism was insisted on. At first, the brand-new Liberal Republican Party succeeded all around the country. But once again the opposition party became too strong in its opposition to Atatürk's reforms, particularly in regard to the role of religion in public life. Finally Ali Fethi Okyar abolished his own party and Mustafa Kemal never succeeded in democratising the parliamentary system. He sometimes dealt sternly with opposition in pursuing his main goal of democratizing the country.

Reforms
Mustafa Kemal capitalized on his reputation as an efficient military leader and spent his following years, up until his death in 1938, instituting a variety of wide-ranging and progressive political, economic, and social reforms, transforming Turkish society from seeing itself as a group of Muslim subjects of a vast Empire into defining itself as the citizens of a modern, democratic, and secular nation-state. The reforms included, foremost, the proclamation of the new Turkish state as a republic on October 29, 1923, giving the Turkish nation the right to exercise popular sovereignty by representative democracy. Paving the way for the proclamation of the republic was the abolition of the powers of the Ottoman Dynasty which had ruled since 1383, and ordering the last members of the dynasty to leave the country, on November 1, 1922. Also during this process, the Caliphate (the nominal leadership of all Muslims in the world) held by the Ottoman Sultan since 1517 was abolished on March 3, 1924.

The leading legal reforms instituted by Mustafa Kemal included the complete separation of government and religious affairs and the adoption of a strong interpretation of the principle of laïcité in the constitution. This was coupled with the closure of Islamic courts and the replacement of Islamic canon law with a secular civil code modeled after Switzerland and a penal code modeled after the Italian Penal Code. The reforms also included the recognition of the equality between the sexes and the granting of full political rights to women on December 5, 1934, well before several other European nations.

Another important part of Atatürk's reforms encompassed his emphasis on the Turkish language and history, leading to the establishment of Turkish Language Association and Turkish Historical Society for research on Turkish language and history, during the years 1931–2. On November 1, 1928, the new Turkish alphabet was introduced by the Language Commission at the initiative of Atatürk, replacing the previously used Arabic script. The adoption of the new alphabet, combined with the opening of Public Education Centers throughout the country and the active encouragement of people by Atatürk himself with many trips to the countryside teaching the new alphabet, succeeded in achieving a substantial increase of the public literacy rate from 20% to over 90%. The literacy reform was also supported by strengthening the private publishing sector with a new Law on Copyrights and congresses for discussing the issues of copyright, public education and scientific publishing.

Reforms in the field of economy included the establishment of many state-owned factories throughout the country for agriculture, machine, and textile industries, many of which grew into successful enterprises and became privatized during the latter half of 20th century. Atatürk considered the development of a national rail network as another important step for industrialization, and this was addressed by the foundation of Turkish State Railways in 1927, setting up an extensive rail network in a very short timespan.

Mustafa Kemal regarded the fez (in Turkish "fes", which Sultan Mahmud II had originally introduced to the Ottoman Empire's dress code in 1826) as a symbol of feudalism and banned it, encouraging Turkish men to wear European attire. Notwithstanding the strong Islamic proscription against alcoholic beverages, he encouraged domestic production of alcohol and established a state-owned spirits industry. He was known to have an appreciation for the national beverage, rakı, and enjoyed it in vast quantities.

Atatürk's reforms were regarded as being too rapid by some. In his quest to modernize Turkey, he effectively abolished centuries-old traditions by means of reforms to which much of the population was unaccustomed but nevertheless willing to adopt. In some cases, these reforms were seen as benefiting the urban elites rather than the generally illiterate inhabitants of the rural countryside, where religious sentiments and customary norms tended to be stronger. In particular, Atatürk's strict religious reforms met with some opposition; and to this day, they continue t