Mustafa Necati, also known as Mustafa Necati Uğural (1894 - January 1, 1929) was a

Turkish Turkish may refer to: * Something related to Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities in the former Ottoman Empire * The w ...

statesman in the early years of the

Turkish Republic Turkish Republic may refer to: * Turkey, archaically the "Turkish Republic" * Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the ...

, who served as the Minister of National Education during the reform period. He died before the Turkish

Surname Law The Surname Law () of the Republic of Turkey is a law adopted on 21 June 1934, requiring all citizens of Turkey to adopt the use of fixed, hereditary surnames. Prior to 1934, Turkish families in the major urban centres had names by which they were ...

was adopted and the surname Uğural is actually the surname his family members adopted after his death.

Early years

Mustafa Necati was born in 1894 in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

. His father was Halit and his mother was Naciye. After his primary and secondary education in İzmir, he went to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

for higher education and studied law. He returned to İzmir in 1914 to serve as a lawyer and teacher. In 1915 he established a private school with his friend

Vasıf Çınar Hüseyin Vasıf Çınar (1895–1935) was a Turkish people, Turkish educator, politician, journalist and diplomat. Early years He was born on Crete. He was of Kurds in Turkey, Kurdish descend, and was the son of Abdullah Hulusi Bey, a son of Em ...

. He also served as a legal adviser for the local railway company. After the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in which the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

was defeated, the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

fired the railway workers. He tried to defend the workers' rights by establishing a committee. Later he expanded his activities to defend the rights of the reserve officiers who returned from the front. After İzmir was occupied by the

Greek army The Hellenic Army (, sometimes abbreviated as ΕΣ), formed in 1828, is the land force of Greece. The term '' Hellenic'' is the endogenous synonym for ''Greek''. The Hellenic Army is the largest of the three branches of the Hellenic Armed F ...

, he fled to Istanbul and then to

Balıkesir Balıkesir () is a city in the Marmara Region, Marmara region of Turkey. It is the seat of Balıkesir Province, which is also a Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality. As of 2022, the population of Balıkesir Province ...

, where he began to participate in the

Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

. Among other things he published a short lived newspaper named ''İzmir'e Doğru'' ("Towards İzmir") to defend Turkish rights against Greek invasion.University of Balıkesir periodical
/ref>

As a politician during the War of Independence

After the

Ottoman parliament The General Assembly (; French romanization: "Medjliss Oumoumi" or ''Genel Parlamento''; ) was the first attempt at representative democracy by the imperial government of the Ottoman Empire. Also known as the Ottoman Parliament ('' Legislation o ...

in Istanbul was abolished by the Allies on 16 March 1920,

Turkish parliament The Grand National Assembly of Turkey ( ), usually referred to simply as the GNAT or TBMM, also referred to as , in Turkish, is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Consti ...

was established in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

on 23 April 1920 and Mustafa Necati was elected as the Saruhan (present Manisa) MP. However, during the 1920-1922 term he spent most of his time out of Ankara. He was appointed as the member of Independence Tribunals in

Sivas Sivas is a city in central Turkey. It is the seat of Sivas Province and Sivas District.İl Beledi ...

and then

Kastamonu Kastamonu, formerly Kastamone/Castamone () and Kastamon/Castamon (), is a city in northern Turkey. It is the seat of Kastamonu Province and Kastamonu District.

. Finally he was appointed as the chairman of

Amasya Amasya () is a city in northern Turkey, in the Black Sea Region. It was called Amaseia or Amasia in antiquity."Amasya" in ''Encyclopædia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol ...

Independence Tribunal.

As a politician in the Republic of Turkey

As soon as the Republic was proclaimed on 29 October 1923, Mustafa Necati became a government minister of

İsmet İnönü Mustafa İsmet İnönü (24 September 1884 – 25 December 1973) was a Turkish politician and military officer who served as the second List of Presidents of Turkey, president of Turkey from 1938 to 1950, and as its Prime Minister of Turkey, pr ...

’s cabinets. His first seat was Minister of Exchange Construction and Settlement in the

1st government of Turkey The 1st government of Turkey (30 October 1923 – 6 March 1924) was the first government formed in the Republic of Turkey. In reality, there were other governments between 23 April 1920 and 29 October 1923, but the republic was proclaimed on 29 O ...

. This was a very important seat for its main responsibility was the

Population exchange between Greece and Turkey The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey stemmed from the "Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations" signed at Lausanne, Switzerland, on 30 January 1923, by the governments of Greece and Turkey. It involv ...

. In the 2nd government of Turkey he was the

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

. However his most important seat was that of Minister of National Education following a revision in the

4th government of Turkey The 4th government of Turkey (3 March 1925 – 1 November 1927) was a government in the history of Turkey. It is also called ''the third İnönü government''. Background The government was formed after the previous government led by Fethi Oky ...

. As such he presented the draft bill which allowed the establishment of the Language Council to the Turkish Parliament in March 1926. He kept this post in the

5th government of Turkey The 5th government of Turkey (1 November 1927 – 27 September 1930) was a government in the history of Turkey. It is also called ''the fourth İnönü government'' Background The government was formed after Kemal Atatürk was elected as the p ...

till his death.

Nation schools

Up to 1928 the

Arabic script The Arabic script is the writing system used for Arabic (Arabic alphabet) and several other languages of Asia and Africa. It is the second-most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world (after the Latin script), the second-most widel ...

was used in Turkey. However, the

Turkish language Turkish ( , , also known as 'Turkish of Turkey') is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, a member of Oghuz languages, Oghuz branch with around 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and one of two official languag ...

has 8 vowels and the Arabic script remained incapable in reproducing the Turkish words. Nevertheless, being the script of

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

it was considered to be inalterable. But president Atatürk decided to adopt

Latin alphabet The Latin alphabet, also known as the Roman alphabet, is the collection of letters originally used by the Ancient Rome, ancient Romans to write the Latin language. Largely unaltered except several letters splitting—i.e. from , and from � ...

(with small changes). Moreover, he insisted that the reform should be carried out immediately. In addition to adding the Latin alphabet to school curricula, short term courses for the adults called

Nation's schools Nation’s school () was the name of a campaign of series of courses offered to adults to learn the Latin alphabet in Turkey in 1929–1932. Background The Ottoman Empire, like many Islamic countries, used the Arabic alphabet, even though it was ...

() were established. As the minister of National Education, Mustafa Necati was responsible for establishing these courses. The courses were successful and Necati was later considered to be one of the pioneers of the new

Turkish alphabet The Turkish alphabet () is a Latin-script alphabet used for writing the Turkish language, consisting of 29 letters, seven of which ( Ç, Ğ, I, İ, Ö, Ş and Ü) have been modified from their Latin originals for the phonetic requirements o ...

Death

Mustafa Necati died due to

appendicitis Appendicitis is inflammation of the Appendix (anatomy), appendix. Symptoms commonly include right lower abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever and anorexia (symptom), decreased appetite. However, approximately 40% of people do not have these t ...

on 1 January 1929, the very same day the Nation Schools were opened. The next day he was laid to rest in

Cebeci Asri Cemetery The Cebeci Asri Cemetery () is a cemetery located in the Cebeci quarter of central Ankara, Turkey serving multiple religions. It was the first modern burial place in the capital city, and is the final resting place of many prominent figures. As o ...

in Ankara.

Discussion on Mustafa Necati’s house

In 2006 Mustafa Necati’s 3 story house, in Ankara on Mithatpaşa Caddesi, was set to be handed over to a restaurant chain, which sparked vigorous protests. Following an intense debate, the

decided, in 2008, to convert the house to a cultural center for MPs.

Mustafa Necati in sports

Mustafa Necati was one of the founders of

Altay Altai or Altay may refer to: Places *Altai Mountains, in Central and East Asia, a region shared by China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Russia In China *Altay Prefecture (阿勒泰地区), Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China *Altay City (阿勒� ...

sports club in 1914.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Necati, Mustafa 1894 births 1929 deaths Politicians from İzmir People from Aidin vilayet Republican People's Party (Turkey) politicians Ministers of national education of Turkey Members of the 1st government of Turkey Members of the 2nd government of Turkey Members of the 4th government of Turkey Members of the 5th government of Turkey Members of the 2nd Parliament of Turkey Altay S.K. Darülfünun alumni Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni Recipients of the Medal of Independence with Red-Green Ribbon (Turkey) Deaths from appendicitis Burials at Cebeci Asri Cemetery