The proclamation of the Republic of Turkey (), formally declared during a session of the

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

on 29 October 1923, established of

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

's form of government as a republic. This was realized by a constitutional amendment drafted by

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

. In a broader sense, the proclamation of the republic was an integral part of

Atatürk's reforms Atatürk's reforms ( or ''Atatürk Devrimleri''), also referred to as the Turkish Revolution (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türk Devrimi''), were a series of political, legal, religious, cultural, social, and economic policy changes, designed ...

aimed at modernizing Turkish society, constituting a political revolutionary movement that paved the way for other renewal and reforms. Alongside the ''"Law Concerning the Amendment Pertaining to the Modification of Certain Provisions of the Turkish Constitution, No. 364, dated 29 October 1339 (1923)"'', amendments were made to six articles (1, 2, 4, 10, 11, and 12) of the Turkish Constitution of 1921; the first article was modified as follows: ''"Sovereignty unconditionally belongs to the Nation. The administrative method is based on the principle of the direct and actual administration of the people's affairs by the people themselves. The form of government of the Turkish state is a republic."'' Changes made to other articles of the constitution established the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

; it was envisaged that the president would be elected by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey from among its members, and the procedure for the formation of the government was altered. In terms of the government's organizational structure, a departure from the assembly government system occurred, transitioning to a

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their Election, democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of t ...

Background

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 governed by absolute monarchy until the year 1876. During this period, the institution of the sultanate exerted absolute sovereignty over the populace. While discussions of the republican ideology began with the

Tanzimat The (, , lit. 'Reorganization') was a period of liberal reforms in the Ottoman Empire that began with the Edict of Gülhane of 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. Driven by reformist statesmen such as Mustafa Reşid Pash ...

era, Ottoman intellectuals deemed the establishment of

constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...

sufficient, and there was no further push for or demand of a more advanced form of governance. The Ottoman Empire was administratively governed under constitutional monarchy from 1876 to 1878 and again from 1908 to 1920. Following the conclusion of

World War I 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 ...

, which resulted in the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, 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 ...

initiated under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk explicitly declared, from its early years, that popular will would henceforth prevail in governance. The third article of the proclamation issued on 23 July 1919, after the Erzurum Congress, stated, "It is essential to make the national forces effective and the national will predominant". To concretely manifest the national will, a parliament was convened in Ankara on 23 April 1920, known as the Grand National Assembly, after the

occupation of Istanbul The occupation of Istanbul () or occupation of Constantinople (12 November 1918 – 4 October 1923), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, by United Kingdom, British, France, French, Italy, Italian, and Greece, Greek forces, took place in accordan ...

and the disbandment of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

. The president of the 390-member assembly, endowed with extraordinary powers, was simultaneously tasked with heading the government and serving as the head of state. The Turkish Constitution of 1921, adopted by the assembly on 20 January 1921, declared that sovereignty belonged to the Turkish nation. As a reaction against the continued representation of the Istanbul government as the representative of the Turkish nation, the assembly, on 1 November 1922, voted to abolish the Ottoman sultanate. After the decision to hold new elections on 1 April 1923, preparations for a new constitution began under the directive of Mustafa Kemal until the convening of the new assembly. The existing constitution affirmed that national sovereignty belonged to the Turkish nation and that the authority to represent this will was delegated to the assembly on behalf of the nation, but did not specify the form of government or a capital. During the preparation of the new constitution, Mustafa Kemal engaged in discussions with those around him regarding the proclamation of the republic. In a statement he made to a correspondent of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

's ''Neue Freie Presse'' newspaper on 22 September 1923, and first summarized in Turkish in the '' İkdam'' newspaper, Mustafa Kemal explicitly introduced the term "republic" in response to the correspondent's question, causing significant reverberations both domestically and internationally. In October 1923, İsmet Pasha and a group of deputies submitted a bill to the Grand National Assembly, proposing Ankara be recognized as the

seat of government The seat of government is (as defined by ''Brewer's Politics'') "the building, complex of buildings or the city from which a government exercises its authority". In most countries, the nation's Capital city, capital is also seat of its governmen ...

. With the enactment of this single-article law on 13 October 1923, officially designating Ankara as the capital, the contentious debates over the government center being in Istanbul were resolved, and a crucial step toward the proclamation of the republic was taken.

Evolution

1923 11 03 Resimli Gazete Cumhuriyetin Ilani

Government crisis

As of 1 November 1922, the country, now devoid of a sultanate, was governed by a parliamentary system. In this governmental system, where each minister was elected by the parliament, it led to a form of government where incompatible individuals came together. Additionally, prolonged debates ensued for each ministry. Members of the newly formed Executive Committee, established after the election of the new parliament, expressed difficulties working under these conditions. The government's weakness became evident on 23 October. Simultaneously serving as the Minister of Interior, Ali Fethi Bey, who was also the chairman of the executive committee, expressed the intention to relinquish the Interior Ministry to Ahmet Ferid Bey. However, the parliament rejected this proposal and elected Sabit Bey (Mehmet Sabit Sağıroğlu), a deputy from Erzincan. Similarly, the deputy speaker of the Grand National Assembly, Ali Fuat Bey, expressed the desire to step down, nominating Yusuf Kemal Bey as his replacement. However, the parliament did not accept this and elected Rauf Bey. In response to this situation, Mustafa Kemal, the speaker of the parliament, convened the government on the evening of 25 October 1923 at Çankaya. During the meeting, it was decided that the Executive Committee would resign and not participate in the newly elected Executive Committee. Thus, a governmental crisis was created that would lead to the declaration of the Republic.

Constitutional amendment proposal

After the resignation of the executive committee was read in the Grand National Assembly on 27 October, efforts began to establish a new Executive Committee. However, the opposition's attempts to form a new government did not yield results. On 28 October, during a dinner at the Çankaya Mansion attended by İsmet Pasha (İnönü), Fethi Bey (Okyar), Kazım Pasha (Özalp), Kemalettin Sami Pasha, Halit Pasha (Karsıalan), Fuat (Bulca), and Ruşen Eşref Bey (Ünaydın), hosted by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, discussions were held regarding the way out of the cabinet crisis, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk informed his guests that "Gentlemen! We shall declare the republic tomorrow." After dinner, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and İsmet Pasha prepared the draft law together.

People's Party Group meeting

On the morning of 29 October 1923, the People's Party Group convened in the parliament to discuss the cabinet change. When the discussions reached an impasse, it was decided to assign Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to resolve the issue. Requesting an hour for a solution, Mustafa Kemal took the floor an hour later, expressing that if the form of government became a republic, there would be no government crises, and for this, the regime needed to be officially recognized as a republic, and the governance structure needed to be arranged accordingly. He presented the constitutional amendment proposal. Following the speeches made during the People's Party Group meeting, the proposal was read in its entirety, and then each article was separately read and accepted.

Parliamentary session

Immediately after the People's Party Group meeting, the parliamentary session began. While the parliament was engaged in other matters, the proposed bill was formally examined and documented by the Constitutional Committee. The law, accompanied by numerous speakers' applause and cries of "Long live the Republic!" during their speeches, was accepted. Subsequently, a presidential election was held, and with the unanimous vote of 158 members, Mustafa Kemal Pasha was elected as the president.

References

{{Turkey topics History of the Republic of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk 1923 in Turkey Revolutions of 1917–1923

October 1923