Birth of the Modern Turkey: Brief History and Features of the Constitution of the Turkish Republic of 1924
Birth of the Modern Turkey: Brief History and Features of the Constitution of the Turkish Republic of 1924

Summary/Abstract: This article aims to pursue the main developments and cusps of transformation that took place in the Ottoman Empire from the beginning of the Tanzimat Era to the establishment of the Republic of Turkey. This tract of time could be defined as the “longest century of the Ottoman Empire”, in the course of which more remarkable legislative actions happened than during the previous history of the Ottoman state. The very first reform efforts of the Ottoman Empire were related to military affairs, but the leaders of Tanzimat educated Western-style, brought differing remedy for the “Sick Man of Europe” than their forefathers. Besides the transformation of the administrative system, the issue of representative political bodies and rights of the subjects became more and more timely. The Constitution of 1876 and the restoration of the Constitution in 1908 gave experience for the Ottomans on Western-style parliamentary monarchy. World War I drifted the Turks to an unexpected direction. During struggle of the Turks against the Allied Powers for national independence, a new leader emerged in the person of MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATÜRK. After the international status of Turkey had been settled, ATATÜRK began his internal reforms. His aim was to turn Turkey into a European state and the Turkish people into a European nation. The wind of political changes blew off the institution of the Sultanate of the Ottoman Empire and the Caliphate of Islam. However it gave birth to a new state, the Republic of Turkey. The main focus of the article is the shifting of sovereignty during Tanzimat and the Turk Revolution as well as features of the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey of 1924.

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