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Part Three
The New Language:
"The cornerstone of education is an easy system of reading and writing. The key to this is the new Turkish alphabet based on the Latin script."
The most difficult change in any society is probably a language reform. Most nations never attempt it; those who do, usually prefer a gradual approach. Under Ataturk's Leadership, Turkey undertook the modern world's swiftest and most extensive language reform. In 1928, when he decided that the Arabic script, which had been used by the Turks for a thousand years, should be replaced with the Latin alphabet. He asked the experts: " How long would it take ?" Most of them replied: " At least five years." " We shall do it," Ataturk said," within five months"
As the 1920s came to an end, Turkey had fully and functionally adopted, with its 29 letters (8 vowels and 21 consonants), has none of the complexities of the Arabic script, which was ill-suited to the Turkish language. The language reform enabled children and adults to read and write within a few months, and to study Western languages with greater effectiveness.
Thousands of words, and some grammatical devices, from the Arabic and Persian, held a tight grip over Ottoman Turkish. In the early 1930s, Ataturk spearheaded the movement to eliminate these borrowings. To replace the loan words from foreign languages, large number of original words, which had been in use in the earlier centuries, where revived, and provincial expressions and new coinages were introduced. The transformation met with unparalleled success: In the 1920s, the written language consisted of more than 80 percent Arabic, Persian, and French words; by the early 1980s the ratio had declined to a mere 10 percent.
Ataturk's language reform -encompassing the script, grammar and vocabulary- stands as one of the most far-reaching in history. It has overhauled Turkish culture and education.
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Women's Rights:
"Everything we see in the world is the creative work of women."
With abiding faith in the vital importance of women in society, Ataturk launched many reforms to give Turkish women equal rights and opportunities. The new Civil Code, adopted in 1926, abolished polygamy and recognized the equal rights of women in divorce, custody, and inheritance. The entire educational system from the grade school to the university became coeducational. Ataturk greatly admired the support that the national liberation struggle received from women and praised their many contributions: " In Turkish society, women have not lagged behind men in science, scholarship, and culture. Perhaps they have even gone further ahead." He gave women the same opportunities as men, including full political rights. In the mid-1930s, 18 women, among them a villager, were elected to the national parliament. Later, Turkey had the world's first women supreme court justice. In all walks of life, Ataturk's Turkey has produced tens of thousands of well-educated women who participate in national life as doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, writers, administrators, executives, and creative artists.
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Strides in Education:
"The governments most creative and significant duty is education."
Ataturk regarded education as the force that would galvanize the nation into social and economic development. For this reason, he once said that, after the War of Independence, he would have liked to serve as Minister of Education. As President of the Republic, he spared no effort to stimulate and expand education at all levels and for all segments of the society.
Turkey initiated a most ambitious program of schooling children and adults. From grade school to graduate school, education was made free, secular, and co-educational. Primary education was declared compulsory. The armed forces implemented an extensive program of literacy. Ataturk heralded "The Army of Enlightenment". With pencil or chalk in hand, he personally instructed children and adults in schoolrooms, parks, and other places. Literacy which had been less than 9 percent in 1923 rose to more than 33 percent by 1938.
Women's education was very close to Ataturk's hearth. In 1922, even before proclaiming the Republic, he vowed: " We shall emphasize putting our women's secondary and higher education on an equal footing with men."
To give impetus to science and scholarship, Ataturk transformed the University of Istanbul (founded in the mid-15th century) into a modern university in 1933. A few years later, the University of Ankara became into being. Today, Turkey has major universities all over the country. Except for Europe and North America she has one of the world's highest ratios of university graduates to population.
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