312) Ataturk's Views Concerning Minorities in Turkey

 

Mustafa Kemals's views concerning international relations were based upon realistic foundations. However, this should not be interpreted to mean that this Turkish leader employed the Realpolitik in foreign politics like the decision makers of the Great Powers. Mustafa Kemal Pasha's starting point n relations among the states was humanitarianism, as was the case with his approach to life. Respect for international law and human rights, and recognitoin, on a global basis, the freedom of oppressed nations to determine their own fates, were among the principles that governed his world politics. However, Mustafa Kemal Pasha did not believe that a state could preserve either its life or sovereignty in the world system based on the mercy or other positive feelings of the other actors. [1] It was because of this conviction that he was sure that the liberation of Turkey could not be tied to the Wilson principles. It was again due to this reason that he opposed the idea of a mandate. A military genius like Mustafa Kemal who had fought against internal and external enemies on many fronts during the First World War was certainly not incapable of observing the methods employed by the Great Powers in an attempt to dismember the Ottoman Empire and to pinpoint these tools of foreign politics. As a matter of fact, he said the following concerning this subject:

 

The internal front is the important one. This is the front consituted by the whole country and nation. The apparent front is the one the army faces. This front can be torn down, can be changed, can be defeated. But this situation can never mean the destruction of a country. It is the collapse of the internal front that destroys the foundations of a country, that condemns a nation to slavery. In truth, "conquering a fortress from the inside' is much easier than taking by force from the outside. In this context, it is possible to claim the existence of microbes or tools of treachery which are able to contact our very bodies. [2]  

 

Mustafa Kemal describes as follows the position of the minorities in the Ottoman Empire which were turned into pawns in the psychological war against Turkey:

 

No nation has ever shown more respect than ours for the beliefs and customs of foreign elements. It can even be said that ours is the only nation that respected the religions and nationalities of the believers of other religions...These wide privalges that non-Muslims have been enjoying since the conquest of Istanbul show, and are very clear proofs of the fact that our nation is the most tolerant and magnanimous nation politically and from the point of view of religion. [3]

 

The just treatment of the Christian elements by our government and nation is dictated by our customs and the traditions of our religion. The fact that the Christian elements enjoy more peace and security and are more prosperous than Muslims everywhere in our country, even in the remotest villiage, is the strongest proof showing that Christians our treated justly in our country. If they had been treated unjustly with oppression and usurpation, they certainly would not have been in this situation today. Because of this, I do not think it necessary to produce another proof or reason. But it is natural and essential to prevent the evil deeds of those Christian elements who will attempt to harm and destroy our national existance when incited to do so from the outside or because they are capable of showing ingratitude to the last where they earn their bread. It is universally know that today the greatest, most powerful and most civilized of nations are resorting to much harsher and coercive measures than ours when it comes to these matters. [4]
Mustafa Kemal thus analyzes judiciously the motives of the Great Powers in collaborating with some minority elements in Turkey before, and during the First World War, and during the Turkish struggle for independence. He has referred to the results of this collaboration from the point of view of Turkish history in several statements he made:

 

The Turkish nation has had the right to live on these lands fo a period longer than one thousand years. This has been proven with historical records. As for the Ottoman State, it has survived for seven centuries and can rightly be proud of its magnificent past and history. We are a nation whose strength and magnificence is known throughout the world, in Asia, Europe, and Africa. Our warriors and commercial ships crossed oceans and bore our flag as far as India. Our abilities are proven with the might we once had and which was recognized by the entire world. But the intrigues of the European powers throughout the previous century at our capital, their interferences with our sovereignty through these intrigues, the restrictions they brought on our economic life, and the seeds of dissent they sowed between us and the non-Muslim elements with whom we had been coexisting in peace for centuries,... prevented us form advancing and increasing our welfare. [5]

 

This was the situation in the Ottoman State until the last minute: inside the country, the Christian elements enjoyed exceptions and privaleges far above those that the majority element enjoyed...The Christian elements had all kinds of private organizations with with they could work against the state, and they enjoyed constant encouragement and protection from abroad...The state and the government were incapable of preventing such support...Because some strong states were behind these destructive activities. On the one hand, these states were inciting the Christian elements to destroy the state and to obtain their independence, and, on the other, they were interfering with the Ottoman State on their behalf and were working for them. The Ottoman State was thus losing all its value and honor in the world; it was as if it were under the protectorate of another state. [6]

 

'How can this state be saved?' Like all other patriotic Ottoman intellectuals of the 19th and 20th centuries, Mustafa Kemal had also asked this question to himself and had formulated his own answer which is widely known. From among several solutoins proposed for saving the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal firmly adopted 'Turkish Nationalism;' he demonstrated his foresight by realizing that this was the only way out, considering both the world conjuncture and the existing conditions of Turkey; but he put his own stampt on this movement, or interpreted it in a special way, and gave it a different structure that what the Ottoman statesmen saw in it. First and foremeost, Mustafa Kemal had realized that Ottomanism had become outdated, that every Nation within the Empire had to be granted the right for self-determination in the province(s) where it constituted the majority. [7] Secondly, Mustafa Kemal's concept of nationalism was based upon having a shared language, culture, and ideals. [8] Thirdly, Mustafa Kemal's nationalism was based upon hakimiyet-i milliye ('sovereignty of the nation'). From the viewpoint of external relations, 'national sovereignty' entailed living in freedom and independence, and internally it aimed at the government of the people by the people. [9] With 'national sovereignty' Mustafa Kemal thus implied freeing the country of external enemies and giving the nation its right to self-determination: 'Transgressing upon the rights of another state has no place in our foreign policy. We are only defending our rights, our life, our country and our honor, and shall continue to do so. We recognize for all nations in the world "the right of each nation for self-determination" which is a symbol of the noblest and purest goals and thoughts and which has been created by contemporary civilization, and we demand that this right be recognized unconditionally for us as well. [10] The Turkish national struggle for independence was aimed at this goal and was successful in achieving it.

 

While the struggle to pass from the multi-national Ottoman Empire to the national and independent Turkish State was being waged, Mustafa Kemal determined as follows the Minorities Policy of the Nationalists: 'The tule of law, the absolute integrity of which must be firmly depended by the nation, becomes especially sensitive with regard to two points. The first one is the absolute and full independence of the state and nation. And the second one is refraining from sacrificing in the motherland the majority to the minorities.' [11] With this second point, Mustafa Kemal must have wanted to emphasize that national sovereignty did not only mean taking from a privaleged group and giving it to the nation, but that it was also necessary to end the supremacy of a group of minorities which was ruling over the majority in the country with a series of regulations like the capitulations which had given them special privaleges. As a matter of fact, the Turkish national struggle for independence had largely been fought against the Armenians in the East and against Greece and its Turkish Greek accomplices in the West. In order to prevent such events from recurring, Mustafa Kemal emphasized with the following words as early as 1921 that the Turkish youth has to be prepared against propaganda campaigns that might be carried out in the future by foreign powers among the minorities in Turkey: 'We must instill in our children and youth especially, the need to struggle against all foreign elements which conflict with our existence, rights and unity, and to defend fervently and at all costs the nationalist ideas with full faith against all opposing ideas.' [12]

 

In short, Mustafa Kemal Pasha had the attitude present briefly above towards separatist and destructive elements. It would be interesting to see his views during the national struggle for independence towards non-Muslims who consituted islands of minorities in Turkey. He expressed these views in the telegram he sent to the army commanders shortly after he landed in Samsun. Mustafa Kemal remarked that all the relations with the outside world were going to be cut off for a while with the beginning of armed resistance to the enemy which had invaded the country, and then emphasized the following point: 'The humanitarian treatement that you will show during this period to the Christian people living in our country will be of great value. Making it possible for the Christians, who will not be under the protection of any foreign government to lead their daily lives in peace and security, will constitute a very definite proof of the natural capacity of our race to be civilized. [13] During the intial years of the Turkish struggle for national independence, a foreign correspondant asked Mustafa Kemal if there was any truth in the rumors to the the effect that the Nationalists had some feelings against the non-Muslim elements. Mustafa Kemal's answer was as follows: 'First and foremost, I should like to point out that the organization of the nationalists has no negative feelings toward the non-Muslim elements. Although actual events have demonstrated that some of the non-Muslim elements nourish harmful tendencies which could even lead them to resort to some provocations and actions against our state and nation, it can be hoped that they have begun to feel that they cannot achieve anything by such behavior in the face of the calm and seriousness with which our nation, certain of its rights, has countered them. In that case, there will remain no reason for friction. Providing their rights fully as subjects and establishing a balance and harmony among all elements will be considered as one of our major goals. [14] The propaganda in Europe that the Turkish nationalists were oppressing minorities, was so intense that the Vatican wrote to Ankara to intercede on behalf of the Christians. In the telegram dated 12 March 1921 he sent in response, Mustafa Kemal emphasized three important points. These were: (a) 'Providing security and welfare for all the people in our country without any discrimination on the basis of race or religion is an obligation we feel on account of our humanitarian feelings and the distinguished religion of Islam.' (b) 'That Armenians and Greeks living in Anatolia were entitled to live perfectly happy and in prosperity, free of any kind of attacks as longs as they did not oppose the orders of the administration and the national actions, was a principle that was always obeyed.' (c) 'Although our enemies who have invaded parts of our country have been constantly subjecting until now our national brothers deprived of all means of self defense to all kinds of damages, plunder, murder, and deportation, all the non-Muslim elements under the administration of the Grand National Assembly are living in peace and security under the protection of our laws and arms. [15]

 

What was the status of the minorities going to be after the new Turkish State was founded on national principles? Mustafa Kemal provided the answer to this question as early as the National Pact: 'The rights of the minorities will be guaranteed by us within the framework of the principles contained in the treaties made by the victor states, some of their allies and their enemies, provided that the Muslims in the neighboring countries will enjoy the same rights.' [16] Similarly, it was stated in the Declaration of the Sivas Conference that 'All the rights and citizenship of all the non-Muslim elements are guaranteed, but these elements will not be granted privilages which conflict with our political independence and social balance.' [17] After the Republic was declared and laicism was adopted as one of the fundamental principles of the state, non-Muslims were completely integrated in the the Turkish social life. Then, Ataturk expressed as follows his view concerning minorities: 'Now that our Christian and Jewish citizens ahve freely united their fate with that of our nation, regarding them as foreigners and nourishing negative feelings towards them is incompatible with the noble nature of the civilized Turkish nation. [18]

 

Thus, to summarize, in accordance with the principle of 'Peace at Home, Peace in the World' and in part in accordance with the theories related to the interaction of between internal politics and foreign politics, Mustafa Kemal thought that some foreign states may want to use some elements inside the country to achieve their goals concerning Turkey. He knew the difficult situation the Ottomans were left in because of this method, and thought that attempts might be made in the future to use the same strategy in the national Turkish State. Consequently, he believed it was essential to take all the necessary measures to prevent the Great Powers from attempting to use this method ever again. It was because of this that he demanded the Turkish delegation which went to Lausanne to make the world accept the abolishment of the capitulations, and cautioned it to be prepared against letting this system of exploitation to continue hampering the Turkish nation under new names and in new forms. Furthermore, it was again because of the same considerations that he believed a population change was necessary for the establishment of a homogeneous Turkish state. [19] Furthermore, according to Mustafa Kemal, the patriarchates, '...which were centers of malice and treachery, which sowed seeds of strife and discord in the country, citizens...' had to be sent out of the Turkish lands. [20] However, in spite of all these, he also dded that the minorities which united their fate with that of Turkey were going to be equal in rights and duties to the other citizens of Turkey. These citizens were not going to be discriminated against, but, on the other hand, they would not be able to demand any privilages that would harm the social life.

 

REFERENCES

 

[1] I. Dogan, "Ataturk'un Dis Politikasi ve Uluslararasi Iliskiler Analayisi," Cagdas Dusuncenin Isiginda Ataturk (Istanbul, 1983), p 145-146.
[2] Nutuk, vol 2, p 639
[3] Nutuk, vol 3, p 1183
[4] Ataturk'un Soylev ve Demecleri (Ankara, 1983), vol 1, p 179
[5] Ataturk'un Tamim, Telgraf...pp 83-84
[6] M. Soydan, "Gazi ve Inkilap,' Milliyet, 24 and 25 December 1923
[7] Ataturk'un Soylev...vol 1, p 229
[8] Afet Inan, Medeni Bilgiler ve M.K.Ataturk'un El Yazilari (Ankara, 1969), p 18.
[9] H. Eroglu, Ataturkculuk (Istanbul, 1983) p 98-99.
[10] Nutuk, vol 1, p 28
[11] Ataturk'un Maarif'e Ait Direktifleri (Istanbul, 1939), p 4
[12] General Staff, Askeri Tarih Belgeleri Dergisi, vol 30, no 79 (May 1981), document no 1745.
[13] Ataturk'un Soylev..., vol 3, p 4
[14] Ataturk'un Tamim, Telgraf..., p 371-372
[15] Quoted from: I. Akin, Turk Devrim Tarihi (Istanbul, 1983), p 84
[16] Ataturk'un Tamim, Telgraf..., p 90
[17] U. Kocaturk, ed, Ataturk'un Fikir ve Dusunceleri (Ankara, 1983), p 174
[18] J.N.Rosenau, ed, Domestic Sources of Foreign Policy (New York, 1967)
[19] Ataturk'un Soylev..., vol 3, p 57
[20] Ibid.

 

 

Excerpted from "The Armenian Question 1914-1923" by Mim Kemal Oke