Atatürk's cult of personality was mostly established starting in the late 1930s by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's successors after his death in 1938, by members of both his Republican People's Party and opposition parties alike, and in a limited amount by himself during his lifetime in order to popularize and cement his social and political reforms as the founder and first President of Turkey, including the introduction of republicanism, secularism, women's political and civil rights, and language and alphabet reform. It has been described as the "world's longest-running personality cult".
Overview
Following the defeat and partitioning of the Ottoman Empire by the Allies in the aftermath of World War I, Mustafa Kemal led his country through a War of Independence against Greece, Armenia, France, Britain, and other invading countries. Under his leadership, the Republic of Turkey was declared in 1923, and he was honoured with the name Atatürk by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in 1934. His other titles include Great Leader, Eternal Commander, Head Teacher, and Eternal Chief. and reason." Atatürk's memory remains a major part of Turkish politics and society into the 21st century. Almost every city in Turkey has streets named for him, and statues of him are commonly found in city squares, schools, and public offices, the latter two of which feature his portrait. The phrase Ne mutlu Türküm diyene, which Atatürk used in his speech delivered for the 10th Anniversary of the Republic in 1933, is used widely in Turkey and is often seen along with his statues. Atatürk's cult of personality is sometimes compared to those of authoritarian rulers of Central Asian countries, such as Nursultan Nazarbayev and Saparmurat Niyazov, but differs significantly in light of Atatürk's democratic and progressive reforms in Turkey and because most of the statues and memorials of him were erected after his death. For example, before the 1950s, only the incumbent President of Turkey's image appeared on Turkish currency, but Prime MinisterAdnan Menderes, in a political blow to rival President İsmet İnönü, passed a law to restore the late Atatürk's image on the currency in order to deny İnönü's image appearing instead. Menderes's government, although opposed to Atatürk's Republican People's Party, continued to utilize Atatürk's popularity among the Turkish citizenry by moving his body to a "grandiose" mausoleum 15 years after his death in 1953. It also passed a law in 1951 that criminalized insulting "Atatürk's memory." The Economist wrote in 2012 that his personality cult "carpets the country with busts and portraits of the great man" and that this has been "nurtured by Turkey's generals, who have used his name to topple four governments, hang a prime minister and attack enemies of the republic." According to this British weekly, "hard-core Islamists despise Ataturk for abolishing the caliphate in 1924 and expunging piety from the public space. They feed rumours that he was a womaniser, a drunk, even a crypto-Jew." A 2008 article in National Identities also discussed Atatürk's ubiquitous presence in the country:
Law on Atatürk
Turkish Law 5816 was passed 13 years after Atatürk's death on July 25, 1951 by Prime Minister Adnan Menderes's government, and protects "Atatürk's memory" from being offended by any Turkish citizen. In 2011, there were 48 convictions for "insulting Atatürk" and insulting Atatürk's memory is punishable by up to three years in jail.
In March 2007, after numerous videos insulting Atatürk were discovered on YouTube, a Turkish high court had YouTube blocked in the country. The following text was written on the page: "Access to this site has been blocked by a court decision! Access to YouTube.com site has been suspended in accordance with decision no: 2007/384 dated 06.03.2007 of Istanbul First Criminal Peace Court." Kursat Kayral, the Public Prosecutor of Turkey, requested from the US government the identities of YouTube users who insult Atatürk, Turkey and the country's flag in order to investigate them for possible prosecution. The YouTube ban was lifted in November 2010.
Numerous places in Turkey have been named after Atatürk, the nation's founding father. According to a Lonely Planet guide to Turkey: "His name is affixed to bridges, airports and highways too many to mention. And seemingly every house where he spent a night from southern Aegean to the Black Sea is now a museum." Places named after Atatürk include:
Istanbul Atatürk Airport
Atatürk Bridge
Atatürk Dam
Atatürk Olympic Stadium
Statues
The first statue of Atatürk was sculpted in 1926 in the Sarayburnu district of Istanbul by Austrian sculptor Heinrich Krippel. Today, statues of Atatürk can be found all over Turkey.
