Authoritarian State-Building: Turkey and Iran

Turkey and Iran

only independent countries that have never been colonizes
Plan for Turkey
Treaty of Sevres of 1920
o plan on how to divide Turkey
o northeast would go to Armenia, southeast would go to the Turds, the west would go to the
Greek, Turkish straits would go to Russia
Turkey refused and rallied up troops together to fight for independence
this movement was led by Ataturk
Ataturk
manage to gain independence
1923 Treaty of Lausanne confirmed Turkey's independence
he was known as the "father of the Turks"
Turkish Republic under Ataturk (1923-1938)
Turkey declared a Republic and Mustafa Kemal its president (October 1923) -> later known as
Ataturk, "father of the Turks"
Time magazine's list of the most influential people of the 20th century
o "Warriors and Statesmen," "Scientists and Healers," "Entertainers and Artists "
6 Principles of Kemalism
reformism
o openness to change
republicanism
o Turkey will be a republic, with democracy, elections, and a Constitutions
secularism
o division between church and state
o Muslim clerks will not have power over the government
o abolished Islamic law and instead adopted the Swiss Civil Code
o shut down religious schools
o changed from lunar calendar to the Gregorian calendar
o changed day of Worship from Friday to Sunday (economic purposes)
o translates Quran into Turkish (you can not translate the word of God)
o call to prayer 5 times a day is said and done in Turkish
o Fez is a sign of backwardness and adopts the European hat
"It was necessary to abolish the fez, which sat on the heads of our nation as an
emblem of ignorance, negligence, fanaticism, and hatred of progress and
civilization..." Kemal Ataturk, 1927
nationalism
o new country = new strong sense of nationalism
o Anatolia becomes Turkey, the land of the Turks
o "Turkey for the Turks and Turks for Turkey"
o Ottoman Turkish used Arabic script; Ataturk abolished Arabic script and brought in the Latin
script
(1) more accessible to Europe (2) new generations will not have access to the past
however old generation will be cut off
o Kurds want their own national government
forbade the use of Kurdish in schools
their sense of identity was repressed

when the Kurds rose up, Ataturk massacred them

Kurdish terrorists groups attacked Turkey

populism
o people's houses
combination of adult education centers, sports clubs, and political indoctrination units
outcome of the government's efforts to take the revolution to the masses
o free education for everyone
education is perfect way to indoctrinate people
etatism
o state capitalism
government controls the economy
switch from agriculture to factories
rely less on imports

Reason for Joining the European Union

Turkey believes they are not like Arabs but Europeans and they want to be a part of the group
Women
Swiss Civil Code adopted
women could marry non-Muslim men
o born into the religion (Judaism = birth)
o Muslim family, the children take the religion of the father
o abolish polygamy
universal education
o boys and girls get the same education
right to vote in national elections, 1934
o 11 years before French allowed women to vote
encouraged to enter professions
o Ataturk's daughter became a pilot
campaign against the veil
Miss Universe 1932 (Kermina Halis)
however
o Swiss Civil Code made the women had to take the last name
Assessment
successful in national efforts, and creating the current Turkey to be such a national player
role player in US policy
o ally of the US
o only country in the Middle East that is a NATO country
o Turkey borders Russia
Reza Shah
looked up to Ataturk and wanted Iran to become like Turkey
Iran at the end of World War 1
three dynasties: Safavids (founders), Qajar (end of the WW1), and Pahlavi, and later 1979 Hominy
Qajars
o Iran between Russia and Britain
1921 Reza Shah enters Tehran
Reza Shah (r. 1926-1941)

1921 Reza Shah enters Tehran

establishment of Pahlavi dynasty: Reza Shah (1926)
Persia becomes Iran 1935
o the name has too many connections with the past and is a name given by the Arabs
o break connections with Arabs, and Iranians to be distinguished everywhere from the region
modernization and reform: law (French), education, culture ("Aryan"), secularism
o didn't want to be Turkey copy cat so he took the French civil code instead
o Aryan and Iranian are from the same group
Aryan was ancient noble people and from Iran moved to European and became
German
o western dress
hat; and forces the women to abandon the veil or hijab
oil
o problems with AIOC (Anglo-Iranian Oil Company)
o attempts to renegotiate William D'Arcy Oil Concession of 1901
o but he gets an increase in the net, but is not successful because the British do not want to
give up the oil

Assessment
why isn't Iran as successful as Turkey?
o geographically Iran is much more isolated
o Shia country (different role of religious institutions)
clerks have special relationship with the hidden Imam and couldn't take away the
power, but the clerks in Sunni aren't as important, so taking away their power wasn't
that hard
o less experience with reform
o lack of trained civil servants
what kind of modernization and what kinds of effects on Iranian society?
how did this "new" Iran relate to the West?
o not very well, copying wasn't successful
the son was even worse than Reza Shah