Atatürk and Contemporary Speech Lessons From the Late Ottoman and Early Republican Era

Abstract

In recent decades, discussions in Turkey regarding limitations on speech and the press have intensified, attracting widespread global attention. From frequent bans on online communication platforms including Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, to the seemingly arbitrary imprisonment of journalists with opposition views, regulation of speech during the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) since 2002 has been highly contentious. This chapter aims to put debate on these practices into an historical perspective, by focusing on the era of the foundation of modern Turkey, namely the late Ottoman and early Republican period, which stretched roughly between 1830 and 1945. It argues that it is in this period that significant fields of contemporary Turkey, such as politics, education, and the legal system, emerged, leaving an enduring legacy, in the context of which contemporary policies must be understood. This earlier era is associated with one of the most significant political characters in Turkey’s history, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938), who played a momentous role in the transition from the Ottoman order to modern Turkey. In his single-minded efforts to realize his utopia, a modern, secular republic being part of the Western world, Atatürk brought about a drastic reshaping of Turkish society, and neither Turkey nor the Muslim world will ever be the same again (Hanioğlu 2011, p. 232). Although Mustafa Kemal was evidently not the sole factor that made the transformation of Turkish society possible, he was a radical and authoritative figure who marked the process with his own stamp. It is therefore important to examine his approach to speech as a sociopolitical phenomenon and its regulation, in order to understand the foundational framework in which speech has been handled in the Turkish context. His stamp is central to a consideration of tendencies in speech and society in Turkey. Accordingly, after summarizing Atatürk’s views on the issue of speech, its role and regulation, this chapter presents the context of the late Ottoman and early Republican era that heralded his approach, in order to uncover his inspirations and their underlying dynamics. © Cambridge University Press 2018.