After 100 Years, Examining Ataturk’s Legacy As He Sought To ‘Erase’ Islam

On October 29, Turkiye celebrated one hundred years since the establishment of the Republic of Turkiye, officially declared in 1923 by its founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, credited with having transformed Turkiye from a struggling, formerly colonized country into a modern, westernized, and completely secular nation. Statues and portraits of him are visible throughout the country, in government offices and homes. His face is on currency and postage, and has even been carved on the side of a mountain.

Turkish students in all levels of education are taught to adore and have reverence for him. Ataturk is deemed a hero and his memory revered to the point that Turkish Law 5816 protects ‘the memory of Ataturk’ from being offended by any Turkish citizen and is punishable with up to 3 years in prison. This law has deterred Turkish people and specifically Muslims from raising awareness of the extreme evil measures ordered by Ataturk in his quest to secularize Turkiye and erase Islam and the Islamic heritage from the hearts and minds of the Turkish people.

Ataturk is portrayed as the ‘father of the Republic of Turkey’ – the literal meaning of the name ‘father of the Turks’ given to Mustafa Kemal in 1934 by the Grand National Assembly (GNA), the Turkish parliament, after a decree was enacted requiring all Turkish citizens to have surnames or family names.

He rose through the ranks of the military, serving in the Turkish armed forces of the Ottoman Empire, and playing a major role in the liberation of Turkiye from the colonial European powers that intended to divide the Ottoman Empire among themselves after the World War 1 defeat of the Axis countries. There are statues of Ataturk on the borders of Iraq and Syria, and millions honor him as a hero. However, many of the conflicts that exist in the region and the Muslim world even today are a direct result of his political decisions and actions. 

A video report by Forgotten Perspective, as well as other sources, state that Ataturk was highly influenced by the ‘Donmeh’, a secretive group of Sabaatean ‘crypto-Jews in the Ottoman Empire from the 17th century, who rose to influential positions of power in the region. They converted to Islam publicly but secretly maintained their beliefs. They were centered in Thessaloniki (also called Salonika) in Greece – the city where Ataturk was born in 1881, raised, and educated in schools they controlled. They formed a movement that favored secularism and in later years were allied with the Zionist movement.

Ataturk was an exceptional student and rose in rank as he continued his education at military schools, graduating as a highly respected officer. In his early years he declared his support for the Ottoman Sultan and propagated the idea of “fraternity between the Turks, Kurds and numerous other Muslim minorities that were part of the fabric of diverse ethnicities woven together by the Ottoman Empire. He was commissioned by the government to travel in the region, encouraging cooperation and the idea of unity. As a result, the masses of those people supported and trusted him, his leadership and his apparent support in the struggle to defend“ the peoples’ religious identities.”

By 1908, the Young Turks, a secularist organization fomented a revolution that demanded the return of the Turkish government to its previous constitution and parliamentary system that had been replaced by Sultan Hamid II in favor of a monarchic rule giving the Sultan nearly uncontested powers. The Young Turks included people of many diverse ethnicities who banned together in opposition to Adbul Hamid’s rule, and eventually the revolution they brought was governed by three former Ottoman officials, who revoked his authority and forced Sultan Abdul Hamid II and his family into exile. 

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was a key participant in the proliferation of this revolution, having been the commander at many victorious battles and in 1911 against Italy. By 1919, Ataturk had risen to the rank of Brigadier General, leading Turkiye in 1920 in its ‘War of Independence’ against the Axis powers who ‘won’ World War II and attempted to split up and colonize the Ottoman countries. 

Under the Young Turks’ reign, in their extreme measures of ‘Turkification’ of the people, many massacres were enacted. An article by Wayne Madsen on the Agora Blog states: “Historians like Ahmed Refik, who served as an intelligence officer in the Ottoman army, averred that it was the aim of the Young Turks to destroy the Armenians, who were mostly Christian. The Young Turks, under Ataturk’s direction, also expelled Greek Christians from Turkish cities and attempted to commit a smaller-scale genocide of the Assyrians, who were also mainly Christian.” The Kurdish rebellion of 1937 led by Shaikh Syed, who called the entire Muslim empire to fight against the irreligious decrees of Ataturk and  the revolution’s political arm, the Committee of Union and Progress, resulted his capture and hanging, and in the bombing of over 20,000 Kurdish people in the Turkish city of Dersim.

Elected to the presidency of Turkiye in 1923, Ataturk’s goal was to completely abolish the Khilafat that had existed since the time of Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA) in 632 H., and any remnant of religion associated with Islam, which he detested, as his political movement saw religion as a fatal hindrance to becoming a progressive, modern nation. As leader of the ‘Kemalist’ regime, he revoked all authority of Islamic Law, as well as the institution and authority of the Khilafah, and removed the status and official position of ‘Shaikh ul Islam, who was the Grand Mufti of Turkey. That office was replaced with the ‘Diyanet’ – the so-called ‘religious ministry’ which controlled and monitored all religious education in the country and oversaw the reformation and removal of all Islamic influence in the educational system, on all levels in Turkiye. Western law derived from Italy and Sweden replaced the Islamic law and social systems used during Ottoman rule. Today, the president of the Diyanet is considered the Grand Mufti. Use of Arabic in schools, mosques,or during any religious proceedings such as Friday congregational prayers and Eid was banned, and the ‘Shahadah’ was removed from Turkish military flags.

All Islamic books and print media were burned and destroyed, and newspapers in Turkiye were allowed to malign Muslim scholars, portraying them as ‘evil traitors’, even insulting Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and calling religion ‘poison’. Ataturk abolished the iddat period of waiting for divorced women, and made marriage strictly civil instead of the traditional nikah. Muslim women were permitted to marry non-Muslim men, and were encouraged to wear the short, revealing clothing of Europe. Many religious leaders were hung for refusing to wear western clothing. Wearing a hijab was made a criminal offense, and men were forbidden to wear the fez or turban in favor of western style hats and clothing for men and women. Mosques were turned into stables for pigs and horses, and were also used for pubs, casinos and army barracks. 

All Islamic study was forbidden and meeting places such as zawiyas were closed. Teaching of the Holy Quran and its recitation in Arabic was banned, and for 18 years, Muslims were forced to call the adhan in Turkish. Instead of the word ‘Allah’, the Turkish word ‘Tanri’ was used.

Government officials who would swear their oaths of office by Allah, were made to swear their official oaths of duty to Ataturk himself and Turkiye. This practice is continued today. At one point, Hajj and Umrah were even outlawed, and it was proposed that the Muslim daily prayers be only recited in Turkish! However, these proposals never actually materialized. In full effect, Islam was replaced with ‘Kemalism’ and the people were made to idolize Ataturk almost to the extent of worship, prostrating to his picture in some assemblies. Turkish nationalism was emphasized and non-Turks were banned from speaking their own native languages. Use of Kurdish was punishable with a prison term. 

All Islamic holidays were abolished and replaced with western holidays and the Gregorian calendar. The racism practiced against the Kurdish people has its roots sunk deeply in the period of the Kemalist regime and gives a hint as to their predicament today. It is said that the evil doctrines of Ataturk inspired Hitler and the German Nazis. 

Every year on November 10 at 9:05 am, a siren sounds and all Turkish citizens stop wherever they may be in remembrance of the exact time, in 1938, when Mustafa Kemal, a heavy drinker, died of cirrhosis of the liver. 

And every day of every year, at the time of the five daily prayers, which all Muslims perform with love and devotion to The Almighty, the Arabic call to prayer rings out in every Turkish city, and around the entire globe.

Ataturk and ‘Kemalism’ intended and attempted to extinguish Islam, not understanding that fighting against Almighty Allah, the Creator of humanity will always be a losing battle, as He, The Most High, has stated in His Holy Quran, which could not be destroyed by the best efforts of the enemies of Allah and Islam for a thousand years before them: 

“It is He Who has sent His Messenger (Muhammad SAW) with guidance and the religion of Truth (Islam), to make it superior over all religions even though the Mushrikun (polytheists, pagans, idolaters, disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah) hate (it). Surah Tawbah, Ayat 33

R.A. Hameed