A Lost Subject in the History of Turkish Democracy: The Evaluation of the Turkish National Society and its Program

Abstract

This research was carried out on the establishment, development, intellectual line, declaration and especially the program of The Turkish National Society, which was established during the armistice period. No comprehensive scientific studies have been conducted on The Turkish National Society until today. This society was established on November 23, 1918, after the signing of the Armistice of Mudros on October 30, 1918, and emerged under the leadership of the educational intellectuals of the period. The founders of the society are Halil Nimetullah (Ozturk), Mehmet Sadi, Halit Fahri (Ozansoy), Servet, Hifzi Tevfik (Gonensay) and Riza Izzet. These educator intellectuals defended the idea of Turkish nationalism in an intellectual sense. Two main factors are effective in the emergence of The Turkish National Society. The first of these is to defend this feature of the Turkish nation, which has civilized qualifications, against the entire civilized world with its evidence and documents. The second important factor is to re-establish solidarity in the country by gathering the society, which was on the verge of disintegration after the armistice, around the idea of Turkish nationalism. When The Turkish National Society was founded, it published a society program consisting of twenty-four articles. Since all the founders of the society were educators, one of the important issues focused on is the issue of education and training. Accordingly, the society aims to spread its educational activities throughout the country and to increase the quality of education as much as possible.