Why the reforms of Turkey's first president sparked popular unrest: "Hat revolution"

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

If the theater begins with a hanger, then why not start reforms in the country, dressing up in new costumes, no less than the entire local population? This happened about a hundred years ago in Turkey - by the way, connoisseurs of Russian history will certainly remember something similar, but that took place two centuries earlier. One way or another, the former subjects of the Ottoman Empire were promised a happy future, but to pay for its offensive followed a rejection of old traditions, a considerable place among which was given to headdresses.

Mustafa Kemal and the course towards the westernization of the country

With the surrender of the Ottoman Empire and the abolition of the Sultanate after the First World War, an entire era in the history of this state ended. A new one began - the country needed to take the path of reform. The program, fortunately, was, as was the man, ready to become the new national leader and lead compatriots to progress and prosperity. It was Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who later, after the abolition of titles and the introduction of surnames, will receive the name Ataturk - that is, "the father of the Turks".

But this will happen only in 1934, when his homeland will already be the Turkish Republic. Mustafa Kemal was born in a country called the Ottoman Empire in 1881, and the exact date of his birth has not been established, she was not known to Ataturk either. He himself subsequently chose May 19 as his birthday - the day of the beginning of the war for independence of Turkey. Straightforward, stubborn, independent, Mustafa was educated at a military school, then at a military college, and after graduation he entered the academy of the general staff. In 1905, he created a revolutionary organization called "Vatan", that is, "Motherland", was arrested, but continued his military career.

After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I and the occupation of the country by foreign troops, Mustafa Kemal became the head of the convened parliament and headed the government, after which he concentrated his efforts on the struggle for the territorial independence of Turkey. The war ended in 1923 with the signing of the Lausanne Peace Treaty. The creation of the Turkish Republic, headed by the first president, Mustafa Kemal, was proclaimed.

The Ottoman Caliphate was liquidated, the entire system of social order had to be revised. Ataturk got down to business. In just a couple of decades, the leader of Turkey will completely change the appearance of the country and the way of life of its inhabitants, but he will start, in the best traditions of Peter I, with a national costume. Citizens of the republic had to enter a new life in new clothes and unusual headdresses.

They are greeted by their clothes

The traditional headdress of men in the Ottoman Empire was a turban or fez - a red cap with a black tassel. The fez was introduced by Sultan Mehmed II in 1826 as a headdress for officials and soldiers. Ataturk himself has repeatedly tried on European costume - for example, in 1910 during military exercises in Picardy.

On November 25, 1925, the reform of clothing and hats began in Turkey. A new mandatory dress code was introduced for civil servants: they were supposed to be dressed in a Western-style suit, wear a tie, and a hat with brims on their heads. For the rest of the citizens, a change of wardrobe was so far only strongly recommended. Mustafa Kemal himself, coming to the cities with performances, demonstrated the appearance of a citizen of the new Turkish Republic, and, inspired by his words and speeches, the townspeople after the performance themselves said goodbye to their fez and hurried to the store for a hat.

Merchants did not have time to meet the demand for new headdresses - the Turks readily responded to such changes. But, however, not everywhere. If in Istanbul there were queues for hats, then in the north and east of Anatolia protests began. A hat with brims was perceived there as a symbol of "Franks" - that is what the Europeans were called. And what could the Franks understand in Muslim traditions? The daily five-fold prayer could not be performed according to all the rules - the brim of the hat prevented you from touching your forehead to the floor during prayer, and therefore from worshiping Allah. In opposition to the new fashion, the population of Anatolian cities rejected other changes as well. Of course, harsh measures were taken against the Protestants who undermined the reforms and the authority of the government.

Protests and their suppression on the road to new reforms

Atif Khoja of Iskilip, an Islamic theologian who two years earlier wrote a treatise against the imitation of Europeans, was captured by gendarmes and put on trial for criticizing the new rules. On February 4, 1926, Atif Khoja and his "accomplice" Ali Riza were executed. It was said that the authorities simply needed a scapegoat to calm the unrest in the country. About fifty people are said to have died during the riots caused by the Turks' protests against the new dress code.

In 1934, measures to introduce European clothing became tougher: a law was passed according to which for wearing a fez instead of a hat with brims, there was a threat of imprisonment for a term of two to six months. This law on prohibited articles of clothing, adopted at the time of the reforms, was formally in effect until 2014, although in fact it had long been ignored.

In the twenties of the last century, the appearance of Turkish women changed radically: Ataturk "opened" female faces and figures, hitherto hidden from prying eyes for centuries behind various kinds of veils. “Our women feel and think like we do,” the president said. In Turkey, earlier than in many other countries, including European ones, the right of women to vote and be elected to parliament was realized - this happened already in 1934. By the way, after all the same Peter the Great, Ataturk taught shy compatriots to attend balls and dance at them.

In a very short period of time, Turkey was not just “disguised”; the lifestyle and outlook of the country's inhabitants have changed. The lands, where for centuries everything was determined by the requirements of Islam, turned into the territory of a secular state - with different, new - Western values and priorities.

Ataturk himself - in fact, a dictator, but who used his power not for selfish purposes, but for the effective reform of society - has become a truly historical figure. On the other hand, history itself led the Ottoman Empire to change, and the first president of the new republic became, in a sense, only an instrument in its hands. But it would be possible to convince the population to follow a new path without first teaching them to wear new clothes and new hats - a question that remains open.

Having found itself outlawed for some time in Turkey, the fez has not lost its significance for the rest of the Muslim world. And here's what else oriental men wear on their heads: a turban, skullcap and more.