What we understand from the expression of modern civilisation is science and trust in its power. This science in which we trust is not mystic, scholastic, metaphysical, it is the science giving birth to 21st century's civilisation. Apart from the East, where they have not developed for many valuable centuries, half of the West has remained awake; the concept of science has for centuries been used in deceitful areas. Until Renaissance numerous words empty of meaning were called as science in the Europe of the Middle Ages on the other hand, the science we trust in is a science which is creative, scientific and forms realities beginning within the first human, until it reaches the last human.

What is science? Science is the process of producing knowledge in a dialectical structure without depending on any dogmas. Nature and social facts can only be explained with science. Only science offers civilisation to the mankind. And since science has an international character it is a necessity of being universal, Atatürk's saying "The best guide in life is science", i.e. Science is the real guide in life and it puts forward the importance of it.

Atatürk, who never ever made concessions from science and rationalism behaviour also said the following about this subject: "I do not leave behind any passages of the Koran, any dogmas, any stereotyped rules as a moral heritage. My moral heritage is science and reason. My successors will verify that as we confront the formidable and rooted obstacles, though we may not completely reach our aims, we never ever make concessions and always be led by reason and science. Time passes rapidly. Even the understanding of happiness and unhappiness of nations and societies, people change.

In such a world to claim that you lay down provisions which are never to be changed is to deny the development of science. What I want to do and achieve for the Turkish nation is self-evident. From now on, if the ones who want to adopt me accept the guidance of reason and science on this axis, then they will be my moral successors.

(Söylev ve Demeçler Gen. Kur. Başk. Yayınları, M.E.B. Basımevi) (Speeches and Declarations - Chief of General Staff Publications, Ministry of National Education Publishing House)

The ideas against science are against modern civilisation, against Atatürk, against the ones who like Atatürk, liking Atatürk means having confidence in science and in its power, liking Atatürk means being scientific.

The foundation store of the Great Turkish Revolution is secularism.

It is only after we move from a religious community in the Ottoman Empire era into a nation in the Republican era that we want to maintain the development of our country and nation freely in a structure that internalises modern civilisation. We try to make use of all kinds of means to experience modern civilisation better and greater in a territory which is backward with regard to civilisation. We make efforts to reconstruct the institutions that make up all of our national existence so that we can reestablish our culture. As we walk through the enlightened path encouraged by the Great Turkish Revolution that 20th century gave us, there are some people inside and outside who want to prevent this happy progress and block our way.

So as to make us return once again to the religious community era, they try to blur minds with some oppositions and show that the revolutionary life, the ongoing regime is going in a direction which conflicts with religion. They try to spread their ideas, which will cause them to regress and be deceived.

To achieve this they want to abuse the most dignified feeling namely the religious feelings and attack secularism. It is necessary to display obviously how nonsense such ideas are and thus show that the unnecessary sorrows they try to rouse in people's minds are vain.

The feeling of religion is a subject of the human beings and the societies made up of human beings, since human beings are a living thing to think and feel. In this context, you cannot look for anything like religion in nature. Then we can say that feelings and ideas particular to religion exist only among human beings and in social life where they live.

According to this we can classify actions with regard to people into three.

For example worshipping is a religious; humiliating worship is an irreligious; walking or drinking water, or speaking is a non-religious action. And secularism is within the scope of the third action.

To make it clearer first of all let's think with what kind of title shall we consider the living thing called human beings: human being as a single person or people living together or people of a nation.

In this case the issue of religion should be considered

1) Let's consider the society first: Because if we are to take any issue concerning human, since we cannot think of human outside society the issue of religion is striking as it concerns the society. That is why there has not been any irreligious society throughout history among all the societies that have come up to now. The life of society is composed of the combination of many institutions like language, writing, military service, economics, religion, ethics, aesthetics, science, philosophy.

The more developed the society is, the more will be the institutions making up the society and they will exist independent of religion and change and make progress as time goes by. The more underdeveloped the social life will be, the more religious clothes members of these institutions will wear.

As a result the religious institution will be left alone in society. Then, the whole life of the society would remain unchanged without making any progress.

However in developed social lives since religion is accepted just like the other institutions as the one making up the society, it is perceived just like all the other institutions. When the case is like that, the concept of religion takes the position it should take together with the other institutions in the formation of national identity and the national existence appears. Otherwise, the social life would be totally concerned with religion as we experienced in Ottoman Empire and as in the Middle Ages. As a result, the national existence disappears. It is owing to this that secularism not only enables the social institutions to embrace their own existences but also frees the institution of religious ideas from other institutions and helps it to find its dignified status. In other words, the religious life gets the real position it deserves within secularism.

All the institutions making up the national existence are secular.

For example, language is one of the social institutions is secular. Namely it has nothing to do with religion. Language is the tool by which the individuals in the society speak to and get on with one another and exchange their thought and feelings. This tool is secular since it is an earthly matter. Despite that, as Arabic was the main element of the Ottoman Turkish, Ottoman language was given a religious identity. Because of that Ottoman Turkish was primarily based on Arabic grammar. Thus, Turkish was suppressed under Arabic grammar and deprived of development. The Great Turkish Revolution freed Turkish from this pressure and let it gain its own identity and independence. Then liking Atatürk means liking the Turkish language and improving it. Liking Atatürk means knowing that the Turkish language is one of the biggest institutions forming our national existence. Again ethics as one of the social institutions is secular! We say that ethics is the totality of all the rules arranging the relations among the individuals of the society. Since these relations are facts of ethics, they change from society to society and time to time. As facts of ethics are based on relations among individuals, they are peculiar to the world and are changeable since they are in a state of formation. If so, ethics cannot be dependent on religious rules, which never change, that is why some philosophers claim that when ethics is dependent on religion, ethics would become looser as religious feelings became looser, so ethics cannot be dependent on religion. At this point we can say that ethics is secular.

Law, as a public institution is also secular. Law is a whole of rules, which puts in order the affairs according to rights and justice. It varies according to nations and ages. In fact, there are some people who believe religious rules within the law just as/like it was in the Ottoman Empire. As a result of this, some people put forward ideas like Muslim jurisprudence by mixing law and religion. These ideas are insufficient permanently as people's affairs constantly change and develop. That's why, we can say that law is secular.

Writing as a public institution is also secular. It is the symbolic means of communication. Atatürk preferred the Latin Alphabet because it was the easiest for the Turkish Language Structure and open to the universe.

The other institutions such as women, family, philosophy, economy and military are secular too.... As the society gets more civilised similar institutions arise to satisfy the new needs. They are secular too.

2) The government in secularism: The institution called government organises the world affairs of a society. Thus, the government is in charge of the order in society and it's secular too. In other words, the law which will be made to put the society in order has nothing to do with religion. That's why, the government come ahead with no religion, it is a secular institution. Secularism is a contemporary attitude of the government.

3) The individual: Every individual is free to choose his religion and to have his conscience. As a result of this he can't interfere with other people's thinking or belief.

Secularism which is an important principle in society is a great phenomenon of 20th century so the Turkish Reform has adopted this principle for the life in democracy; but some people who make use of the tolerance of democracy want religion to have power over public institutions making excuses such as living together, keeping our identity. The real aim of those people is to convert the republic into a religious position, as it happened in the Middle Ages. To love Atatürk is to love secularism. To love Atatürk is to be loyal to secularism.

What is humanism? It covers all the values important to human beings and all the work done for the benefit of the society. In this context humanism is equal to freedom.

The meaning of this concept was clear in the remarks of Atatürk at a reception held in honour of the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antenesku on 17th March 1927:

"We should regard all mankind as one body and every nation as one of its organs. A pain on a finger hurts all the other organs. Only this thought will prevent us from selfishness. When permanent peace is needed international measures should be taken, which will make life better.

Worldwide happiness should replace hunger and oppression.

People of the world should be educated against greed and jealousy.

"These remarks of Atatürk express the perfect structure for contemporary civilisation in humanism. In this context contemporary civilisation means the belief in human beings and labour. There should be no thought of humiliating and despising people, considering weakness, as a virtue can be reconciled with the concept of contemporary civilisation. We are against all ideas that do not believe in human power, which is something, Atatürk appreciated. All his speeches are based on this concept. Contemporary civilisation has emerged from the tendency to people. To love Atatürk means to believe in human power.

Humanism means the love for mankind. Humanism has emerged from a belief in equality, freedom and respect for people. Atatürk, one of the greatest men of the 20th century, who always longed for peace in his country and in other countries as well, and wanted people to love others instead of harming them. To love Atatürk is to love mankind.

The concept of humanism leads to the respect for human rights, which is an aspect of the contemporary civilisation. Civilisation requires equal rights for everyone and destroying the difference between the weak and powerful. The belief in human power requires the love and the respect for mankind. Atatürk made many social efforts in this direction and that's what he desired for people. A society where human rights do not exist can never be civilised.

To love Atatürk is to respect human rights.

The concept of humanism can be defined as the evaluation of work. Associations who can't assess manpower deserve being disregarded. Atatürk, who said "Happiness is the right of those who work."

(The newspaper 'Vakit'- 1923 - issue 1835) was a leader who had faith in this belief. The belief in human power requires the evaluation of labour manpower, has created the contemporary civilisation. To love Atatürk is to appreciate work.

What role does a human have in humanism? A human being adopts a natural law and the best aims. In this context, natural laws assist mankind. So human beings are the master of the universe. To love Atatürk is to love people.

Contemporary civilisation in humanism helps the nation develop. Those who disregard it have no role in contemporary civilisation. Contemporary civilisation is the way of life which considers future, looks forward and makes progress. It has no contact with the past. Those who miss the past may go back but can never prevent a society from going forward_ This is Atatürk's understanding of social evolution. To love Atatürk is to make progress.

Humanism has virtues. All the speeches and declarations of Atatürk consider virtues. Atatürk said, "Our real struggle is to come the first with high virtues in all the world," (The newspaper Cumhuriyet dated 3rd August 1923) To love Atatürk is to be virtuous.

The aim of the reforms of Atatürk is for human beings to live with regard to ideals based on humanism and to do the best to live satisfactorily. These Reforms of Atatürk have become universally recognised and they provided encouragement to make progress.

The Reforms of Atatürk have put forward their own existence in order to assimilate the West. This contribution has made mankind aware of his own existence by means of rationalism and humanist virtues.

It has made Turkish society, in an eastern country, go into an evolution period of mankind, that's why it is an important and special contribution. This has also proved that a society which isn't Western could be as creative as the West.

Thanks to the Reforms of Atatürk, The Turkish Republic has broken the material and spiritual chains of the Scholastic thought, after years of theocratical structure it has become a democratic and secular country in a short time, all the dogmatic values have been wiped out and there has been a unique action with humanist and rationalism virtues.

Nations which aren't Western are in a worse stage compared to Turkey. They can gain their freedom by evaluating the Reforms of Atatürk with determination.

We can say that in a theocratical regime, where people can't be free due to religious pressures, they should appreciate most active / effective political method in Kemalizm getting universal. In the near future, Kemalizm, will be engraved in history which is the nightmare of theocratic regime.

You, the citizens of Atatürk's Turkey!

You can go up to the sky if you have the concept of contemporary civilisation, but why should you be in the sky? What use is that thought if it never comes down the sky ? It will wither among the clouds. The thought should meet the societies on earth. You, too, come down ! Meet the people, the society and go towards mankind. Mankind waits for the Universal Atatürk. Mankind waits for you, who has aimed at freedom, equality, love, human rights, happiness and progress. I see the Universal Atatürk in your eyes, I love you.