The Day the Republic was born
 "....On
the abolition of the Sultanate, the royalist-clerical party became alarmed and
began to agitate; it was important to
give the democratic regime its true name of "republic" as soon as
possible, and thus quieten the coming tumult before an accomplished fact.
The Gazi gathered around his
table in Çankaya Fethi, Ismet and some generals and Members of Parliament
whom he knew well. In the course of that memorable dinner their host remarked:
"Tomorrow we will proclaim a republic." Since all guests were
supporters of the democratic regime, they applauded his decision. Each of them
was initiated into the role he would have to play on that historic day. The
decision had been taken at the right time, since suspicions of what might
happen were already awakened; on the other hand, the absence of the four
discontented generals, and also Rauf, Adnan and other leaders, would make the
task easier.
On the morning of the 29th,
there was a meeting of the parliamentary group of People's Party, under the
Presidency of Ali Fethi, to discuss the list of candidates. No agreement could
be reached, so that a motion was accepted asking that the Gazi, in his
position as President of the party, should be given the task of resolving the
problem. The Gazi came to the meeting, and asked for an hour in order to
present the means of solution that he had found. During that time he
interviewed those people whom it was necessary to inform of the events which
were to follow immediately.
Returning to the party
meeting, he mounted the platform, and declaring his conviction that the system
in operation was the cause of the difficulties which occurred every time it
was necessary to form a cabinet. He was submitting a plan for the party's
approval to remedy this defect in the system. He came down from the platform
and gave the motion to one of the secretaries for him to read aloud.
Those who were not in the
secret heard not the names of the possible commissars, but a modification of
the Constitutional Law. To its first article there was simply added the
following: "The form of government of the Turkish state is the
republic." In other articles, it was established that the President of
the Republic should be elected by the Assembly from its own members, and that
it was possible for him to be reelected; he would have the right of presiding
over the Assembly and the Council of Ministers. From among the Assembly's
members he would choose a Prime Minister who would form the cabinet.
Four and a half hours of
discussion were needed to approve the modifications proposed. The session of
the Assembly opened at 6 o'clock in the evening. Some unimportant matters were
dealt with, while awaiting the report of the commission on the Constitutional
Law, which was favorable; only one phrase was added: "The religion of the
Turkish state is Islam." Ismet Pasha, who was acting as President of the
Assembly, proposed the vote to amend the law, and this was carried.
Thus the Republic was born in
Turkey on the 29th of October 1923. The official name of the state
was to be: "The Republic of Turkey".
Immediately afterwards, the
Assembly was asked to elect the President of the Republic; it could be no
other than the man who had been exercising the chief magistracy of the state
since its foundation. This transcendental event was announced to the people
that night by a 101-gunsalute; Ismet formed the first republican
cabinet."
From : "Atatürk"
by Jorge Blanco Villalta, translated from Spanish by William Campbell
Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, Ankara, 1991, pp.336-337
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