Atatürk's language poli̇cy

It is possible to describe great leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk with many adjectives, but I want to describe as follows; independency warrior. He is a great genius who spent his knowledge, power and life in this fortune. Well, why? Why did he approach onto independency with such sensitivity? Because He knows, any asset cannot remain eternal without independency. For this reason, republic of Turkey was established over independency thought. As Ataturk says, as great Turkish nation, we gained independence with victories we obtained. Well, is it possible to remain the victory flag at all times? It is not possible. Because according to Ataturk, independence is not only establishing a country, but also maintaining the existence of that country without intervening of external states. Existence of a country means management, flag, religion and culture of that country. It cannot be mentioned about independence of a country without these. Ataturk determined the road map towards making Republic of Turkey a civilized community according to these concepts. A country may be eliminated by taking its language; it can be transformed into uncultured and colonial community. Since Ataturk had concerns in this regard, He determined language policy. In this study, ideas which are basis of language policy which Ataturk followed were addressed. After Ataturk laid the foundations of Republic, He targeted to realize reforms and principles which would create new Turkey. There are language reforms among reforms to be realized in this direction. In preparation of language reform, Arabic alphabets were removed and Turkish alphabet was accepted instead of Arabic alphabet. With this reform, Sun Language Theory was revealed and it was addressed that Turkish is one of the most rooted languages. During language reform, big councils gathered and it was wanted to reveal the wealth and power of Turkish. In Ottoman Period, community was multi-lingual due to its nature. Ottoman Turkish was being used and there was a great conflict between people and state which is the top status. Language spoken by society was different and written language was different. Ataturk aimed to nationalize the language by giving a national dimension to new Republic of Turkey which was founded by making language reform. Ataturk tried to reveal with scientific studies that Turkish nation has a very rooted civilization; it has too old history and language. He founded Turkish Historical Society, Turkish Language Society, Language and History-Geography Faculty. Turkish people would learn its history, past, language and shortly culture with studies which would be conducted by these important institutions. Ataturk desired Turkish nation to feel confident and to stand among world countries. According to Ataturk, language should be provided for a community to maintain its existence. Language is the most important bond of nation. With this thought, Ataturk approached to language sensitively and He realized language reform. Key words: Ataturk and language, language policy, language reform.