One of the most critical thresholds of the crowning of the War of Independence with the Republic was crossed 104 years ago. The sultanate was abolished by the decision of the Turkish Grand National Assembly dated 1 November 1922 and numbered 308. Thus, a critical step was taken in terms of transferring sovereignty to the nation.
After the law, Sultan Vahdettin took refuge in England on the British armored HMS Malaya, citing "threat to his life and freedom".
'THE SHARPEST MESSAGE'
Historian Prof. evaluated the abolition of the sultanate as "the sharpest milestone in the transition of a nation from the 'servant' status inherited from the sultanate to the 'principal and willful citizen' status of the Republic." Dr. Mehmet Emin Elmacı said, "The most important break is that from the Ottoman Empire, where sovereignty belonged 'unconditionally to a dynasty, to the person of a single person', it turned into a legal and de facto reality where sovereignty belonged 'unconditionally to the nation'."
'DUALITY HAS BEEN ELIMINATED'
With this move, the threat of "Dualism" in the state administration was eliminated and the power was legally; Pointing out that during the most critical period of the War of Independence, the Ottoman Government, which existed under the influence of the occupation forces in Istanbul, was transferred to the Turkish Grand National Assembly, which represented the people in Ankara, Elmacı said, "The removal of this duality enabled the diplomatic power to come into the hands of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, especially before the Lausanne Peace Conference."
'THE SOURCE OF LEGITIMACY IS THE PEOPLE'
Stating that the most important reflection of this revolutionary step taken 104 years ago was the institutionalization of national sovereignty, Elmacı said, "If the will of the nation constitutes the basic backbone of the democratic administrative structure of the Republic of Turkey today, this foundation was laid with this brave step taken 104 years ago."
"Under Atatürk's leadership, the foundations of democracy were laid, elections became the direct source of legitimacy for the parliamentary and constitutional order, the will of the people," said Elmacı, adding, "This situation has buried the possibilities of a monarchical or theocratic return to history. In the world political history, except for a few small examples in Cambodia and Spain in the last century, there is no example of a return from republican rule or republic-like regimes to monarchical or absolute sovereignty."
REVOLUTIONARY TRANSFORMATION
Stating that these examples are seen in cases such as rare and usually major civil wars, foreign interventions, regime crises or military coups, Elmacı said, "Thanks to the break from theocratic/monarchical ties that may occur due to the abolition of the sultanate, today Turkey has been able to become a Turkish state that can integrate with artificial intelligence, digital economies, global scientific networks and modern legal norms in the information and technology age of this century."
Pointing out that the abolition of the sultanate is not only a farewell to the obsolete structures of the past, but also the strongest seal placed on Turkey's future, Elmacı continued his words as follows:
"If today the Republic of Turkey maintains its power with its strategic moves based on its people in all the internal and external geopolitical troubles it faces, it derives this from the voice of 'Sovereignty belongs to the nation!' rising from the GNAT rostrum in 1922."
With the Alphabet Revolution held on November 1, 1928, exactly six years after the abolition of the sultanate, another important threshold was crossed for the goal of reaching the "level of contemporary civilization".
The Alphabet Revolution included language reforms, including the establishment of the Turkish Language Association. The Turkish alphabet was transformed from the traditional Arabic alphabet used for Ottoman Turkish into a new writing system based on the Latin alphabet. This change aimed to ensure that the Turkish language was written and read in a more effective and modern way.
