Abstract
A PAMPHLET “Turkey: the Modern Miracle” by E. W. F. Tomlin, published in “The Thinker's Forum” (London: Watts and Co. 6d. net), gives a brief review of the development of Turkey during the nineteenth century and since under Mustapha Kemal. In outlining the reforms introduced under Mustapha Kemal, while pointing out the extent to which Turkey is a totalitarian country with the People's Party as the supreme organization, its constitution is not so autocratic as might be expected. Its activities are not devoted solely to propaganda, and no institution is more democratic than the People's House or Halk Eir. Modern Turkey is impressed throughout with the spirit of youth, and Turkish education is highly practical and surprisingly democratic. The younger generation is encouraged to use its reason. A passage in the official text-book on citizenship used in all the Turkish primary schools runs: “We shall educate our children in a way which makes them capable of using their brains even in unaccustomed circumstances, of taking necessary decisions without waiting for orders from above, of developing a spirit of enterprise and a desire to overcome all difficulties which may block their way”. In a tribute to Mustapha Kemal's achievements, Mr. Tomlin points out that he created a new order of society; a society liberated from the bonds of obscurantism, inefficiency and brutalizing superstition, out of material which seemed at the time to be beyond all reclamation.
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The Rise of Turkey. Nature 146, 89 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/146089d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/146089d0