Was Mustafa Kemal Atatürk fascist

Answer 1

Ataturk borrowed from Fascist Italy, it is plain in his Six Arrows Ideology. He used Corporatism and some elements of fascist structure. However, Ataturk differed in the sense he did not intend to create a permanent Dictatorship. He was alleged to have said perhaps in joking:"Government of the people in spite of the people." He would rule as a dictator while he uplifted the culture and education of Turkey and intended the dictatorship to...using a Marxian phrase "to whither away" and evolve into a democratic republic.

He did not want Turkey in the post-Sultanate era to become some kind of conservative religious dictatorship. An ignorant illiterate population tends to put a repressive conservative regime in power. Ataturk wanted to prevent this.

Using the trappings of "fascism" he uplifed the culture and education of Turkey and ended centuries of neglect. He also opposed the direction Italy was taking and knew Mussolini was not going to last long on the world stage.

While perhaps modern Turks or his political heirs the CHP will not admit "fascist" roots, Ataturk's regime was born in an era when fascism was a popular alternative "third way" form of government between capitalism and communism.

In the Turkish sense Ataturk's efforts paid off. In Turkey today the true test of how effective "Kemalism" can face the challenges of this new century remains to be seen. Old traditions are creeping up. Can some of the old adjust to the secular Turkey Ataturk moulded? "To be continued...." as the old serials went.