What steps did Mustafa Kemal Atatürk take to modernize Turkey?

Answer 1

Mustafa Kemal made the following reforms to modernize Turkey while he was a president:

• separated the laws of Islam from the laws of the nation
• replaced the old Muslim calender with the Gregorian calender
• abolished religious courts and created a new legal system based on European law as opposed to the previous system based on the Islamic law code
• granted women the right to vote and to hold public office
• launched government-funded programs to industrialize Turkey and to spur the economic growth
• attempted to modernize Turkey by banning the Fez which was of Greek origin
• marriage was considered civil and not religious and polygamy was abolished
• women were given the right to vote in all elections