Did Mustafa Kemal Ataturk modernize Turkey?

Answer 1

Mustafa Kemal became the First President of Turkey from 1923-1938 (when he died) and began to modernize the country in new and innovative ways, making the country more Westernized. Many Turks consider these improvements to have directly led to Turkish success as a country where most of the Islamic World is significantly poorer or sustained only by oil riches. 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 in all elections 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

Answer 2

he introduced the separation of religion and government