Secularization of Turkey
At the end of World War I in 1918, the Ottoman Empire fell which resulted in the British and French dividing up the land to keep for themselves to make a profit. The people of Turkey, however, refused to give in to these foreign powers. Luckily, the Turks had a very strong and passionate nationalist to follow, named Mustafa Kemal, or "Ataturk". The Turkish nationalists, which made up the majority of the population, were able to overthrow the sultan and drive out the unwanted foreigners. Turkey was very happy, and decided to become a modern republic so they could have a chance at surviving as a new nation in this westernized world. This caused drastic changes in their country, because they had almost always been run by the Islamic Church. They almost had to flip their entire country around and start over, but luckily Ataturk was determined to build Turkey into a powerful modern nation. He made many reforms in the short time that he was the leader in order to achieve his set goals for Turkey. One reform was getting rid of almost all Islamic influence in the government, law, and public places such as the court and school. In the schools, they would no longer teach the Islamic religion and instead adapted an entirely new westernized ciriculum. He also replaced the Arabic alphabet with the Latin alphabet, which was what almost all the Western European countries were using. The economy also thrived under this new power. Turkey went from a country that was very close to being completely at the mercy of foreign powers to a powerful, westernized republic in the matter of a few years. Many people saw Ataturk as a hero and looked up to him. Many of Ataturk's reforms are still in effect and will continue to have an impact for years to come.