We’ve had many choices throughout our history, and some of them were quite dark times. In the last days of the Ottoman Empire, when Turkey rose, another such election took place: the 1923 General Elections.
III. The westernization efforts that started after Selim gained speed with the information given by the ambassadors sent abroad. Developments in other countries were followed closely. In order to follow and discuss the innovations coming through the ambassadors, assemblies was used.
For a long time, two-stage elections were held and decisions were made in the assembly, which first appeared in 1877. However, there was an aspect to these two-stage elections; voters elect representatives to themselves, and the elected representatives determine the president (or equivalent administrator). Therefore, the voters did not have a direct voting power in the election of the president. Of course, that would soon change. It was started by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on 19 May 1919. The biggest steps of the national struggle had not yet been taken.
Before the first Turkish Grand National Assembly convened, chaos prevailed throughout the country.
Istanbul was under occupation, there was a lack of authority in the country and a solution was needed for this. However, the Ottoman Parliament of that period was not enough for this. At the same time, this assembly was seen as a danger for the Lausanne Peace negotiations. Therefore change of parliament It was decided.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk sent a statement to all provinces on behalf of the Anatolian and Rumelian Defense of Law Society. to elect 5 representatives on their behalf wanted. Then the representatives elected from the provinces came to Ankara.
The number of deputies of the first Turkish Grand National Assembly gradually decreased.
The total number of deputies in the parliament, including the new deputies coming with two-stage elections and the old deputies from the Parliament, 437 members existed. Today, this number has reached 600. However, the number of members in the first assembly decreased day by day.
Some of the deputies before the parliament opens lost their lives, some resigned and some lost. With those who could not attend the opening of the parliament, the number gradually decreased. Only 115 deputies attended the opening of the assembly.
When the dates showed April 20, 1920, the first Turkish Grand National Assembly was officially opened.
He was a journalist and historian at that time and E. Behnan Şapoleon, who personally watched the opening of the parliament, saw the scene he encountered. He explains with the following sentences:
The building was not yet completed. Not even the tiles were laid. He had many flaws. Tile was not enough. People of Ankara they covered the roof by carrying laps of tiles from their own roofs. This view is very meaningful. There was not even a row for deputies to sit in the parliament. The desks belonging to the drill school of Ankara Teachers’ School were brought. There was no electricity in Ankara at that time. The lighting problem was also solved by hanging an oil lamp taken from one of the coffee shops. Three jars were placed in the corridor of the hall for the deputies to drink water, and a mug was left on them. The first room facing the street was also made into the Presidential (Ministry) room. Later, the famous Calligrapher Hulusi Efendi wrote The sign “Sovereignty belongs to the Nation” was hung behind the lectern…
In a short time, differences of opinion began to emerge in the assembly established under these conditions.
There were people of almost every view, religion, and race in the first assembly. This situation causes voices to rise in the differences of opinion and a joint decision was making it difficult. It needed a solution.
Mustafa Kemal established the Anadolu and Rumelia Defense Group among the deputies in the parliament.
The attorneys were divided into two groups as the First and Second Defense of Law Groups according to their differences of opinion. The first group represented revolutionism and power; The second group is conservatism and opposition. The two groups had very opposite opinions. What one said “white”, the other almost called “black”.
First group deputies are constantly carrying out innovative work, with the desire to be a modern nation was burning. Of course, they were aware that for this, they had to move away from the state order in the Ottoman Empire. In many issues, including the Lausanne negotiations, the solutions of this group were logical, and the country was becoming more and more modern. Mustafa Kemal was also a member of this group.
The second group strongly opposed these developments and thought that there was no need for change. Voices often rise in the parliament because of these differences of opinion, and tension was rising.
Mustafa Kemal wanted to establish a political party for the “people”.
Mustafa Kemal, that the people need a political party he knew. For this reason, he wanted to establish a political party with “people” in its name, but many people, including Rauf Orbay, opposed Mustafa Kemal’s idea of becoming a political leader.
Rauf Orbay, who thought about the exhaustion of the leadership of the political party and how tired Mustafa Kemal would be in this struggle, no matter how much he spoke He could not turn Mustafa Kemal from this path.
One of the last decisions taken in the first Turkish Grand National Assembly was the abolition of the sultanate.
The debates in the parliament were also evident in the abolition of the sultanate and new law proposals. While 89 of the voters accepted the new laws, 36 voted against; 3 people abstained. According to the method used in the elections, this the number was not enough. This was the last meeting of the first TGNA. However, before the first parliament was dissolved The rise of the Turkish Republic the way was opened.
The council had to change.
Mustafa Kemal started to work for an election. This is our history would be the first two-tier general election but for that day, no one even knew what the election meant. For this reason, Mustafa Kemal, with the statement he sent first, made the public aware of the election.
Candidates to participate in the election were determined, the names of the groups were finalized. According to this groups participating in the election it was as follows:
- Defense-i Law First Group
- Defense of Law Second Group
- Defense-i Milliye Group
- Unionists
- Worker Group
- independents
Everything was ready, but a question directed to Mustafa Kemal gave the signals of that great revolution in the near future: Will Halide Edip Hanım be included in the parliament?
Halide Edip Adıvar’s desire to be in the parliament has been around for a while. on women’s inclusion in the election matched his work. The fact that women have the right to vote and to be elected has been plaguing Mustafa Kemal for a while, and he was often talking about this plan to his close circle. However, he knew that in order to take such a decision, a parliamentary majority was needed, and a new parliament had to be established for this.
Some clearly see women’s right to vote and be elected, “A woman’s job is at home” he was saying. Again, in one of these meetings, Hüseyin Avni Bey “The day they deem themselves worthy, they take their rights from us” expressed his opposition to this idea.
While the election had repercussions all over the country and abroad, preparations were heating up.
In an article published on April 11 with the title “New Election and Istanbul”, Mustafa Kemal said:
Elections are starting, in a few days the bookkeeping will be finished and citizens will be invited to cast their votes. Istanbul should also be prepared to do its duty in the elections. Istanbul has a special situation. Therefore, according to him, he should do his duty properly.
The people must demonstrate their loyalty to their homeland by rallying around the principles I have published in the last two days. By choosing those who are determined to be true to our fundamental principles. to save yourself should serve.
I know that there are intrigues in the elections of Istanbul. But Istanbulites should not forget that Istanbul is still under occupation. Istanbul has not been liberated yet. Unity is needed to save it. We have achieved the victories we have achieved so far only through unity and solidarity. It is necessary to continue on this path in order to reap the fruits of victory. We should not help the enemy while he is in the hands of the enemy.
Turkey’s first general election brought spring to all corners of the country.
Electoral cars, houses, gardens were decorated with laurel leaves, flags and flowers. Accompanied by drums and zurnas, the people went to the elections. Election enthusiasm is not just for people who were born and raised here; it included everyone.
By placing boxes on decorated cars for the public to vote, people voting on every road they pass.had provided.
The people, who went to the polls with this enthusiasm, welcomed the election results with enthusiasm.
Get ballot boxes moved with marches and counted. The results show that the candidates of Anatolia and Defense of Law, led by Mustafa Kemal, undeniable success was revealing.
When the calendar leaves showed October 29, 1923, it was the beginning of a new era.
With the amendment to the Constitution “The form of government of the Turkish State is the Republic.” article was added to the first article and Turkey’s new form of government became official. On the night of the same day, the leader of the new Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was elected as the first president.
One of the greatest proofs of how difficult our country was founded was the 1923 elections. Turkey emerged from a wreck and was almost reborn. For this reason, here We have many lessons to learn.
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