October 29 ^th 1923...

....On the abolition of the Sultanate, the royalist - clerical party became alarmed and began to agitate; it was important to give the democratic regime its true name of "republic" as soon as possible, and thus quieten the coming tumult before an accomplished fact....

The Gazi gathered around his table in Çankaya Fethi, Ismet and some generals and Members of Parliament whom he knew well. In the course of that memorable dinner their host remarked : "Tomorrow we will proclaim a republic...!" Since all guests were supporters of the democratic regime, they applauded his decision. Each of them was initiated into the role he would have to play on that historic day. The decision had been taken at the right time, since suspiciouns of what might happen were already awakened; on the other hand, the absence of the four discontented generals, and also Rauf, Adnan and other leaders, would make the task easier.

On the morning of the 29^th, there was a meeting of the parliamentary group of People's Party, under the Presidency of Ali Fethi, to discuss the list of candidates. No agreement could be reached, so that a motion was accepted asking that the Gazi, in his position as President of the party, should be given the task of resolving the problem. The Gazi came to the meeting, and asked for an hour in order to present the means of solution that he had found. During that time he interviewed those people whom it was necessary to inform of the events which were to follow immediately.

Returning to the party meeting, he mounted the platform, and declaring his conviction that the system in operation was the cause of the difficulties which occured every time it was necessary to form a cabinet. He was submitting a plan for the party's approval to remedy this defect in the system. He came down from the platform and gave the motion to one of the secretaries for him to read aloud.

Those who were not in the secret heard not the names of the possible commissars, but a modification of the Constitutional Law. To its first article there was simply added the following : "The form of government of the Turkish state is the republic". In other articles, it was established that the President of the Republic should be elected by the Assembly from its own members, and that it was possible for him to be reelected; he would have the right of presiding over the Assembly and the Council of Ministers. From among the Assembly's members he would choose a Prime Minister who would form the cabinet.

Four and a half hours of discussion were needed to approve the modifications proposed. The session of the Assembly opened at 6 o'clock in the evening. Some unimportant matters were dealt with, while awating the report of the commission on the Constitutional Law, which was favourable; only one phrase was added : "The religion of the Turkish state is Islam". Ismet Pasha, who was acting as President of the Assembly, proposed the vote to amend the law, and this was carried. Thus the Republic was born in Türkiye on the 29^th of October 1923. The official name of the state was to be : "The Republic of Türkiye". Immediately afterwards, the Assembly was asked to elect the President of the Republic; it could be no other than the man who had been exercising the chief magistracy of the state since its foundation. This transcendental event was announced to the people that night by a 101 - gunsalute; Ismet formed the first republican cabinet.

Foundation of the Republic of Türkiye...

With the signing of the Lausanne Peace Treaty, the need arose for a name to give to the new state. Throughout the war, nothing had been done to the sultan, who had viewed very coldly the struggle for independence. After the war the sultanate had been abolished, and on October 29^th, 1923, the name of the new state was officially declared by the National Assembly to be the Republic of Türkiye. Thus was born the first republic on the continent of Asia or of Africa. Although Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha was elected president, power was in the hands of the National Assembly. Nevertheless, Atatürk's influence on the state and the party was always strongly felt.

When the republic was declared, the state of the nation was at a very low ebb, exhausted from both the economic and social points of view. The population was barely thirteen million, and only ten percent of the people could read and write. Only 23 lycees and one university existed in the whole land, and there were almost no schools where one could learn a trade. There was no industry : What workshops and manufacturing did exist amounted to little more than handicrafts. Only 80 thousand workers lived in the entire country. Machinery and equipment, and all products of industry were imported, and agriculture was in total collapse. The productive populace had been decimated by years of war. Supposedly an agricultural nation, Türkiye was on occasion forced to import grain. Certain crops which in our time are considered everyday (citrus fruit, tea, bananas) were at that time unknown to the populace.

Fiscal affairs were in a pitiful state. The Ottoman budget had shown a steady deficit, and 30 % always had to be allocated for repayment of debts. The war had eaten up whatever fiscal resources were available. The government of the new republic assigned the greatest importance to these matters, and managed to maintain the value of the Turkish Lira right up to World War II, but nevertheless there was little in the way of funds. Angered that the capitulations had been ended, the wealthy nations refused to offer credit. The western regions of the country were savagely battle - scarred, and there was no infrastructure, and revenues from taxation were extremely meager.