Mustafa Kemal was coming from traditional Muslim family. His mother was a traditional Muslim woman. She wanted him to be a hodja that’s why she sent him to the religious school of the neighborhood. He couldn’t orientate the religious school because of the reactions of the hodja. Then he decided to go to the military school (his real target) with the support of his father.
He stated that his favorite character was Prophet Muhammed. He always tried to apply the true Islam in his entire life. At the same time, he was a modern leader. He realized that Islam was full of nonsenses and useless beliefs. Firstly, he had the Kuran translated in Turkish in order to be understood by everyone. He had Turkish Religious Affairs department founded due to organize the religious education and system in a true way. His purposes were to modernize and apply real Islam. He also knew that religion could be used as weapon in order to control or provócate a nation. So, he wanted to prevent it to happen. Secularism is the key principle for this purpose. Islam has always been different than Arab culture in Anatolia. He relied on the clean spirit of Anatolian society.
Europe had the same sort of crisis in the medieval age. The public was under the pressure of church authority. That’s why the European public got ignorant. All of the Europe ruined because of black plague. Because of the cats’ devil nonsense, all cats were killed, and the rats had spread black plague. Millions of people died. This is an example how radicalism can be dangerous for a nation. They got rid of this pressure after scientific and artistic development. It is valid for every religion.
Always Ataturk…..