The effect of the refugee scholars, who escaped from Hitler’s Regime, on Turkish University Reform, which was used as a tool for the foundation of the modern Turkish Nation-State

This essay focuses on the effect of the refugee scholars on Turkish University Reform, which directly contributed to the foundation process of the modern Turkish State. Although, Turkey succeeded to form a sovereign country after the Independence War (1919-1924) under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal, still the country’s education system had been deeply contradicting with the worldview of Mustafa Kemal in 1920s. The primary aim of Mustafa Kemal and his ideology (Kemalism) was to establish a nationalist, secular nation. However, the reactionary basis of the Ottoman education system had been preventing emergence of nationalist and secular Turkish society. Therefore, Kemalist Regime employed radical educational reforms to turn the education system inherited from the Ottoman Empire into a system that supports the ideological basis of Kemalism in 1930s. University Reform, which was initiated in 1933, was a milestone for the reformation of Turkish education system. Furthermore, for establishing a new university that provides European based education, Turkish State needed specialists and experts because there were not enough Turkish specialists to determine the pathway of the reform. Hence, the refugee scholars acted as the skilled labour force to support the University Reform and also other reforms. Mustafa Kemal initiated breath-taking series of reforms to form a modern nation-state, as he seized power in 1920s. The increasing oppression in Hitler’s regime and Mustafa Kemal’s reforms were co-existing in the 1930s. Therefore, the suitable working conditions provided by Turkish State and the search of scholar’s living under Hitler’s regime for a better living place resulted as the immigration of approximately 100 profound scholars from Hitler’s regime to Turkey. With this process Turkey obtained the skilled labour, which was needed for the reformation of Ottoman culture based university, Darülfünun to a European-standard university, Istanbul University. Refugee scholars’ existence accelerated Kemalist reform’s efficiency, because the scholars assisted the Turkish government in many other topics such as reforming judicial institutions, or founding an arts conservatory with western standards (e.g. Ankara State Conservatory). In this essay, the effect of the refugee scholars on Turkish University Reform, which was used as a tool for the foundation of the modern Turkish Nation-State is explored. The contributions of refugee scholars to University Reform are presented under subtopics of Law, Medicine and Arts. Ultimate conclusion reached in this essay is; refugee scholars accelerated the University Reform and transformed the status of Turkish society in many aspects. The combination of the refugee scholars’ intellectual assistance and the radical reforms of Kemalism, sustained Turkey’s progress from a reactionary country towards a modern, 20th century country