Turkish Matter in Foreign Capital Companies in the First Years of the Republic and After the National Struggle

Abstract

In the last decade of Ottoman Empire, the foreigners who invest in the empire with privileges or not, were using their own language instead of Turkish in their companies. That is why foreigners or non-muslim Ottoman citizens used to be hired mostly in such corporations. In the years of First World War, the government of Union and Progress made a law obligating the use of Turkish in companies which had been established with foreign capital. Due to long years of war, this law had not been implemented properly, but it was re-enforced at the beginning of 1923. With the enforcement of law, it was thought that the foreingers and non-muslim citizens were to be purged and Turkish Muslims were to be hired instead. Despite the preperations made in this direction, the implementation had not been as expected. The last step about this issue was taken in Republican era with the enforcement of a new law in 10 April 1926. Therefore, defining itself as nation state, Turkish Republic took an important step forward both in terms of cultural and economical nationalism.