Öz
The aim of this paper is to point out the philosophical background of Mustafa Kemal’s declarations and speeches he made in relation to the breakdown of Ottoman Empire and the erection of the political power in Turkey as a republic. This has become necessary due to the debates on values of the Republic in Turkey. To give a satisfactory answer to the questions raised in these debates it seems necessary to present philosophical foundations on which the values of the Republic have been erected. This is the subject of this paper. Firstly, there is provided Mustafa Kemal’s views on the system of the modern world. According to his view the system of the modern world produces permanently “suppressed” and “suppresser” and this situation may be changed essentially only if there is established perpetual peace within humanity. Today's suppresser may become tomorrow's suppressed and vice versa today’s suppressed may become tomorrow's suppresser. After this, secondly, there is indicated how the idea of a republic has arisen as a critique of monarchic rule of Ottoman Empire and what this essentially means. In this connection there is paid particular attention to concepts of national sovereignty, people’s power, populism from a republican point of view. And thirdly there is shown that Mustafa Kemal rejected “Pan-Turkism” and “Pan-Islamism” as ideologies of expansionism as a result of his peace policies which drive from his new political direction which he calls “national policies”. Finally, there is indicated that the erection republic in Turkey comes equal to the creation of a new culture and civilisation.