The Advancements on Turkish Agriculture in the Light of Atatürk’s Directives and Recommendations (1923-1938

Abstract

Between the years 1923 and 1938, legal and institutional organizing of agriculture was substantially accomplished. In the first fifteen years of the Republic, the foundations of agriculture policies, which would also go on for the following years, were laid. Atatürk, as a person dealing with agriculture himself, recognized the problems of the farmers. Seeing that the villagers didn't have sufficient land for farming, Atatürk first demanded that the public lands which were not in use be given to the farmers with no land and then he also demanded a public land reform. Atatürk played a key role in saving the farmers from the debacle of tithe, which haunted them for hundreds of years and in order to increase the production and the welfare of the farmers through farming all the public lands, Atatürk was closely interested in the modernization of techniques and vehicles of agriculture. Atatürk served as a model for the farmers by applying advanced techniques on the farms he established. In order to save the farmers from the tyranny of loan sharks, Atatürk paid importance to the constitution of agrarian credit agencies and he guided the farmers as a founder of an agricultural credit cooperative society. Atatürk pioneered some institutional and legal regulations on agriculture. He also ensured the foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture and enacted some laws of vital importance.