Activities For The Establishment Of The Eastern University During The Ataturk Period (1936-1938)

Abstract

In order to reach the level of modern civilizations, the Republic of Türkiye launched a campaign of reforms in every field. Education has been one of the areas where radical changes have taken place. In the aforementioned period, efforts were made to establish contemporary educational institutions that served all segments of society, particularly at the primary level, and met the requirements of the people. The country’s only higher education institution has also had its share of reform movements since the Republic’s early years. In this context, the Darülfünun, which had been inherited from the Ottoman Empire, was closed down and transformed into Istanbul University, while at the same time, the idea of establishing a university in the east of the country came to the fore. This study deals with the eastern university, which is planned to be opened in order to ensure the development of the country and to meet the need for qualified personnel. Thus, it was aimed to reveal the reasons underlying the idea of opening a new university and the activities carried out in this direction.

In this study, while historical research and scanning methods, which are among the qualitative research methods, were used, document analysis technique was preferred as a technique. In this context, since there were not enough documents in the archives, the main source of the study was the press of the period. As a result of a detailed analysis of the newspapers, it was observed that the activities to establish an eastern university had been on the agenda since 1936. In this context, it can be said that the press closely followed the process, tried to create public opinion through news and columns, and contributed positively to the establishment of a university. Moreover, it has been determined that a university is planned to be established in Van in order to reduce the development gap between the east and the west of Türkiye, to train the qualified personnel needed by the eastern regions, and to improve the region in the field of development. However, it was understood that the university could not be established due to reasons such as the circumstances of the country, developments in foreign policy, the death of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the outbreak of World War II. As a result, it has been observed that before the speech of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on November 1, 1937, which is accepted as the milestone, the work to establish an eastern university was started, but after the aforementioned speech, the process accelerated, however; could not be completed due to various reasons.

There is no study that would require the approval of the Ethical Committee in this article.

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