Timeline of the Republic of Turkey

This is a timeline of the Republic of Turkey. To read about the background to these events, see History of the Republic of Turkey. See also the List of Presidents of Turkey.

A graphical timeline is available at History of the Republic of Turkey

See also Timeline of the Ottoman Empire, a chronology of the predecessor state to the Republic of Turkey.

This timeline is incomplete; some important events may be missing. Please help add to it.

Turkish War of Independence (1919–1923)

Single Party Period (1923–1946)

Year	Date	Event
1923	October 29	The Republic of Turkey was proclaimed.
		Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) was unanimously elected the first President of the Republic of Turkey by secret vote.
	October 30	The first cabinet of the Republic of Turkey was formed by İsmet İnönü.
1924		A new policy was instituted that imams be appointed by the government.
	March 3	The Ottoman caliphate was abolished by the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
		The Union of Education (Tevhid-i Tedrisat) Law was passed.
		The Ministry of Religious Affairs and all religious schools were abolished.
	March 6	Second cabinet, again by İsmet İnönü
	April 8	Religious courts were abolished and replaced with civil courts.
	April 20	A new Turkish constitution was accepted.
	August 26	Türkiye Is Bankasi was established.
	October 30	The generals who were also in parliament were asked to choose either military profession or politics but not both. (This event is known as the crisis of generals.)
	November 17	The second political party in Turkey, the Progressive Republican Party, was formed.
	November 22	Third cabinet by Ali Fethi Okyar.
1925	February 11	The Sheikh Said rebellion started in the eastern provinces.
	February 25	A law separating religion from politics was accepted and passed in the TBMM.
	March 4	Fourth cabinet by İsmet İnönü
	May 5	An Armenian named Manok Manukyan was executed in Ankara for planning an assassination attempt on Mustafa Kemal.
	June 3	The Progressive Republican Party was closed and abolished for exploiting religion for political purposes.
	June 29	Sheikh Said and his 46 followers were sentenced to death in Diyarbakır.
	August 27	Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) came to Kastamonu to initiate the Hat Revolution.
	September 1	The first Turkish Medical Congress was assembled.
	September 4	Turkish women entered a beauty contest for the first time.
	October 1	Atatürk opened the Bursa textile factory.
	November 5	Ankara Law School (then the Ankara University Faculty of Law) was opened.
	November 25	"Hat Law" was issued, abolishing religious dress.
	December 26	A law was passed which abolished the lunar calendar in favor of the international calendar.
1926	February 17	A Turkish civil code based on the Swiss Civil Code was accepted. The code granted expanded civil rights to women and prohibited polygamy.
	March 1	A Turkish criminal code was established based on the Italian Criminal Code.
	March 17	A law was passed to nationalise the iron industry.
	March 24	A law was passed to nationalise the petroleum industry.
1927	March 7	The extraordinary Independence Tribunals were abolished.
	October 15	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk started his "Nutuk" speech.
		The second nationwide congress of the Republican People's Party took place.
	October 20	The "Nutuk" speech ended.
	October 28	The first population census counted the population at approximately thirteen and a half million.
	November 27	Fifth cabinet by İsmet İnönü
	December 25	The first female Turkish lawyer, Sureyya Agaoglu, began her duty.
1928	April 10	The article "The official religion of Turkey is Islam" was removed from the constitution.
	May 19	A law establishing an engineering school was accepted.
	November 1	A new Turkish alphabet based on the Latin alphabet was accepted.
1929	April 3	A new municipal law enabled women to enter municipal elections both as voters and as candidates.
	April 29	The first female Turkish judges were appointed.
	May 13	A trade law was accepted by the TBMM.
	September 1	Arabic and Persian courses were abolished replaced by Turkish-only language courses.
1930	June 11	A law was accepted which established the Turkish Republic Central Bank.
	August 12	The Free Republican Party, the third party in the republic, was established.
	September 27	Sixth cabinet by İsmet İnönü
	October 27	Greek prime minister Venizelos visited Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Ankara.
	November 17	After the Free Republican Party's cooption by radical religious groups, its leader Fethi Okyar decided to close.
	December 30	Kubilay was killed in an anti-republican rebellion.
1931	March 16	The first female Turkish surgeon, Dr. Suat, received her specialty.
	March 26	The Measurements Law was accepted, abolishing the former Arabic length and weight measurement units and replacing them with the metric system (kilogram instead of okka, meter instead of endaze, etc.)
	April 20	Mustafa Kemal Atatürk historically declared the slogan "Peace at home, peace in the world!"
	May 4	Seventh cabinet by İsmet İnönü
	July 25	A new press law was accepted.
1932	July 18	Turkey became a member of the League of Nations.
	July 31	Turkish woman Keriman Halis Ece was declared the World Beauty Queen at a contest in Belgium.
	November 13	Dr. Müfide Kazim became the first female Turkish government physician.
	December 12	Adile Ayda became the first female Turkish civil servant in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
1933	February 7	The first Turkish-language mosque prayers began in Istanbul.
	May 31	The 480-year-old Darülfünun was abolished, to be converted into Istanbul University.
	June	Sümerbank and Halkbank were established.
	October 26	Turkish women were granted the right to vote and be elected to Village Councils.
	November 18	Istanbul University was opened.
	December 1	The first five-year development plan was accepted.
1934	June 21	The Surname Law was accepted, abolishing the former titles of Bey, Efendi, Pasha, Sultan, and Hanım as of November 26.
	November 24	Mustafa Kemal Pasha took the surname Atatürk.
		The Hagia Sofia mosque was converted to the Ayasofya (Hagia Sofia) Museum.
	December 5	Turkish women were granted the right to vote and be elected in Turkish parliamentary elections. (Afterwards, in the first elections, 18 women were elected to the Turkish Grand National Assembly).
1935	March 1	Eight cabinet by İsmet İnönü.
1936	May 29	A law determining the size and ratios of the star and crescent in the Turkish flag was accepted.
	June 8	A labor law was accepted which represented the first step towards the Turkish Social Security System.
1937	January 27	Hatay's independence was accepted by the League of Nations in its Geneva meeting.
	June 9	A law establishing a medical faculty in Ankara was accepted.
	September 20	Atatürk opened the first art gallery in his residence, the Dolmabahce Palace.
	October 9	Atatürk opened the Nazilli Printed Cloth Fabric Factory.
	October 25	Ninth cabinet by Celal Bayar, former minister of Economy
1938	November 10	The founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk died. He was succeeded by İsmet İnönü, former prime minister and general.
1939		World War II: World War II began. Turkey was to remain neutral for most of the war, until a declaration of war against Germany at its end.
	July 7	The Province of Hatay joined Turkey.

Multiparty Period (1946–)

Year	Date	Event
1950	June 25	Korean War: The Korean War began. Turkey was a part of the joint UN operation.
1950		Müfide İlhan mayor of Mersin. First ever woman mayor in Turkey.
1952		Turkey became a NATO country strategically important in countering Soviet influence.
1953	July 27	Korean War: The war ended.
1954		Turkey began to host the USAF at the Incirlik Air Base as a deterrent to the Soviet Union.
1955	September 6	Istanbul Pogrom: The Istanbul Pogrom started the process of driving many Greeks and Christians from Turkey.
	September 7	Istanbul Pogrom: The pogrom drew to a close.
1960	May 27	The 1960 coup d'état took place due to the level of influence the Islamists had gained in the nation. After this clash over the "separation of religion and state/government" between İnönü's Republican People's Party and his opponents, president Celal Bayar and prime minister Adnan Menderes, both former Republican People's Party members, prime minister Adnan Menderes was held responsible and was executed with two of his ministers.
1965	October	Military rule bowed out to civilian rule, the political system was reestablished, and a new constitution was drafted that reaffirmed the "separation of religion and state/government".
1971	March 12	Military officials forced an advisory committee on the government due to the increasing anarchical situation caused by the Right (fascist/capitalist) – Left (communist) clash and ineffective policies in maintaining order. Although the military were not in charge they had significant influence.
1974		Turkey invaded Cyprus in response to a Greek-backed coup on the island.
1980	September 12	The 1980 coup d'état took place. Martial law was almost immediately established and a quarter of the military (about 475,000) were mobilised to settle the resistance to the coup.
1983	November 6	After the establishment of a new 1982 Constitution, the military regime dissolved itself.
1991		After the ending of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the Incirlik Air Base enforced the northern no-fly zones in Iraq.
1999	March 24	Kosovo War: NATO interceded in the Balkans to end a civil war in the region. Turkey was part of the mission.
	June 10	Kosovo War: The war ended.

21st century

Year	Date	Event
2002	June	Turkey assumed command of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.
2003	February	Turkey relinquished command of the ISAF.
2004	December 17	The European Union (EU) agreed to begin negotiations on the eventual accession of Turkey.
2005	February 14	Turkey assumed command of the ISAF in Afghanistan for a second time.
	October 3	The European Union (EU) started accession talks with Turkey. The talks did not start at the desired time due to arguments about Turkey's