Recep Peker
Recep Peker was a Turkish politician who served as Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey from 1936 to 1950. A member of the Republican People's Party, he was known as a radical supporter of republicanism, feminism and nationalism, and an opponent of liberalism and liberal democracy, who sought to turn the Republic and the CHP into a Kemalist party-state.
Biography
Early career
Mehmet Recep began his career in the army, fighting in World War I and the War of Independence. After the war, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk recommended him to be made secretary of the CHP. During this time, Peker served as the right-hand man of İsmet İnönü and de facto the third most powerful man in Turkey.
In 1936, after a visit to Germany and Italy, Peker came up with the idea of a Turkish Grand Council of Fascism (Grand Council of Kemalism), for Kemalism for Turkey was to be what Fascism was to Italy, what Communism was to the USSR, and what Nazism was to Germany. He formed a clique of radical politicians and prepared to implement his ideas.
Prime Minister of Turkey
In 1937, when İnönü resigned as prime minister due to disagreements with Atatürk, he recommended Peker as his successor. Atatürk followed through with the suggestion, with the promise of Peker's radical ideas being limited. Peker's ministry began with crackdowns on internal party dissent, a strict return to economic statism, and increased military suppression of the east. The CHP was thus polarised between Peker's radical wing and the liberal wing led by Celâl Bayar, which paralysed the party.
When Atatürk died in 1938, İnönü, Bayar and Peker all put their names forward to be the new President of Turkey. After a month of infighting without a candidate being chosen, İnönü decided to compromise by working with Peker, who was politically closer to him and could be restrained. Since the chaos was working in Peker's favour, İnönü had to concede to many of his demands. Peker officially endorsed İnönü as president; in return, Peker would remain prime minister and be allowed to choose his cabinet and enact on his landmark reforms such as the Grand Council of Kemalism and the Kemalist Youth Movement. The Grand Council of Kemalism, with its creation in 1940, was filled with radical Kemalists named by Peker himself.
Seeking to turn the CHP into a party-state, Peker then amended the 1924 constitution to give himself, as prime minister, and his friend Falih Rıfkı Atay, as party secretary, complete control over the party. The CHP's liberal wing was purged and its members banned from politics for their 'treason against the party', the party which represents the interests of the nation.
In 1942, when Cairo fell to Italy, İnönü and Peker reluctantly had Turkey enter World War II as part of the Axis. While İnönü was out on the battlefields, Peker took care of domestic affairs. During this time, he heavily increased state control over the economy, developed the Turkish military industry, and signed a landmark bill that allowed women to serve in the armed forces.
After the war ended in the Axis' victory, Peker continued an aggressive policy of industrialisation, secularisation and modernisation. Land was bought from landlords (for a cheap price thanks to intimidation), nationalised and given to every landless farmer. Agricultural mechanisation and education were promoted on a large scale to help farmers adapt to their new lands. Turkification was intensified in the eastern Inspectorate-Generals, since Peker saw it as necessary to quell uprisings like Dersim and to unite the country as a whole. To enlighten the Turkish people, Peker cracked down on Islam's role in society and promoted the Halkevleri and Köy Enstitüleri to spread Kemalist and pro-CHP ideas. Believing that Turkey was not ready for democracy due to the lack of the West's wealth, education and class system, Peker pursued heavy industrialisation; German and Italian designs were reverse-engineered and sold for cheaper prices on the markets of Eurasia.
Peker's modernist, authoritarian and secular policies were opposed by landlords who lost their land, Muslims who disapproved of laïcité, and educated people who wanted a liberal democracy. The most vocal dissident group was the Democrat Party, founded in 1948 by the liberals purged from the CHP by Peker himself, with the endorsement of Celâl Bayar. Outraged, Peker banned the Democrat Party and cracked down on secret dissident groups.
In 1949, Peker's own disdain for Nazi Germany combined with the German occupation of Azerbaijan and Germany's goal to dominate Europe led Turkey to accept Italy's alliance proposal, which grew into the Triumvirate when the Iberian Union joined in 1950.
In January 1950, due to health reasons, Peker resigned as prime minister, named Falih Rıfkı Atay his successor, and gave İnönü one last warning: to watch closely over Adnan Menderes. With the National Assembly and Grand Council of Kemalism controlled by Peker's supporters, İnönü appointed Atay the new Prime Minister of Turkey. Peker died in April 1950.