First “History of the Turkish Revolution” lecture by İnönü
The first initiative to teach the history of the Turkish revolution as a course was taken through the addition of a course entitled “History of Revolutions” to the curriculum of Ankara’s School of Law in 1925. The course was intended to cover the highlights of the Turkish revolution.
Designed to teach university students the conditions under which the Turkish Republic was founded and to familiarize them with Kemalist ideology, philosophy, its principles, and modern values, the course known as “The History of the Turkish Revolution” was first taught at schools in 1934. The first lecture at the “Institute of Revolution History” founded under the auspices of İstanbul University was delivered on March 4, 1934 by then-Minister of National Education Yusuf Hikmet Bayur. In Ankara, on the other hand, Prime Minister İsmet İnönü lectured university students on the characteristics of the Turkish Revolution for the first time on March 20, 1934. During the early years in which the course was first taught, prominent names of the period including Yusuf Kemal Tengirşenk, Mahmut Esat Bozkurt, and Recep Peker, who had witnessed the founding of the Republic, were also assigned to teach this course.
Later on, the name of the course was changed to “History of Turkish Revolution and the Turkish Republic” a prerequisite for graduation from undergraduate and graduate schools.
