The School of Letters opens its doors
The School of Letters, known in Turkish as the “Faculty of Languages and History-Geography,” was founded by Atatürk and constituted the core of Ankara University. Established in Turkey’s capital with “a view of meeting the demand for an institution of research and study that will explore the Turkish culture through a methodology of information, and raising secondary school teachers equipped with the most scientific and modern concepts of national language and history,” the Faculty of Letters was inaugurated on 9 January 1936 following a grand ceremony during which both President Mustafa Kemal and Prime Minister İsmet İnönü were present.
The school was conceived as an institution in which an in-depth and scientific study of the Turkish culture could be performed and secondary school teachers could be educated in the fields of national language, history, geography, and archaeology. Apart from conducting and encouraging scientific research, the school would evaluate the studies of Turkish Historical Association and the Turkish Language Association to reach a synthesis in the field of Turkish culture.
İsmet İnönü paid particular attention to the issue of higher education. Indeed, during his term as president, the number of universities rose from one to three, attaining advanced levels of scientific and administrative autonomy far beyond their time.
