Mustafa Kemal(Ataturk) and the Modernization of Turkey

Mustafa Kemal, the first president of Turkey, tried to modernize Turkey and make it more secular. One reform he made was getting rid of the fez.The fez was a form of headgear worn by the muslim people of Turkey. He felt that it looked ridculous and it wasn't fitting for modernization. He wanted the men to wear a shirt with a tie, and a new form of headwear, called a hat. The hat had a brim and looked like the hats Americans wore in the 1920-1930. He also felt that the covering of women's faces in public and the custom of hiding away from other men in the street was primitive. He claimed that the people had to get rid of that custom. Secular in the dictionary is defined as "not pertaining to or connected with religion". That is somewhat what Mustafa Kamal tried to use in Turkey.