v24_2575 - TURQUIE - RÉPUBLIQUE 500 piastres or 1963 Ankara

TURKEY - REPUBLIC

(since 1923)

The Turkish gold coins of the republic bear on the right the portrait of Moustapha Kemal Ataturk (the father of all Turks) (1881-1938). He was Minister of War in 1911 and proclaimed the republic on October 29, 1923. He secularized Turkey, allied with the USSR, imposed the Gregorian calendar in 1926 and adopted a civil code and a penal code inspired by Switzerland and from Italy. In 1928, Turkey became a secular nation and in 1929 it adopted the phonetic Latin alphabet. Turkey entered the League of Nations in 1933. It gave women the right to vote in 1935. On the other hand, it savagely eliminated all opposition, particularly in Kurdistan. He died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1938. Ismet Inönü (1884-1973) succeeded him.