The Efforts of Liberal Interpretation of Kemalism by Ahmet Agaoglu in the Early Republican Period of Turkey

There is a widely common acceptance that merely nationalist, statist and socialist notions had dominated politics in the Early Republican Period between 1923 and 1946 which is called as Single-Party Era in Turkey. A certain number of studies has displayed that not only these ideologies had an influential position but also liberalism had a strong voice during the period. A thorough analysis of the writings of Ahmet Agaoglu who performed important duties in politics, administration and academia would possibly lead to a particular view with regard to the effectiveness of liberalism in the early period of Turkish Republic. Ahmet Agaoglu was an intellectual as well as he was actively involved in politics. So, his dealing with liberalism had not only been limited to intellectual interests but also had intersected with the primary concerns of ‘Rescuing the State’ in the axis of Turkish modernization. In this article, with reference to A？ao？lu’s pieces, his efforts to interpret Kemalism in accordance with liberalism and how he interpreted the notions of individualism, freedom, democracy and statism will be examined.Keywords: Electoral systems, Majority systems, Proportional representation systems, electoral alliance, Presidential government system