Turkish Surname Law

E297533

The Turkish Surname Law was a 1934 reform that required all citizens of Turkey to adopt hereditary, Turkish-language surnames as part of Atatürk’s nation-building and modernization efforts.

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Label Occurrences
Turkish Surname Law canonical 1

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Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf law
legal reform
aimedAt creating a modern civil registry
standardizing personal identification
strengthening national identity
appliesTo Muslim citizens of Turkey
citizens of Turkey
non-Muslim citizens of Turkey
associatedWith Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
cameIntoForce 1934
codifiedAs Law No. 2525
country Turkey
dateEnacted 1934-06-21
dateNumbered 1934
effect all citizens obtained a fixed family surname
reduced use of patronymics
reduced use of religious and tribal identifiers in names
enactedUnderLeader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
field civil law
historicalEra interwar period
implementationMechanism civil registry offices
local administrative authorities
inspiredBy European civil law models
jurisdiction Turkey
surface form: Republic of Turkey
language Turkish
legalStatus in force with amendments
legislativeBody Grand National Assembly of Turkey
officialLanguageRequirement Turkish language
surface form: Turkish
partOf Atatürk's reforms
Turkish nation-building policies
modernization efforts in early Republican Turkey
politicalContext early Republican period in Turkey
prohibits use of foreign, tribal, or religious designations as surnames
use of non-Turkish surnames
use of titles as surnames
relatedTo Turkish Civil Code
abolition of Ottoman titles
language reform in Turkey
requires adoption of hereditary surnames
use of Turkish-language surnames
requiresRegistrationWith population registry
scope nationwide
shortDescription Law requiring all Turkish citizens to adopt hereditary surnames
subject civil status
personal names
surnames
typeOfReform nationalization of personal names
secularization reform
yearEnacted 1934

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Referenced by (1)

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Surname Law of 1934 alsoKnownAs Turkish Surname Law