History of Turkey newly formed "Republic of Turkey" as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, and the republic was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923, in the new capital of Ankara. Mustafa Kemal became the republic's first President of Turkey and subsequently introduced many radical reforms with the aim of founding a new secular republic from the remnants of its Ottoman past. The Ottoman fez was abolished, full rights for women politically were established, and new writing system for Turkish based upon the Latin alphabet was created. According to the Law on Family Names, the Turkish parliament presented Mustafa Kemal with the
Ballet in Turkey Ballet in Turkey The history of the art of classical ballet in Turkey only goes back about 60 years, however, classical ballet performances in Turkey date from two centuries before. The General Superintendent of the Ottoman Military Bands, Donizetti Pasha, was invited to Istanbul in September 1828 and introduced the principles of classical western music as well as some samples of operas and ballets to the Ottoman Palace of Mahmud II. Turkish ballet, in the period prior to the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey, was mostly centered around Istanbul and Izmir. Turkish ballet has been intimately connected to Turkish