ABSTRACT
In an early period, with a pre-industrial economy and surrounded by hostile neighbours, the armed forces play a role as a guarantor of the country's existence and often become a natural pioneer in modernization. All the same most armed forces are, to a lesser or greater extent, of the opinion that the military profession is a calling, and uphold a strong nationalism with a tendency to praise the feelings of national solidarity and neglect the importance of differences of class and other interests. According to the Law on the Armed Forces their task is to guard and defend Turkish soil and the Turkish Republic in the spirit of the constitution. Kemalism could strike roots because the birth of the Turkish Republic was experienced as brought about jointly by the people and the armed forces. As a counterweight the military compiled a codification of the 'ideology of Kemal Ataturk' which from the 1980s became a regular education topic for the cadets.
