70-75). Employing German scientists to develop the country was not a first for Turkey as scholars from other countries had been invited to come to the Ottoman Empire during its modernization efforts. Fritz Arndt, a modernizer in the Early Republic, was also in charge

Some foreign scientists who had not been effective in their native institutions became an integral part of the in Ottoman Empires university system in the Turkish Republic (Reisman, 2006). 32 The Faculty of Language, History, and Geography (FLHG) was founded in an effort to modernize the New Republic and pursue a mission of enlightenment. Atatrk joined the inauguration of the FLHG, and the students of the school were considered to be very privileged (Erba, 2013, p. 35). Moreover, the influx of Jewish scientists was a blessing in disguise for the faculty. Ten scientists came to FLHG and became major contributors to a Humboldtian education model2 deployed by the faculty (Erba, 2013, pp. 36, 926). A universal approach was at the center of studies conducted by the faculty. Concepts of race, ethnicity, and nation were covered in a scientific way considering the

However, their departure had an adverse effect on the character of the school, according to interviews with graduates at the time (Erba, 2013; Bagz, 2018). Critique of Education Reforms If a comparison were made between the Turkish Republic and Ottoman Empire, one would find significant differences. For example, during the Ottoman era, students did not like the public school system because it included physical punishment and required memorization of fixed texts (Somel, 2001). Somel concluded that the Hamidian educational system did not create loyal and obedient individuals, but instead accelerated ethnic and national upheavals in the Empire owing to inadequate socio-educational

2 Wilhelm von Humboldt developed an education model based on two ideas of the Enlightenment: the individual and the world citizen. Humboldt believed that the university (and education in general) should enable students to become autonomous individuals and world citizens by developing their own reasoning powers in an environment of academic freedom. For further information, see 33 Going forward, Atatrk's reforms that were part of the Turkish Republic made education much more accessible, with the number of students attending primary schools increasing from 342,000 to 765,000; the number of students attending middle schools increased from around 6,000 to 74,000; and the number of students attending high schools increasing from 1,200 to 21,000 (Kapluhan, 2011). The sciences in Turkey (the seeds of which were sown in the 1920s) flourished in