Kemalism is a secularist, republican and nationalist left-wing political ideology in Turkey that was founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Kemalism's goal was to transform the former Ottoman Empire from an eastern country into a Westernized and modernized country, doing so through the establishment of democracy, secularism, state support of the sciences and education, and Turkish nationalism. The party's views were personified by the "Six Arrows": republicanism, nationalism, statism, populism, laicité, and revolutionism/reformism.
Kemalism's ideals were and are still considered the founding ideals of the new Republic of Turkey, but the Turkish government began to adopt Islamist policies under Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government during the early 21st century.
The Republican People's Party came to embody the ideals of Kemalism, opposing more traditionalist opposition parties.