The purpose of this study is to examine and analyze the historical development, status and purpose of the Turkish social studies curriculum in addition to understanding John Dewey's impact on the modernization of Turkish educational system. Document analysis as a qualitative research method is used in this study. The data were obtained from the historical documents about the development of the Turkish social studies curriculum, the Internet sources, printed literature--such as reports about the curriculum development process done by national governmental organizations like Ministry of Education and Board of Education, and review and research articles about social studies educations and Dewey's effect on the Turkish Educational system. This study consists of two main parts: one is "The History of Social Studies Curriculum Development in Turkey," which addresses the historical development of Social Studies Curriculum in two major eras: The Era of Ottomans and the Republican Period. The second part of the study examines the impact of a famous 20th century American philosopher and educator, "John Dewey," on Turkey.