112) General Harbord Meets Ataturk / Greatness of Ataturk by Christopher Vasillopulos

A Turkish book regarding the memoirs of Mustafa Kemal's confidante, Kilic Ali Pasa, has been published by "Is Bankasi." From the third edition, Fatma S. provided (in a discussion forum) an informal translation of pages 69 to 77.

General Harbord was in charge of a 1919 fact-finding mission arranged by preacher's son, President Woodrow ("There ain't gonna be no Turkey") Wilson. His findings would come to be known as the Harbord Commission. Having been exposed to the avalanche of pro-Armenian propaganda as the rest of his fellow Americans, Harbord was intensely pro-Armenian. However, the fair side of him saw for the first time that there was much more to the one-sided story he had been led to believe. How much this second perspective influenced him is a matter for review, as some of the information (e.g., the Harbord Reports neglected what Niles and Sutherland had written) was suppressed.


An American General in Sivas

None of the secret meetings of our century has changed the flow of
events as the one that took place on 22-24 September 1919 in Sivas between the American Major General James C. Harbord and Mustafa Kemal with Rauf Orbey. This event will hold its place as one of the events that gave a break to the young Republic of Turkey.


We were all anxiously waiting and yet apprehensive that General Harbord may change his mind and not stop by in Sivas and his path would take him to a country named Armenia that England, America, and France wanted to establish on our land.

America had joined the allies (England, France, Russia, and Italy that we had fought from 1914-1918. Our opponents had won the war against our allies Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Bulgaria with backing from America's unbeatably strong war machine. The American Senate had approved the foundation of a new country named Armenia occupying seven Turkish provinces.

The American General had arrived in Istanbul on September 1, 1919 with 17 war ships, 9,000 marines, and a check book that allowed him to fill in 9 zeroes at a time. He also had all the privileges that General Pershing enjoyed during the war of operations in Europe. General Harbord was assigned the duty to investigate and observe the area assigned to the new Armenian State and report his findings to the Senate.

It was a real dangerous time, because the armed forces of Armenia, founded within Russia, had concentrated on Turkey's Eastern Borders.

The Turkish Nationalists living in Istanbul contacted the General
through the friendly director and teachers of Robert College and tried to strike a lightning in his mind which might have been filled with false Armenian Myth. They also alerted Mustafa Kemal who was in Sivas through Halide Edip Adivar and Huseyin Ragip Baydur's letters.

I must admit that we were surprised at the level of importance that
Mustafa Kemal gave to the American General's visit. He paid attention to how he will win over the General and convince him that we were sincerely telling him the truth. We prepared the teacher's lounge for the meetings and the Kitapcizadeler's house for sleep over.


We were all told to wear our uniforms. We prepared a military ceremony for the guest. The small band, high officers, the Sivas governor Resit Pasa who was a husky man and looked good in his jaketay, boys and girls dressed in their fines (as much as they could afford). A boy and a girl handed over a bouquet of flowers and were taught to say "Welcome" in English. Sivas Yoruks on their horses dressed in their local costumes were placed behind them. Next to Mustafa Kemal was Huseyin Rauf Orbay whose English was impeccable and Alfred Rustem Bey who could speak 4 European languages.


The American General had traveled through an Anatolia devastated by the war. Obviously he was not expecting a well coordinated ceremony in Sivas. I still remember the look on his face. I was at the head of the troops. Rauf Bey took a few steps forward and introduced Mustafa Kemal to the American General. I noticed that General Harbord gazed in disbelief at the face of this young man who grabbed everyone's attention at first sight. I could tell that he had heard a lot about this charismatic blond man who was only 38 years old. Mustafa Kemal shook General Harbord's
hand gently and directed him towards the Military line-up. When the little kids delivered the bouquet of flowers to him, General Harbord bent down to the children, looked them in the eyes as if he wanted to see the truth through them. With a smile in his lips he thanked them.

We knew how important it was to show our hospitality. We had to erase from the Westerners' mind the undeserving image affixed on the Turks as a result of an unfair propaganda. Many years later, Mustafa Kemal explained to me the importance of General Harbord's visit following the reception ceremony of the American Ambassador General Sherrill as:

"With all its potential America is a World Power. Their freedom of
thought philosophy is similar to ours. If he gets to know us as we
are, a great friendship could be formed between our two nations and this would be good for both our countries as well as the World peace. If we could not explain the truth to General Harbord in those days we could face irreparable damage."

The meetings between Mustafa Kemal and General Harbord took two days. It was decided that the large group of Americans would travel to Erzurum. The Armenians had run havoc in that city. Kazim Karabekir Bey assigned Husrev Gerede Bey and me the duty to accompany our American guests to Erzurum.

While we were preparing for the trip, word came from Istanbul showing how desperate the leaders in Bab-I Ali were. Padisah Vahdettin had signed on Sep 12, 1919 the agreement that left our Government at England's mercy. We were on our way to Erzurum on September 26, when the news of our country's surrender was released.


Mustafa Kemal ordered Husrev Bey and me to show the General everything as had happened on site. We were pleased that the large American group was moving slowly, because even the surrounding villages were devastated by the Armenians. The Armenians had killed some of their own kind when they came in disagreement. Armenians were testifying to the massacres they
faced in the hands of terrorist Armenians. There were Armenians among the American group. We were selecting the Armenians to speak to them.

Kazim Karabekir Pasa greeted the American General with a ceremony similar to the one in Sivas. His translator Ali Sukru Bey's English was impeccable too. General Harbord was so impressed that he said "I did not meet soldiers who can speak English as fluently as yours do, not even in Italy."


Karekin Pastirmaciyan who was representing Erzurum at the Ottoman Meclis-I Mebusan headed the Armenians who marauded Erzurum with the advent of the Russian army. He took refuge in Russia when the Russian Army retreated. Later he took the name Armen Garo, meaning Armenian Hero. He resorted to all kinds of atrocities among the Muslims of Erzurum with the Hinchak and
Dashnak soldiers of Russian origin troops that he led.

Antranik arrived in Erzurum after Karekin Pastirmaciyan left. His
atrocities were so fierce that the Russian Occupying General Ruchevsky had to send him out of the City of Erzurum. The local Armenians who did not join Antranik were also tortured. They had escaped to the mountains and came out only after the Turkish Army arrived. Kazim Karabekir Pasa faced the American General with these sad realities. We were staying at the Dumluzade's estate on the second day of our trip when a woman dressed in Turkish attire entered the garden. We wondered who this woman was that she could travel alone.

Later we found out that she was an Armenian nurse who worked at the Merzifon American College. She had joined the Armenian forces as they were invading the city in front of the Russian Army. When she saw the atrocities they performed on the innocent civilians, she argued with them. They threatened her, so she escaped to the Russian Commander's post with two Turkish children. She served the Russians as a nurse. After our soldiers took back the city, she was protected by the families of the
Turkish boys whose lives she had saved. When she found out that an American General arrived to investigate the situation on site, she paid this visit to tell him about her experiences.

There were two people of Armenian origin in the American group and the Patriarchate had assigned the General three translators of Armenian origin. Rauf and Rustem Bey in Sivas, Ali Sukru and Irfan Bey in Erzurum checked the documents that they had translated. However, one of the American Armenians in the group said in Armenian to the translators to do the translation as they please in front of this woman who was dressed up in Muslim attire. She quickly informed General Harbord of the conversation and the General kept her in his entourage until he left
Erzurum.

Our mosques, schools, and even our graveyards had been ransacked. The Armenian churches, schools and graveyards remained in good shape.


In some Muslim villages no stone was left unturned. The Armenian
districts remained untouched in return. The General could see these for himself. General Harbord traveled onward from Erzurum to Kars and all the way up to Erivan. Probably he witnessed similar signs of rebellion on his trip onward. It was the path that the Russian troops had followed.

Harbord was bid farewell in the same sincere and proud manner that he was greeted by the people who had nothing to hide. While shaking General Karabekir's hand he loudly said; "I saw the truth on location." Husrev Bey and I returned back to Sivas at the same time that General Harbord left Erzurum.


Holdwater adds: And the general deserves respect for not concealing some of these truths. Yet, the overall impression provided in his reports to the United States Congress still focused on the brutality caused by the Turks. The effect of his Armenian interpreters must have proven overwhelming, assuming Harbord managed to check most of the anti-Turkish prejudices he was not alone in being brainwashed with.

---

The Greatness of Ataturk
The following article is by Christopher Vasillopulos, PhD
Professor of Political Science
Eastern Connecticut State University,
(Source unknown.)

Followed by:
"Atatürk in His Age and in Ours."
A round-up of achievements
Address to Turkish youth.
Greek attempt to assassinate Ataturk in 1919
1925 Speech to the USA.

The Real Manhunt in Afghanistan

It has been said countless times since September 11th that
Osama Bin Laden is the most wanted man in the world, wanted dead or alive.

Like most desires the West’s hunger for Bin Laden does not stand analysis. What would the West have if it had him? The ephemeral pleasure of revenge consequent on killing him? The lasting agony of a ‘trial’, a procedure which more than most ‘war crimes’ trials mocks hard won due process protections? Osama Bin Laden is a problem dead or alive, because he is not wanted at all, except by his fanatical following.

Nevertheless a real manhunt is underway in Afghanistan and in Central Asia, the success of which would solve a great many more problems than even a thousand Bin Ladens could create. The West is engaged in a desperate search for new ‘Atatürks’. And not only the West. Many observers of Central Asian politics have long realized that the fundamental problems of the region will never be addressed so long as politics/religion as usual dominates the decisional background. Too many of the conditions of rational policy formation are missing. Chief among these is the idea of the sufficiency of reason to order, analyze and evaluate facts. The most important assumption behind this idea is that the material world not only matters but also, so far as public policy is concerned, is all that matters. This assumption does not deny the value of spiritual concerns and outlooks. It does demand that the world be rendered up to Caesar and his tools.

Merely to write these words in the wake of the terror attacks conducted by suicidal idealists indicates the scope of the problem. It indicates also the scope of the achievement of Atatürk. The creation of the Republic of Turkey required the accomplishment of two next too impossible tasks: the reversal of the defeat of World War I and the removal of Turkey from its medieval malaise. The first is easily understood, the second more controversial. Even the first requires a few words. In the wake of the defeat of the Central powers, Germany and her allies, France, Great Britain and Greece believed it possible to devour what remained of the Ottoman Empire, its Anatolian heartland. With Western European assistance, a Greek army invaded deep into a wounded Turkey. Not only would Greece avenge four hundred years of “slavery” under Ottoman rule, Greece would fulfill the “Great Idea” of a large Greece, by absorbing Ionia and much of Anatolia into Greece proper, leaving the rest to the Armenians no doubt. Although now this project seems drenched in megalomania, at the end of the Great War its success seemed nearly inevitable. To me and many others, only the greatness of Atatürk as a general and as a charismatic leader of his people prevented the dismemberment of Turkey. Before he founded the Turkish Republic, he had to save the land of Turkey from greedy aggressors. That he did this while fighting a significant portion of the regime which had led Turkey to defeat makes his victory even more remarkable. The ground of his victory makes it seem miraculous.

Atatürk ... turned ... decisively to the West and to the future.

As a man born in the West, Macedonia, with profoundly Western tastes, it would have been easy to expect that his support would have consisted in “European elites” and cosmopolites in general. It is true that Atatürk, like his great Ottoman predecessors, was ruthlessly meritocratic. He did not care where a person was from or who his parents were so long as they believed in him and his dream of a Turkish Republic. If the leaders of the Kemalists were cosmopolitan, its body and limbs, and therefore its strength and its reason for being, was the peasantry. Thus the Macedonian understood the real basis of the new Turkey, the people of the Anatolian heartland. It was this unlikely combination that defeated the invaders, in no small measure because the invaders did not believe such a synthesis was possible. Not only was it possible, it was remarkably effective as a fighting force.

The Great Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

The second great accomplishment of Atatürk is more controversial among scholars but in all interpretations remains wondrous. Having secured an impossible victory, by relying on a largely despised and ignored peasantry, Atatürk then turned his creation sternly and decisively to the West and to the future. Although he valued many of the virtues of traditional Ottoman culture, he knew that they could not be brought to bear so long as they remained in their medieval context. Of its vices, especially its lack of realism and inadequate understanding of the great changes that had taken place in Europe, he had nothing but contempt. Whatever Atatürk’s personal faith, and this is controversial, it is beyond dispute that he believed that spiritual matters, when they left the private realm, could have only
negative effects on a modern government. Islam, like the state itself, if it were to serve the Turkish people, would have to find its place within a secular Turkey. To write a sentence like this gives one pause, as I am sure it causes many readers disquiet. Atatürk, of course, seldom paused. In this and in so many other matters he acted and acted decisively.

Again, the role of the peasantry was critical. If Turkey had to compete with European powers, she had to have a western style government. To survive in the 20th century a state would have to liberate the energies and the talents of the nation. Only a free people in a republic could compete with other modern nation-states. This had been the lesson of the 19th century and its climax in World War I. Only a free people could free Turkey from its medieval worldview. More important, the peasantry, especially at it strove for middle class standards of living, unlike cultural elites, could “Westernize” without becoming “Europeans”. Atatürk’s vision was that a new, true and durable Turkish identity would emerge from a modernizing peasantry, developing within a secular republic. It could not come from an elite who could only attain the status of ersatz Frenchmen or Germans.

Furthermore, only this emerging middle class could inform the republic with the values necessary to sustain it: fundamental decency, candor, respect for property, and fair and honest dealing. A republic after all is the political expression of bourgeois values, not cultural refinement, spiritual intensity, or intellectual achievement.

The greatness of Ataturk is that he not only understood these ideas, he implemented them in very unfavorable circumstances.

The more one learns about Central Asia — and the world is learning a lot these days under the gun — the more the need for an Ataturk becomes plain. Of course he will have to meet local needs, be a nationalist in whichever country he appears. He will have to be a modernist as well. I realize it is a mistake to see fundamentalist terrorist movements, whether Islamic, Christian or Zionist, as longing for medieval simplicities, eschewing all the elements of the modern world. These movements are all too willing to exploit the opportunities of the 21st century, including the latest technologies. But their purposes remain anti-modern, whatever the means they employ. The world for them is not sufficient unto itself. It is at best a way station, an opportunity to avoid its essential sin and decadence. Even reason can only be used if it serves the spiritual realm. The purpose of reason is not free inquiry, a search for facts or new answers to old questions or the generation of new questions. Reason is a tool which might serve the Truth, which is conceived as complete in itself, a gift of God. Otherwise it is as sinful as money. By the same logic, otherwise intrinsically evil things and acts, capitalism or murder, for example, can be holy, if they serve God. The world can be redeemed only if it serves the divine.

A modernist like Atatürk reversed all these relationships. Religion might have a beneficial public function — its private value he left alone — if it helped serve the nation. The nation was in the world and its success was properly measured by worldly terms. The first measure is political survival, the survival of the people as a political entity. The second measure is more complex, but it can be summed up as the material welfare of the citizens. In other words, the spiritual realm, like the state, is redeemed by its usefulness to the material survival and well being of the nation. The spiritual realm may have other value for individuals, but not for the nation.

The greatness of Atatürk is that he not only understood these ideas, he implemented them in very unfavorable circumstances. In the wake of a crushing defeat in World War One, at the point of the final collapse of the Ottoman regime, with further dismemberment threatened by a Greek army supported by Britain and France, he rallied the Turkish Nation. More than this he transformed a disintegrating social-political entity, which had long outlived its time, into a modern nation-state. No wonder the real manhunt is for anyone who might do half as much today in any part of Central Asia. Perhaps the greatest difficulty in this manhunt is that Atatürks have to find themselves before they can be found by their people.

Atatürk in His Age and in Ours

Professor Andrew Mango

BY DR. ANDREW MANGO

GAZI MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATÜRK, THE GREATEST STATESMAN

I obtained information concerning Mustafa Kemal from someone who knows him very well. When talking with Foreign Minister Litvinov of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, he said that in his opinion, the most valuable and interesting statesman in all of Europe does not live in Europe today, but beyond the Bosphorus, he lives in Ankara, and that this was the President of the Turkish Republic, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America

THE GENIUS OF OUR CENTURY

The centuries rarely produce a genius. Look at this bad luck of ours, that great genius of our era was granted to the Turkish nation.

David Lloyd George, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom


"ATA'S DEATH IS A GREAT LOSS"

Atatürk's death is not only a loss for the country, but for Europe is the greatest loss, he who saved Turkey in the war and who revived anew the Turkish nation after the war. The sincere tears shed after him by all classes of people is nothing other than an appropriate manifestation to this great hero and modern Turkey's Ata.

Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

A LEADER WITH GREAT UNDERSTANDING

Mustafa Kemal was not a socialist. But it can be perceived that he is a good organizer, with great understanding, progressive, with good thoughts and an intelligent leader. He is carrying out a war of independence against those plunderers. I am believing that he will break the pride of the imperialists and that he will beat the Sultan together with his friends. ( 1921 )

Vladimir llyich Lenin, Leader of the Russian Revolution

"HOW CAN I NOT ADMIRE HIM?"

Pasha, how can I not admire you? I established a secular government in France. This government was overthrown by the priests with the help of the Pope's representatives in Paris. While you got rid of the Caliphate and established a secular state in the true sense of the word. Within this fanaticism, how did you make this society accept secularity? The great work of your genius was to create a secular Turkey. (1933)

Edouard Herriot, Former Prime Minister of France


"TURKEY CAN BE PROUD OF ITSELF"

In the life of a nation it is very seldom that changes to such a radical degree were carried out in such a short period of time... Without a doubt, those who have done these extraordinary activities have earned the attributes of a great man in the complete sense of the word. And because of this, Turkey can be proud of itself. (31 October 1933)

Eleutherios Venizelos, Prime Minister of Greece

ARCHITECT OF THE TURKISH UNITY

In connection with the permanent memorial facility for Kemal Atatürk, I take pride in presenting my congratulations to Turkey. Your great country that is advancing on the course that he demonstrated has obtained very significant successes. This ceremony that is being held to commemorate the memory of Atatürk, the architect of progress and Turkish unity, is a very appropriate respect to a person who became a source of inspiration to free peoples throughout the world.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, President of the United States of America


ATATÜRK WAS A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION

The Sakarya Battle, the Sakarya Victory became the strongest recollection when I was twenty. At that time I said to myself, I wonder whether or not I can mobilize my country like this? Can I not instill in his spirit this delivering attack, this unreined passion?

Habib ben Ali Bourguiba, President of Tunisia


FEELINGS OF LOYAL FRIENDSHIP

Because of the 25th year of Atatürk's death, I want to express the feelings of loyal friendship felt for the Turkish nation by the French nation. Today, Turkish history even more than ever is inseparable from Western and European history. Atatürk's efforts in this direction were not left without results. The friendship between our countries that has surpassed hundreds of years, has formed the foundation for this development.

Charles de Gaulle, President of France

THE LEADER OF ALL TIMES

Kemal Atatürk is not only one of the greatest leaders of this century. We in Pakistan see him as one of the greatest men of all times who has lived and died. He is not only the beloved leader of your country. All the Moslems in the world have turned their eyes to him with feelings of love and admiration.

Muhammed Ayub Khan, President of Pakistan


TURKEY UNDER ATATÜRK'S ADMINISTRATION

We are indebted to him for the birth of the first republic in the Near and Middle East. This Republic showed the way for the wars of national freedom for many nations. Under Atatürk's administration, Turkey's international authority advanced and his country started to play an important role in world politics.

Nikita S. Khrushchev, President of the Soviet Union


THE GREAT LEADER OF OUR CENTURY

The name of Atatürk reminds people of the historical successes of one of the great individuals of this century, the leadership that gave inspiration to the Turkish nation, farsightedness in the understanding of the modern world and courage and power as a military leader. It is without a doubt that another example can't be shown indicating greater successes than the birth of the Turkish Republic and ever since then Atatürk's and Turkey's broad and deep reforms undertaken as well as the confidence of a nation in itself.

John F. Kennedy, President of the United States of America

THE BUILDER OF A MODERN AGE

Kemal Atatürk or Kemal Pasha by which name we knew him in those times, was my hero during my youth. I was very moved when I read about his great reforms. I met with great praise the general efforts made by Atatürk on the course of modernizing Turkey. His dynamism, undauntedness and unawareness of fatigue created a great effect on people. He was one of the builders of the modern age in the orient. I continue to be among his greatest admirers.

Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India


HIS WORKS ARE REMEMBERED WITH PRAISE

On 1O November, the entire world and we Germans as well, remember with praise the life and works of a person to whom we are attached with friendship and respect. Atatürk always tried to establish firm ties between Turkey and Europe.

Prof. Ludwig Erhard, Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany

COURAGEOUS AND HEROIC SOLDIER

Fifty years before this we heard the name of Mustafa Kemal as a distinguished Turkish Commander. Later, with the establishment of peace, he got the opportunity to put forth his characteristics as a statesman and as one of the great national leaders, he gained one of the most eminent ranks in history. We remember that courageous and heroic soldier with respect and that statesman, the true father of modern Turkey with praise and gratitude.

Sir Alexander Douglas-Home, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

ADMIRATION FELT FOR ATA

We feel a great admiration for Atatürk in his efforts towards ensuring the modernization of Turkish society by separating religion and politics from each other and by carrying out the Turkish Language Reforms.

Hayato Ikeda, Prime Minister of Japan


"HE DID NOT PUT HIS WORK INTO DANGER"

I am the child of a generation that knows closely Turkish-German friendship. At an early age I saw a man's heroism's, the services he carried out and the self-sacrifices he undertook for his country. This man was Mustafa Kemal. Today I comprehend even better that this person was a great statesman. He was great, because he used all his courage for his nation, his country to save his homeland at an unlucky moment. He was great, because he directed his nation towards the absolute necessity of adjusting them to the necessities of history. He was great, because he always knew how to defend suitable limits and he did not go beyond the limits that would put his work into danger. Courageousness and his own courageousness was intelligent enough as well to be able to draw the limits.

Kurt G. Kiesinger, Prime Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany

ATATÜRK'S GREATNESS

In our times, it is Atatürk who brought Turkey to its current status as a modern republic with his farsighted and courageous political, social and economic reforms. At the same time, it was also he that prepared the foundation of the modern economy that will ensure today Turkey's attaining the strength to be able to enter the European Economic Community.

Joseph Luns, Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands

"I AM PROUD OF ATATÜRK"

He was a military-statesman, one of the greatest leaders of our era. He ensured that Turkey got its rightful place among the most advanced nations. Also, he gave the feeling of support and self-confidence to the Turks, that forms the foundation stone of a nation's greatness. I take great pride in being one of Atatürk's loyal friends.

General Douglas MacArthur, Commander-in-Chief of the Far East Forces, U.S.A.


MUSTAFA KEMAL GOT RID OF ALL THE GREEKS

The West and the East came face to face at the second class coastal town of Mudanya on a crooked road covered with dust on the hot Marmara coast. Despite the English flag ship "Iron-Duke's" ash-colored deathly turrets that transported the Allied generals for negotiations with Ismet Pasha, the Westerners had come here to beg for peace, not to ask for peace or to dictate the conditions... These negotiations demonstrate the end of Europe's dominance over Asia, because as everyone knows, Mustafa Kemal got rid of all the Greeks.

Ernest Hemingway, American Journalist and Novelist

THE GREATEST STATESMAN

The most precise measure of a person's worth is to be able to make their friends and enemies accept their superiority in their own field. Thus, Atatürk is one of the geniuses who attained this eminence. As a revolutionary he was triumphant in his cause and created modern Turkey and joined together among the great statesman of our century.

W. Somerset Maugham, English Novelist and Author


LIVING TURKEY

I thought Turkey had died after Sevres. But Turkey is living. besides ever since Mustafa Kemal became the chief, it is living so very actively that all of Lloyd George's efforts, all of his possibilities, when confronted with this strong will to live that defies common sense, there is nothing he can do other than vanish gradually... ( I93O)

Claude Farrere, French (?)


"WE WERE ILLUMINATED WITH HIS LOOK"

When our essence was a spark from which the color was faded out, with his look, we took on the condition of a sun that illuminates and envelops the world.

Ikbal, National Poet of Pakistan


"HE WOULD SEE THE FUTURE"

Atatürk was one of the greatest statesman of everyone who has lived and died throughout history. At no time did he dwell on the period in which he lived, he would see the future and accordingly would carry out a task. Thus, this quality of Atatürk's is the point that separates him from administrators such as Hitler and Mussolini. They were acting in everything that they did by thinking of themselves. Atatürk would act beyond himself by seeing 20-30 years into the future.

Lord Kinross, English Statesman

TO LIVE WITH ATATÜRK

In history very few people have been as beneficial as Atatürk for their country and their people. Hand in hand, from heart to heart, let us live in Atatürk's objectives without deviating to right or left in our beautiful homeland in freedom from anxiety, peace and understanding.

Shnork Kalutsian, Patriarch of the Turkish Armenians

GENIUSES LIKE THESE DON'T DIE

Geniuses like these only appear to die, because in reality, they always live in the intellects of their countries with their works that leave deep and unerasable marks. These people, just as they are not born for one generation, are also not born for a specific period. People like these, by giving the nations the opportunity to benefit continuously from these sources of Godsend blessings, are people who will be sovereign in their nation's histories for hundreds of years.

Teheran Newspaper, Iran

THE GREATEST ATATÜRK

History has seen many great people. It has seen Alexander the Great's, Napoleon's, Washington's. However, in the twentieth century the record for greatness was broken by Atatürk, this Turkish son of a Turk.

L'IIIustration Newspaper, France

TURKEY'S FOUNDING

The world, by no means and at no time, has witnessed such an exciting event as the re-founding of Turkey with a Western point of view and belief.

Social Demokraten Newspaper, Sweden

AN UNIQUE EVENT IN HISTORY

In no other country have women advanced this rapidly. It is truly an unique event in history for a nation to change to this degree.

Daily Telegraph Newspaper, England

“...Mustafa Kemal’s policy was to aim at nothing short of an out-and-out conversion of Turkey to the Western way of life; and in the nineteen-twenties he put through in Turkey what was perhaps as revolutionary a programme as has ever been carried out in any country deliberately and systematically in so short a span of time. It was as if, in our Western world, the Renaissance, the Reformation, the secularist scientific mental revolution at the end of the seventeenth century, the French Revolution, and the Industrial Revolution had all been telescoped into a single lifetime and been made compulsory by law.”[1]

[1] Arnold J. Toynbee, Civilization on Trial and the World and the West, New York, Meridian Books, 1958, p. 252. Cited from a work of Prof. Turkkaya Ataov


Ataturk's Address to the Turkish Youth
Ataturk

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Turkish youth!
Your first duty is to project and preserve the Turkish independence and the Turkish Republic forever . This is the very foundation of your existence and your future. This foundation is your most precious treasure. In the future, too, there may be malevolent people at home and abroad, who wish to deprive you of this treasure. If some day you are compelled to defend your independence and your republic, you must not tarry to weigh the possibilities and circumstances of the situation before taking up your duty. These possibilities and circumstances may turn out to be extremely unfavorable. The enemies conspiring against your independence and your Republic may have behind them a victory unprecedented in the annals of the world. By violence and ruse, all the fortresses of your beloved fatherland may be captured, all its shipyards occupied, all its armies dispersed and every part of the country invaded. And sadder and graver than all these circumstances, those who hold power within the country may be in error, misguided and may even be traitors. Furthermore, they may identify their personal interests with the political designs of the invaders. The country may be impoverished, ruined and exhausted.

You, the youth of Turkey's future, even in such circumstances, it is your duty to save the Turkish independence and Republic. The strength you need is in your noble blood within your veins.

===============================

Ankara was chosen to be Ataturk's headquarter for its central location and the seeds of a new country were planted there. He and his friends wanted to establish a Republic as opposed to the Monarchy. The War of Independence took some three years and by the end of the year 1922, all of the invaders had left the country. The Ottoman Sultan fled with a British boat. A new nation was starting to be born.

Political Revolutions

The Sultanate was abolished in 1922, November 1st.
The Republic was declared in 1923, October 29th.
The Caliphate was abolished in 1924, March 3rd.

Social Reformations

The hat as opposed to fez was introduced. (1925)
The activities of religious sects were banned by law. ( 1925)
Western calander was introduced. ( 1925)
International numeric system was introduced. ( 1928)
The Metric system was introduced. ( 1931)
The nicknames and personal titles were abolished. ( 1934)
Religious attire was prohibited in public ( 1934). According to this law, religious personalities, irrespective of the religious groups they belong were not to wear religious attire in public but only in their sanctuaries.
The surname law.( 1934)
The modern secular system of jurisprudence is instead of religious law is integrated.( 1926)
The liberation of the women of Turkey by giving them political and social rights.
a) Rights brought with medeni kanun ( 1926)
b) Rights for women to be elected for the parliament

Educational and Cultural Reformations

Unity in Education ( 1924 )
Introduction and the acceptance of the Roman alphabet. ( 1928 )
The foundation of Turkish History Institution
The foundation of Turkish Language Institution

The Principles of Ataturk ( Kemalism)

The doctrines of Ataturk or Kemalism is a system of thought based on the facts of Turkey. It is shaped with the will of the Turkish nation through a long historical background. Above all, Kemalism is the introduction and the rendering of the rights to the nation. It is the expression of the national sovereignty.It is an attempt to reach the level of the modern civilizations, it is westernization, modernization. It requires to experience a modern social life, to establish a secular state, and to govern with a positive science mentality.
The principles of Kemalism can be viewed in two groups: "The Basic Principles" and "The Complementary Principles".

The definition of the principles as Ataturk has expressed them:

The Basic Principles

Republicanism
Nationalism
Popularism
Etatism
Secularism
Revolutionism

The Complementary Principles

National Sovereignty
National Independence
National Unity and Togetherness
Peace at home Peace abroad
Modernization
Scientificism and Rationalism
Humanitarianism


Greek attempt to assassinate Ataturk in 1919

During the tumultuous years of Ottoman disintegration, Greek governments sent undercover agents to Anatolia to organise rebel groups in order to disrupt order and massacre the local population. These gangs viciously murdered women, children, elderly indiscriminately in their own villages. Their attempt to assassinate Ataturk on his arrival to Samsun in 19 May 1919 is described by Greek author Hristos Samuelidis in his book "Black Sea":

"When Mustafa Kemal started preparing for the war of independence, Lieutenant Karaiskos, who was sent to Anatolia to organise Pontus youth to rebel against Turks, asked Greek authorities to send arms and munitions urgently to support their rebellion. Lieutenant Karaiskos, operating under the guise of Red Cross, received the generous load of arms and other supplies and stocked them."

" Meanwhile, the Axis countries including Ottoman Empire were defeated at the end of WW1 and Allies were preparing to carve up the Turkish homeland. Greeks had been ordered to take their share and start occupying Izmir. The news of Greek landing in Izmir had reached Samsun. Local Turks were waiting for the fatal blow while Greeks were jubilant. They were anticipating liberation within days. Local Greeks were waiting on the shores of the Black Sea looking for blue and white flags of the Greek Navy. But they were waiting in vain. Only one ugly steamship arrived at the port bringing a determined Turkish officer who would change history and organise a decisive end to Greek presence in Anatolia."

" This was the psychology of the local Greek population when Mustafa Kemal landed in Samsun on 19 May 1919. The voices of jubilation were echoing all around the town celebrating the arrival of famous Turkish leader. Local Greeks were busy with daily life, unaware of the implications of Kemal's arrival."

" Stathios Dimitriadis, son of tobacco merchant Pantzou Dimitriadis, was busy with his father's accounts when he heard the noises. He asked his father what the noises were. His father said "Looks like the Turks". As the noises increased, Stathios was compelled to go out and ask one of the locals what was happening. He was told that a Pasha called Mustafa Kemal was in town."

" Stathios returned to the shop, closed all windows and doors, went upstairs and started watching the proceedings. As a member of Samsun Greek Organisation, he contacted the leader of the organisation Captain Stilo Komidis the following night and told him when Mustafa Kemal was going to leave Samsun. Stilo immediately started to prepare an assassination attempt against the Turkish leader. On the third night, Stilo set up ambush on the road between Samsun and Kavak with the help of 20 hand-picked Greek youths. Stilo, Stathios and others started waiting for Mustafa Kemal's carriage to arrive."

" Three hours after sunrise, a carriage protected by five horsemen appeared. Stathios tried to spot Mustafa Kemal among the passengers. When the carriage was 50 metres away, he said: "Here he is! the one at the back with the cap". The assassins sprayed the carriage with bullets killing all three in it. Captain Stilo, believing that the assassination was carried out successfully, ordered his men to disengage and run."

" The jubilation of Stathios and other Greeks lasted until the next morning. Captain Stilo isolated himself, avoiding contact with people for days, unable to comprehend how he could not kill Mustafa Kemal. The reason was Mustafa Kemal was not in the carriage. They had killed his double and Kemal was in another carriage two miles behind. "

" Stathios returned home and found out about the repercussions of the unsuccessful assassination attempt. He had a very bad feeling about the whole incident. He was not wrong, the assassination attempt to eliminate the architect of Modern Turkey had failed and there were no barriers to stop the flow of events now."

This was not the only attempt on Ataturk's life. Another one failed as well... and it was an Armenian who made the difference.

1925 Speech to the USA

"I would like to comment on a few words about the natural origin of the undeniable sincere relationship between the people of Turkey and those of the United States of America.

The Turks are already a democratic nation. If this true fact has not been understood by today’s civilized world I must direct attention to the remarkable comments made by our ambassador regarding the last days of the Ottoman empire. On the other hand the American people have always relied and depended on democracy to identify them as a nation since their inception. It has been through this blessing that they have been placed amongst today’s civilized world as a new nation.

This has given them acceptance as a new nation. Thus the Turkish people feel a strong sentiment of love and understanding towards the American people. I do hope that the observation of this fact will encourage further dialog and warm relations between the two nations; but this will not be all!

I am sure that this will also allow the rest of the civilized world to have more good will towards one another and ERASE all past negative FABLES and experiences; thus leading the world towards a more peaceful and lawful existence.

Dear Americans, as a proud representative of the Turkish nation, I give you this as a goal and sole purpose of the new Turkish people. I have no doubt that the American nation who has already reached this ultimate goal shall understand and join the new Turkish nation."

Translator: Isik Biren

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© Holdwater
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