To many people, this name means absolutely nothing. But to others, this was the man that everything possible. This is the gazi, the warrior, Ataturk - the Father of Turks.
Obviously, I can go on and on about such an important political figure...However, I will try to limit this post to just about what Jeremy Seal writes about his first impression in Istanbul. This is a clip from a previous blog post in my class on Modern Turkey,
The man, the myth, and the legend of Turkish history, Mustafa KemalAtatürk. The man whose name is sacred and can never be claimed as an individual’s name, the Gazi, or veteran, who created Turkey from the embers of WWI and simultaneously defended the Anatolian plains from pressing European imperialism. Following all of these revolutionary reforms, he died. Unfortunately, in Turkish schools, after the death of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the history of the new Anatolian nation stops dead in its tracks. There is no talk of the military coups, the rise of Islam in Parliament, or anything else…
Since this is the only history that most Turks out of high school know about, it would make sense as to why this man is so revered all across the nation. However, to a foreigner, this sense of “idolatry” towards the nation's founding father is laughable.
As Jeremy Seal writes in his book, A Fez of the Heart, he seemingly mocks how Turks treat their founding father (27). While I too am an outsider of this land, my grandfather once inhabited these Anatolian plains, and I have some understanding from firsthand accounts, what Atatürk really means to most citizens of Turkey. He is every Turk’s father, making sense considering that the literal translation of Ataturk means father or ancestor of Turks.
So yes, to Seal, seeing hundreds, maybe thousands of framed portraits and statues of Mustafa Kemal in one city might seem strange and obscure; however, the reverence that this nation has to the man that created their strong nation is something that many nations should aspire to conjure up in their own lands.
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