WHO WAS MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATURK?

Who was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk?

Edwin Gerald Tyler, Extensive research on Ataturk

Updated Dec 29

Ataturk, the revered father of modern Turkey, was the most intelligent benevolentdictator and a legendary military leader, who, despite enormous difficulties, accomplished unbelievable tasks in an incredibly short period of time (15 years).

Ataturk had a profound passion for science and believed his nation's future depends on whether it would abandon all the dogmatic ideologies and embrace science. In order to achieve this and to leave Arabic culture and traditions that stood in the way of progress, he created a new alphabet, (adjusted version of Latin) which is much less complicated than the Arabic one used by the Ottomans. He unveiled this plan to a group of linguists and professors in 1928 in Ankara and asked them how long it would take to completely adapt the new alphabet to the Turkish language. They said "3-5 years". Ataturk replied "We shall do it in 3-5 months." The balls on this guy!

He did everything in his power to educate his nation, for he believed "The greatest war is against ignorance." Ataturk's single party regime built thousands of schools and he strongly advocated for a secular and scientific education system. He once said"If someday my teachings conflict with science, choose science." That is, Ataturk strictly opposed dogmas and wanted his movement to constantly improve itself.

Ataturk, who, according to official records, read at least 3997 books in his lifetime, also wrote a Geometry book in which he defined all the fundamental mathematical and geometrical terms and provided examples of basic axioms and theorems. Most of the mathematical terminology that Turkish people use today in Maths and Geometry has been invented or translated by Ataturk. He deliberately used pure Turkish (or Turkic) words, where he could, and got rid of the extremely confusing Arabic-Farsi names that had been impeding learning.

Ataturk's contribution to the development of science and education in Turkey is of immense significance. There is no wonder that Professor Aziz Sancar, 2015 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and the first Turk to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Scienceshas said: "The real owner of this prize is Ataturk and the Republic of Turkey. Therefore, I am donating this medal to Anitkabir (Ataturk's Mausoleum) so that it will be displayed there."

Despite what some ignorant or willingly deceptive Kemalists might say, Ataturk was a dictator and this can be proven by his own words. On October 31st 1922 Ataturk gave a speech in the assembly. He urged the separation of the caliphate and sultanate (again this man was a genius – he first separated caliphate and sultanate and then abolished both within two years of each other) and explained why the latter must be abolished. However, some of the members of the assembly were obstinately opposing this. So Ataturk came forward and gave what I think was an extraordinarily important and admirable speech:

"Sovereignty and kingship are never decided by academic debate. They are seized by force. The Ottoman dynasty appropriated by force the government of the Turks, and reigned over them for six centuries. Now the Turkish nation has effectively gained possession of its sovereignty… This is an accomplished fact… If those assembled here … see the matter in its natural light, we shall all agree. Otherwise, facts will still prevail, but some heads may roll."

Some heads may roll... What he meant was this: "I am going to abolish the monarchy and bring democracy and civilisation. If you stand in my way, I am going to chop off your head! For, no one can put my nation's future in danger!"

A day after this speech, with the majority of votes in the assembly, the sultanate of the Ottoman Empire founded in 1299 had been abolished. 17 days later, frightened for his own safety, the last Ottoman monarch Mehmed VI, had fled the country.

Was Ataturk stubborn? Sometimes.

Was Ataturk ruthless? Probably.

Was Ataturk a dictator? Yes he was.

But most importantly, did Ataturk do the right thing? Of course he did the right thing!

The speech mentioned above is the sole reason why this famous quote from Ataturk, which is also the founding principle of Turkey, is inscribed in the walls of the Turkish Parliament of today:

"Sovereignty Unconditionally Belongs to the Nation."

After the abolition of the sultanate Ataturk was offered the position of the Caliph of Islam. Although he could easily become the Caliph of all Muslims, the legitimate successor to Muhammad and the role to which millions of Muslims would kill to ascend, he remained loyal to his ideals and categorically rejected that. The assembly appointed Abdulmecid II as the Caliph and, several months later, Ataturk founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Within a year, when he had the total control of the army and was embraced by the people as the savior of the nation he decided toabolish the caliphate and expel the Caliph. Most of his opponents and even supporters begged him to become Caliph himself; a delegation from India and another from Egypt repeated the request at the same time. Despite the greatness of the position and the international prestige that it would bring, he refused.

He believed the Ottoman Empire was a crazy structure based on broken religious foundations. The new Republic had to have good foundations and a well-made,scientific structure. The Caliph and the remains of the house of Osman had to go. The antiquated religious courts and codes had to be replaced by modern scientific civil codes. The schools of the priests had to give way to secular government schools. State and religion had to be separated. The Republic had to finally become a secular state. The dictator gave the order and the government of Turkey became secular.

By 1924, Ataturk had transformed an Islamic Caliphate into an almost completely secular nation-state (theoretically more secular than the US). He forced Turkey into the Age of Enlightenment. He ended the Islamic monarchy and later gave women suffrage and every other right that men had. (check Atatürk's Reforms for the complete list of his achievements – it's gonna take some time to read through!) Women whom the Ottoman mentality had ignored for centuries forcing them to wear the veil and whom nobody knew to exist until the Republican Era...

Ataturk never dictated women what to wear but encouraged them to dress in a modern fashion. As a result of Ataturk's reforms, women of Turkey had become socially equal to men and acquired all the basic liberties and rights. Ataturk once said proudly "The modern Turkish society whose women and men possess equal rightsis a result of these past years."

One of his controversial reforms was the Hat Law passed in 1925. Citizens of the Ottoman Empire who had different religions used to wear different clothes and headwear. For example, Muslims used to wear the fez which the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II made mandatory.

Being the founder of a secular government, Ataturk wanted his people to dress in such a way so as to not expose their religious beliefs because this would cause a sense of division among the public. He did not want any clothes that would remind of the Ottomans and wanted his people to have a modern mind and demonstrate this by the way they dress.

The Hat Law, which was passed in 1925 required public officials to wear western-style hats and forbade the ordinary citizens to wear anything other than hat. Today there are some critics of this, who claim that this was an oppressive law and some citizens have been executed because of this law. In today's standards this law may be regarded as an oppressive one but Ataturk was a revolutionary who transformed an Islamic state into a secular republic. So it would be quite unrealistic to expect everything to work out perfectly and adopt every reform without any difficulties. Besides, there are numerous photos of Ataturk (such as the one below from 1930) taken after the law was passed with ordinary citizens who didn't wear any hat and there hasn't been a single instance of execution due to this law.

The vast majority of his sharp critics are Islamist fundamentalists. In fact, some of them even loathe Ataturk. Rightly so. Despite what some Kemalists would say, almost all of the reforms of Ataturk conflict directly or non-directly with Islam, Quran and/or traditional Sharia law.

Here's the irony though. The most reliable Quranic commentary (tafsir) that Turkish Muslims use today written by Elmalili Hamdi Yazir was ordered by Ataturk, who also had the book translated into modern Turkish and made it publicly available. His motive was unveiled in a dialogue with one of his generals, Kazim Karabekir, who was not so fond of the idea:

"Yes, Karabekir! In order to teach the rubbish of the son of Arabs to the sons of Turks, I will have the Quran translated into Turkish and make them read it, up to the point they stop getting fooled..."

No other leader of a Muslim nation would have escaped with that bold statement. He, the savior of the nation, was no ordinary leader; no one could oppose him who defeated all the enemies and liberated his people. He did what he promised, and went even further. He forced the priests to pray and to call for prayer in Turkish as opposed to Arabic. He was bold. No other leader in the world has ever done this. He knew what he was doing. He knew that the Arabic words used in praying areperceived by the Turks as magical spells. They do not know what the verses mean, yet they keep murmuring them, in the desperate hope that these magical words will grant them the privilege of speaking directly to God. For hundreds of years priests exploited this and used their knowledge of the Quran as leverage over the people, about which Ataturk was furious. He wanted the Turks to practice their religion knowing the meaning of what they do and what they say and thus not be deceived by the priests.

But he was too progressive. Turks didn't like it; they needed to pray in Arabic toconsolidate their spirituality. When the call for prayer was delivered in Turkish it sounded like gibberish; it had no magical effect. 12 years after Ataturk's death they reverted these reforms, although, thanks to him, they could now understand what the author of the Holy Book meant.

Being a Muslim requires one to support the Quran and Sharia law and reject the idea of secularism. True Muslims who have read and embraced Quran know this. Even this by itself gives Muslims enough reason to dislike Ataturk whose stance on this issue is unequivocally clear:

"I have no religion and at times I wish all religions at the bottom of the sea. He who needs religion to uphold his government is a weak ruler; it is as if he would catch his people in a trap. My people are going to learn the principles of democracy, the dictates of truth and the teachings of science. Superstition must go. Let them worship as they will; every man can follow his own conscience, provided it does not interfere with sane reason or bid him against the liberty of his fellow-men."

Amazingly, Ataturk, who had made it crystal clear that while individuals could adopt any religion they wished, the Turkish government would not be constructed upon Islamic beliefs, is still respected by many of the Turkish Muslims because of his struggle during the War of Independence, Gallipoli Battle and many others. These people tend to call him "Gazi Mustafa Kemal", the name he used until the Grand National Assembly granted him the surname "Ataturk" meaning "Father Turk". For example, Islamist fundamentalists, such as the current president Erdogan, who work in a government position and are required to put Ataturk's portrait in their offices, prefer to use paintings or portraits such as the one below from pre-Republican times.

The others who are not so fond of him and his reforms are Kurdish nationalists who feel they have been oppressed throughout the Republican Era because they don't feel and have never wanted to be Turkish. Kurdish people are the largest nation without a state. They have their own language and culture so there is no wonder they tend to dislike Ataturk, the father of Turkish nationalism and the eternal supreme commander of the Turkish Army with whom Kurdish nationalists don't get along for decades now.

People in Turkey from various kinds of ethnic and religious backgrounds who identify themselves as Turks and love their country, respect and admire Ataturk. They visit the mausoleum in which he rests, Anitkabir, on national holidays and onNovember 10th.

Ataturk's definition of nationalism has never been based on a particular race or religion. He wanted the citizens of the Republic of Turkey to identify themselves as Turks just as the citizens of the United States identify themselves as Americans despite their different ethnic/religious backgrounds. The constitution of Turkey has never persecuted against any ethnic/religious minorities but, unfortunately, some Turks have.

What I have noticed is that almost all the scientists from all over the world who know him adore him! How can they not? A man so devoted to science who says:

"I do not leave any moral heritage, any verses, dogmas, nor any moulded standard principles. My moral heritage is science and reason. What I have done and intended to do for the Turkish nation lies in that. Anyone willing to appropriate my ideas for themselves after me will be my moral inheritors provided they would approve the guidance of science and reason on this axis."

Most of the foreigners do not understand why Turks are so obsessed about Ataturk. It seems that the Turkish nation has every right to boast about its founder, the only undefeated Ottoman commander in WW1, who devastated the Allies in Gallipoli,freed Istanbul from the invading British forces, cleaned Anatolia from the invading Greeks and won the Turkish War of Liberation. He, the first leader to attack and defeat Islamic theocracy, was a dictator, who planted the seeds of democracy, who freed the women, transformed a rotten empire into an independent republic, gave back to his nation its sovereignty, introduced his nation to science and reason and fine arts.

As H. C. Armstrong says in the beautiful ending of Grey Wolf:

"He is Dictator. The future lies in his strong hands. If they

fail, grow flabby, tremble, if though strong to destroy they

cannot build, then Turkey dies.

A lone man without family, without friends, he has made the

people of Turkey the heirs to his private possessions and to his

power.

He is Dictator in order that it may be impossible ever again

that there should be in Turkey a Dictator."