If you ever met a Turkish person, you probably realized our endless appreciation of our founder Atatürk. Some people may think that we are “obsessed” with this man. But why? Why are we so fond of him? 

Atatürk may be only a human being, however what he did for this country is greater than a human life. For people that don’t know, I’ll summarize the situation. In 1918, after the first World War, lands of Ottoman Empire were occupied, including the capital Istanbul. People of Anatolia were fighting back. The invaders wanted these protests to stop and forced the Ottoman government, which is basically the padisah(the emperor) himself, to shut these protesters down. The padisah delegated Mustafa Kemal -Atatürk before he got his surname- to go to the protesting areas and prevent any revolution. On 19th of May 1919 Atatürk went to Samsun and this was the first spark for the revolution. He was the leader of the Independence War, he was not only a commander for the military but he was the head of the whole movement.

For us Atatürk is not our first president nor a powerful commander. The reason we praise him more than anyone else is that he gave the people, us, the right to decide our own future. As a Turkish woman, I am able to live freely, get education and vote because of his revolutions. His far-sighted ideas took a nation of uneducated people to be a modern nation that can vote, that has the same rights as their leader. We love him so much because in a life time of 53 years he transformed a nation. He made Turkey go further in every aspect: Science, politics, military, women rights, animal rights, economy…

This man is adored so much, not as a human being but rather something more. In the end, he was a mortal like any of us. Atatürk was and is the face of the bright future. He represents the bright ideas that saved Turkey from becoming a undeveloped Middle Eastern country. I love him because the ideas he is representing is the reason why I am able to live as freely as a European woman.

Atatürk’s ideas has been trying to be overshadowed by our present government. Today, 19th of May, is important for us, the Turkish youth, because today is the national day for us to remember Atatürk, not him as a person but rather his revolutions, and make sure that Turkey keeps developing.

Bu yazıyı İngilizce yazma gereği duydum, çünkü Atatürk’ün bizim için önemini tüm dünyaya anlatmamız gerekiyor. Biraz blogun konseptinin dışına çıkmış olsam da…