The Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was 21 years old when he graduated from the Military Academy in 1902 with the rank of lieutenant…
He was;
34 in 1915 when he won the Canakkale victory…
38 in 1919, when he set foot in Samsun, taking his courage in both hands, saying that the country was getting out of hand…
39 in 1920 when the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was opened.
42 in 1923 when he declared the Republic…
and 57 in 1938 when he passed away.
39, 19 or 15 years?
The 36 years span the period from 1902, when Ataturk finished his studies and started his life in a sense, to 1938, when he died.
But perhaps the beginning should be taken as 1919, when he started to act on his own initiative, the year he landed in Samsun. In that case, from 1919 to 1938, we are talking about a period of only 19 years.
Who knows, from one point of view, it would be more accurate to take the beginning more recently, in 1923, when the Republic was proclaimed. With the proclamation of the Republic, the pieces fell into place, the last Turkish state was established, and the period of revitalizing that state began. But there were only 15 years for the Great Leader.
Creating an entire Republic in those 15 years, the period when he had the real initiative in hand, and fitting into this period reforms that some countries could only accomplish in hundreds of years…
And to create such a Republic that it was able to resist and survive for years against those who tried to destroy it from without, as much as from within perhaps even more…
What were you doing at that age?
The Great Leader Ataturk achieved all this under extraordinarily difficult conditions, without a regular army, without a political authority behind him, let alone a political authority that supported him, while that authority, which was about to disappear, was on the contrary hindering him instead of supporting him.
Take three to five minutes and try to remember!
What were you doing in your 30s and 40s?
For example, at the age of 38, when Ataturk set out for Samsun?
At the age of 39, for example, when Ataturk opened the Turkish Grand National Assembly?
For example, at the age of 42, when Ataturk declared the Republic?
What had you done and achieved in life?
He lived only for his country…
1881-1938; 57 years… I see that Ataturk almost never lived as Mustafa Kemal!
His life was spent first on the fronts, then laying and building the foundations of the Republic of Turkey…
That Republic is now 100 years old.
We left 100 years behind despite all the tugging from left and right, from inside and outside.
Although Mustafa Kemal was given the surname Ataturk in 1934, we can assume that this decision was made in 1923. Because that is the spirit of the decision.
The Great Leader devoted himself first to liberating the country, then to consolidating these victories on the fronts with international agreements and then to the development of the country.
The period 1902-1919; years of military service and wars…
The period until 1923; the years of efforts to establish the Republic of Turkey…
And from 1923 until his death, the years spent in the effort to revive and develop the country…
The 15 years from 1923 to 1938…
A series of reforms that some countries were only able to carry out gradually and much later than the Republic of Turkey, have been crammed into just 15 years.
Tell me… How many years Ataturk lived as Mustafa Kemal!
Ataturk devoted his entire life to this country. This is the truth, even if some cannot perceive it, even if some do perceive it but others do not want to see it!
