November 10: Ataturk Commemoration Day in EMU [PICS]

Turkey is commemorating Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Founder of Republic of Turkey, who passed away 74 years ago. Today commemoration ceremonies are taking place throughout Turkey and in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

No one could possibly visit Turkey and not come across Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the hero of the Turkish War of Independence and the country’s first president. So important is Atatürk to the story of the Turkish Republic that he’s remembered wherever you turn: His picture gazes down on you from every office wall, his bust or statue adorns every public square.

Mustafa Kemal was born in 1881, the son of Ali Riza Efendi and Zübeyde Hanım. His birthplace was Salonica (the modern Thessaloniki) in Greece, which was then part of the Ottoman Empir.

Mustafa Kemal first rose to prominence as a military leader in the Gallipoli campaign during World War I. It was at Gallipoli that Atatürk helped repulse the ANZAC troops as they came ashore in what is now Anzac Cove in 1915, giving his men the famous command: “I am not ordering you to attack. I am ordering you to die.” Later during the same campaign, he was fortunate to escape death when his pocket watch deflected a bullet at Conkbayırı (Chunuk Bair) where he had established his command post. Today, visitors to the battlefields can read his moving words to the mothers of the fallen ANZACS:

Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives; – You are now
living in the soil of a friendly country, – therefore rest in peace.
There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where
they lie side by side here in this country of ours.
You, the mothers, who sent their sons from faraway countries – wipe away
your tears; your sons are now lying in our bosom, – and are in peace.
After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.

In 1923 one of Atatürk’s first decisions as victor in the war was to move the capital of his new Turkish Republic from İstanbul to Ankara. Once installed as president, Atatürk embarked on a whirlwind program of reforms that included the switch from writing Turkish in Arabic lettering to the use of the Latin alphabet and one of the most dramatic changes that came in 1925 when the wearing of fezzes became illegal, the veiling of women was discouraged and western clothing for men and women was encouraged. In 1934 women were given the right to vote and hold office. During his presidency, Ataturk embarked upon a program of political, economic, and cultural reforms. An admirer of the Age of Enlightenment, he sought to transform the former Ottoman Empire into a modern, democratic, and secular nation-state.

In October 1938, Atatürk was dining with friends on the presidential yacht, Savarona, when he was taken ill. He was taken to the nearby Dolmabahçe Palace, where he eventually died, on Nov. 10. Since then, every clock in the palace has been stopped at 9:05, the precise moment of his death. Throughout the country on November 10th daily life and traffic stopped at 9:05 a.m. for two minutes, sirens ring out and flags were hoisted at half mast to commemorate the Great Leader.

Pictures from EMU Commemoration event:

*Additional Credit: Beautiful Writers, Wordpress
 Images: EMU