| Kemal Ataturk, Turkey's National Hero |
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| I don't know if other countries have a National Hero, but Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey, more than earned that status. 60 years after his death, pictures and statues of Ataturk were everywhere I went. As the Ottoman General Mustafa Kemal, he fought and won the Turkish War of Independence (1920-1922), defeating a Greek invasion aimed at restoring the Byzantine Empire upon the ruins of Ottoman defeat in World War I. Instead, the Turkish Republic was proclaimed in 1923, ending Ottoman rule. Ataturk was Turkey's President until his death in 1938. |
| Ataturk introduced a large number of revolutionary policies, most of which are still followed today. He believed in separation of mosque and state, abolishing Islam as Turkey's official religion. Ottoman elements which Ataturk saw as backward, such as the Turkish fez, were banned. Women received the right to vote and run for office. Most visible is Ataturk's replacement of Arabic script with the Latin alphabet used in the west. Turkish is now written with the same letters you are reading on this site. Ataturk also mandated the use of last names (family names), eliminating the Islamic custom of a single name. The Turkish Parliament chose "Ataturk" for their President, which means "Father Turk". All names were to be "Turkified", a policy resisted by the large Kurdish minority, who insisted upon maintaining their own non-Turkish names, customs and language. This conflict between Turks and Kurds continues up to the present day. |
| I believe Ataturk's most important policy direction was that Turkey's future had to be with the west, as part of an emerging modern Europe. And Turkey has been knocking on Europe's door ever since, hoping to be let in. Turkey became part of NATO, the cold war military alliance led by the United States to block Soviet expansion. And now the European Union is yet to decide whether Turkey will be accepted, many years after Turkey first applied. As a relatively poor Moslem country with real problems, Turkey may not be allowed into the European Union. Such a rejection, or endless delay, would be a severe shock to Turkey, calling into question the road Turks have long taken following in Ataturk's footsteps. |
| If you have a high speed internet connection, watch the Intrepid Berkeley Explorer's free streaming video of this trip, "What the Sultan Saw", by clicking on AdventurePics.com . |
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