{"id":38667,"date":"2011-08-23T10:32:55","date_gmt":"2011-08-23T07:32:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turkishforum.com.tr\/en\/content\/?p=38667"},"modified":"2022-11-29T12:36:22","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T09:36:22","slug":"ataturk-will-remain-a-towering-figure-among-turks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/2011\/08\/23\/ataturk-will-remain-a-towering-figure-among-turks\/","title":{"rendered":"Atat\u00fcrk will remain a towering figure among Turks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ferruh Demirmen, Ph.D.
\nHouston, Texas
\nferruh@demirmen.com<\/span><\/p>\n

It has been a fashion in Turkish media in recent years to question and attack the ideology and accomplishments of Kemal Atat\u00fcrk \u2013 a hero figure for the vast majority of Turks. Columnist Mustafa Akyol, who writes in Turkish Daily News, and who for years has been trying to discredit Atat\u00fcrk, is one such media personalty.<\/p>\n

This disturbing trend gained acceptance in certain journalistic circles within the past decade, in particular after the AK Party\u2019s second electoral victoy in 2007. The growing influence of the G\u00fclen Movement has given impetus to the Atat\u00fcrk-bashing trend.<\/p>\n

The attack comes mostly from radical conservatives and idealogs \u2013 some outright religious bigots -that cannot make peace with Atat\u00fcrk\u2019s legacy. These critics typically yearn for a \u201cSecond Turkish Republic\u201d that have the markings of a bygone Ottoman era. In a conference held 3 months ago at the Kadir Has University in Istanbul, for example, Mr. Akyol reportedly expressed preference for the \u201cdemocracy\u201d of the Ottoman era!<\/p>\n

The putative reason for Atat\u00fcrk\u2019s failing, according to these circles, is that Atat\u00fcrk was anti-Islam, depriving Turks of the freedom to practice their faith. There are even some critics who castigate Atat\u00fcrk for abolishing Caliphate.<\/p>\n

It would be unrealistic to expect these critics, being imbued by religious prejudice, to appreciate what Atat\u00fcrk has accomplished. Many of these critics like Mr. Akyol are apologists if not the products of the G\u00fclen Movement, and they advocate an Islamist Turkey instead of a secular one. Most of them have joined hands with quack Creationists that assault Darwin\u2019s Evolution Theory. All because it doesn\u2019t fit with their religious dogma.<\/p>\n

To realize the hollowness of their arguments, and why Atat\u00fcrk was not anti-Islam, these opponents should read the works of such researchers as Sinan Meydan (e.g., \u201cCumhuriyet Tarihi Yalanlar\u0131\u201d) and Professor Ethem Ruhi Fi\u011flal\u0131 (e.g., “Atat\u00fcrk And The Religion of Islam”). They will learn, for example, that Atat\u00fcrk tried to free Islam from the shackles of dogma and advanced the notion that religion is a matter between an individual and God. This is also what Islam teaches. Atat\u00fcrk eschewed \u201cfalse prophets\u201d that stood between man and God. He held that Islam should be in conformity with reason and logic. He sponsored the construction of mosques in Tokyo and Paris.<\/p>\n

These are not the hallmarks of a leader who was anti-religion or anti-Islam.<\/p>\n

But Atat\u00fcrk\u2019s accomplishments go far beyond religion: He freed the Turkish nation from the shackles of imperialism and introduced reforms toward a civil society, science and modernity \u2013 from alphabet to secularism to women\u2019s rights. Thanks to his reforms, the decadence and backwardness of the waning years of the Ottoman Empire was left behind.<\/p>\n

It was a call for the Turkish nation to catch up with the West in science and modernity. Turks could still practice their religion, but the State did not adopt or sponsor a particular religion.<\/p>\n

If the opponents of Atat\u00fcrk like Mr. Akyol are breathing freedom in Turkey today, they owe it to the leadership of Atat\u00fcrk.<\/p>\n

If Turkey has any realistic hopes to join the EU, it is because a measure of westernization that Atat\u00fcrk\u2019s reforms have ushered in. (Reversals in recent years notwithstanding ).<\/p>\n

The secular establishment Atat\u00fcrk founded \u2013 through the Republic \u2013 was requisite for democratization in Turkey.<\/p>\n

It was for good reason that Professor Arnold M. Ludwig of Kentucky University, after 18 years of study of the world leaders of the 20th<\/sup> century (\u201cKing of the Mountain\u201d), picked Atat\u00fcrk as the top winner among the contestants. That makes Atat\u00fcrk a towering figure in world history. Opponents of Atat\u00fcrk would do well to read that seminal book.<\/p>\n

And it is also remarkable that the Greek Premier Eleftherios Venizelos, a former enemy of Turkey, nominated Atat\u00fcrk for the 1934 Nobel Peace Prize.<\/p>\n

The bigotry and ignorance of these opponents \u2013 pathetic as they are in their efforts – could be ignored if it were not for the fact that they regularly pontificate in printed and visual media. It is lamentable that these opponents do not show greater respect for the legacy of a visionary figure beloved by the vast majority of Turkish people. In no major newspaper in the U.S., for example, would one find derogatory remarks about George Washington.<\/p>\n

Notwithstanding, there is little doubt that Atat\u00fcrk will remain a towering historical figure among Turks. Reactionary forces that resist change and want to hold on to the past will not hold the Turkish nation hostage to their hatred and bigotry.<\/p>\n

The West fought a hard and grueling battle for Enlightenment, and it eventually won. Turkey eventually will also win; for it must. This is what progress is about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Notwithstanding, there is little doubt that Atat\u00fcrk will remain a towering historical figure among Turks. Reactionary forces that resist change and want to hold on to the past will not hold the Turkish nation hostage to their hatred and bigotry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4102,"featured_media":774678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[297,530,89],"tags":[13,985,4174],"class_list":["post-38667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-authors","category-ferruh-demirmen","category-turkey","tag-ataturk","tag-eu","tag-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/774678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turkishnews.com\/en\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}