Now, we are in Ankara!
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is sitting in his room. He dresses like a dandy – classic jacket, flower in the buttonhole, walking stick by the armchair. His beloved dog is sitting by him. It is twilight, in the room, and we can only see a part of his face. He is holding a pen, and... No. Alas, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (Ataturk means "Turks’ father) will never ever be able to write anything with his pen. He passed away in 1939. All that I have described is just a wax mannequin by which thousands of tourists silently pass every day. Many of them are Turks. Every Turk feels himself obliged to visit Ataturk Mausoleum. Respect shown to him is simply great. In Istanbul, his portrait has been hanged on one of the old, Byzantine walls, recently. In all those years while they have been there, never were any of them desecrated. No police or cameras are even needed...
Irina moved to Istanbul eight years ago to her husband who works in a tourist agency. Once she told me about a curious experience of hers. "One day, I went to Turkish courses in the evening. Suddenly, the whole city got frozen. The whole actual metropolis! People, cars, ships... It lasted about a minute. Believe or not, it seemed just impossible to me!"
Well, it is impossible any time except for one day. Every year, in October, the 11th, at 9.05 AM, Turkey freezes for a few minutes in memory of Mustafa Kemal. Only cars’ horns are heard – these are also dedicated to Turks’ father.
XXX
To see the significance of Ataturk for Turks, one has just to remember what Lenin meant for Russian, what Washington means for Americans, or what Churchill means for Englishmen. However, in contrast to Russia, no severe violations of rights were introduced by Ataturk, and no anecdotes are told about him. Ataturk is sacred for Turks. Everybody understands in Turkey that if not him, the country by now would have become similar to Syria, or Iran. Alternatively, it could simply perish. No one but Ataturk was the leader of Turkish independence movement when in 1920’s Antanta countries (England, France, and USA) decided to limit Ottomans’ territory to two provinces. Other parts of Ottoman Empire would be given to Greeks, Armenians, and Italians. Sultans who had been defeated in the war before that lost their influence completely. Ataturk did not start the independence war – he was too intelligent for that. The war was started a little earlier by the people. Ataturk just managed to appear in the correct place in correct time. Understanding that people are certain to struggle for independence, Ataturk sent a telegram to Istanbul.
"If the Sultan does not want to save Turkey, Turkish people shall do it!"
Since then, all those chaotic attacks of Turks became ordered and intelligent. Turkey became an independent country by 1924. Before that, there was a great bloodshed by Canakkale surrounded by Greeks. The city was virtually dilapidated...
Mustafa Kemal who was victorious in the war became the leader if Turkey. He ruled it till 1939, when he died of cirrhosis. However, if the only his role were in defeating the enemies, he would not be called Ataturk. His significance also lies in the reforms he applied in 1930’s making Turkey absolutely different from Ottoman Empire.
INFORMATION
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, born Ali R?za oglu Mustafa (May 19, 1881 (postulated) – November 10, 1938) was an army officer, revolutionary statesman, and founder of the Republic of Turkey as well as its first President.
Mustafa Kemal established himself as a successful and extremely capable military commander while serving as a division commander at the Battle of Gallipoli. He later fought with distinction on the eastern Anatolian and Palestinian fronts, making a name for himself during World War I.[1] Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the hands of the Allies, and the subsequent plans for its partition, Mustafa Kemal led the Turkish national movement in what would become the Turkish War of Independence. Having established a provisional government in Ankara, he defeated the forces sent by the Entente powers. His successful military campaigns led to the liberation of the country and to the establishment of the Republic of Turkey.
As the first President of Turkey, Atatürk embarked upon a major programme of political, economic and cultural reforms. An admirer of the Enlightenment, Atatürk sought to transform the ruins of the Ottoman Empire into a modern, democratic, secular, nation-state. The principles of Atatürk's reforms are often referred to as Kemalism and continue to form the political foundation of the modern Turkish state.
XXX
I once bought an orange on a narrow street in Ephesus. The seller in fact resembled more to a terrorist than to a peasant.
"Is it Turkish?" I asked.
The man thought that I was asking about his nationality, and told that he was Kurd. Later on, I was explained that many of those dealing with trade in Turkey were Kurds. As a whole, Kurds do not belonged to the educated. There are a few reasons for that. Firstly, Turkish government is intolerant to all sorts of separatists. Admittedly, this intolerance sometimes gets exaggerated. Prohibition to give Kurdish names to the newborn and to open Kurdish scools has been abolished only recently. In fact, these policies have really been too strict.
"Many Turks blame for the things made to Kurds. But centralization requires certain sacrifice," our guide Mustafa said.
He is probably right. Turkish policy in this case is no different to Napoleon’s policy when he prohibited speaking local dialects in late 18th century. Tactically, it causes harm to national minorities; strategically, is helps them. Kurds started to understand it as well. The thing is quite simple.
"It is better to live in a prosperous and powerful country," say integrated Turkish Kurds, "than in a weak colonial country like abstract Kurdistan."
Members of national minorities in Turkey understood many things looking what happened with USSR in 1991. People see how the national enclaves are living now in reality. The latter wanted their independence so that they blindly entered the era of poverty and instability. In this case, independence means not being independent on anybody, but that everything becomes independent on them. Therefore, Turks with whom I drank raki and vodka used to say,
"Let’s drink to Ataturk who prevented them from doing to us the things they did to USSR in 1991."
Separatism is present in Turkey, but is slowly is boiling down to nothing. Kurds, being generally minor traders and shop owners in Istanbul, are becoming usual Turkish citizens bit by bit.
Another national problem in Turkey is that of Armenians. In this case, most of the Turks do not agree with the government, which claims that there was no Armenian genocide in 1915.
"Shame on us," Turks say. "It was our fault that the thing happened in reality."
Perhaps, that’s why nowadays Turks show special respect to Armenians. Armenian churches get restored and rebuilt near Van lake, Armenian graveyards are looked after and cleaned periodically...
INFORMATION
The Kurds are an ethnic group indigenous to a region often referred to as Kurdistan, an area that includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Kurdish communities can also be found in Lebanon, Armenia, Azerbaijan (Kalbajar and Lachin, to the west of Nagorno Karabakh) and, in recent decades, some European countries and the United States (see Kurdish diaspora). They speak Kurdish, an Indo-European language of the Iranian branch. There are many different and diverging views on the origin of the Kurds. While Encyclopaedia Britannica considers the Kurds' ethnic origins as uncertain and Encarta relates them to other Iranian peoples, according to Encyclopedia Columbia, Kurds are commonly identified with the ancient Corduene which was in turn inhabited by the Carduchi.
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