Musings on Atatürk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.  Fact: Born Mustafa in Thessalonica, Greece. Second Fact: Name literally translates to Mustafa Kemal perfection Atatürk Father of the Türks (ironic as he had no biological children).

Atatürk is Turkey’s version of George Washington, but if Washington had invented the English Language, and after chopping down the cherry tree, had invented cherry pie and used the ax handle as the first baseball bat. 

In Türkiye, Atatürk is a constant presence.  Statues of him are in every city in the country.  His picture is in every public building, almost all private businesses, and a good percentage of private residences as well.  Every car has either a decal of either the Turkish flag or Atatürk‘s signature in the window, and every house where he spent more than 12 hours is invariably a museum.  There are streets in every city named for him, stadiums, bridges, and parks.  Everything is named for Atatürk. 

So why is he so omnipresent in Turkish life Culture?  To begin with, he really was an extraordinary individual.  He was a war hero in the Turkish-Balkan War, the Turkish-Greek War, and World War I (including the battle of Gallipoli where it could be argued that the modern Australian state has its impetus, and where Atatürk gave an incredible speech). 

After WWI, the Ottoman Empire as an ally of Germany and Austria-Hungary, was dismantled and divided between Greek and Italian interests in the west and French and British interests in the east, leaving Turkey a sliver of coast.  Turkish politics was controlled by the last Ottoman Sultan who also served as the last Caliph, blending Ottoman politics and pan-Islamic politics.  Atatürk led the nationalist revolt against the occupying forces, citing Wilson’s 14 Points for legitimacy. 

After the War of Independence, Atatürk remade a backwards looking Islamist state into the Western looking, but still Muslim, state.  The difference was that religion played no role in the new government.  The Fez was outlawed in 1925 with possibly the greatest law ever, Law 671 – Law on the Wearing of Hats – which required public sector workers to adopt western style hats, leading the general public to follow suit. 

He also recreated the Turkish language.  Turkish is a member of the central Asian Turkik linguistic family, and the spoken language goes back thousands of years.  However, during the Islamic rule of the Ottoman Empire, this spoken language was represented by written Arabic.  Arabic is consonant rich and vowel poor.  Turkish is the complete opposite, making Arabic script an imperfect representation of the language.  It is also difficult to learn, leading to a poorly educated population.  Atatürk convened a council of linguists, educators, and policy experts to create a specific written Turkish language.  Modern written Turkish uses a modified Roman alphabet that almost perfectly represents the phonetics of the spoken language.  The Council recommended that country-wide implementation would take 3-5 years.  Atatürk gave them 3-5 months.  And it worked.  Literacy classes were mandated for all Turkish citizens under the age of 40, and literacy rates went from around 15% to 75% within 3 years. 

But again, why is he everywhere?  There are several answers.  One is that he really was an extraordinary individual with a vision for modern Turkey and a drive to realize that goal.  But there are also issues of proximity.  Atatürk only died in the 1930’s, and there are people who can still remember him personally.  This is not unlike American reverence of George Washington well into the 1800’s.  In fact, I would be interested to know how many towns, schools and bridges are named after G. Washington.  But this historical proximity is key to his role in Turkish society today.

The second factor in his role today is his role as Father of the Türks.  Going back to my blog entry about the flag, Atatürk created modern Turkey’s self-identity.  It is no longer a state ruled by a puppet caliph controlled by the British.  It is a modern state engaged in the world, and Atatürk really is the reason why. 

I’ll leave on this last note.  Atatürk’s signature is K. Atatürk.  6 letters.  In the Turkish language edition of Microsoft Word, there is an Atatürk typeface where the 29 letters in the Turkish language have been created from the 6 in his signature.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic, Father of the Turks,
and  man with the best eyebrows, with his iconic and omnipresent signature.