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. |
