Art education and national honor

Greetings,

Free-thinking, free-conscienced, beautiful people.

Continuing to look through the mirror of art…

What appears to us in the mirror of art today is: Art Education and National Honor.

Dear reader, I know we have been left helpless by issues that weigh heavily on our hearts. That is precisely why I decided to write this piece—at the very least, to ensure we do not leave future generations helpless and to give them hope, and perhaps so that those certain individuals who strike us at our core might read this and understand what it means to be a nation and what it means to have honor.

Can there be national honor without art education? I wanted you to see for yourselves.

So, let us begin.

I would like to provide you with information regarding art and art education, and I leave the first word on this subject to our Great Leader, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

“A nation that is deprived of art and artists cannot have a full life. Such a nation is like a person who is lame in one leg, paralyzed in one arm, crippled and infirm. One of the lifeblood vessels of a nation that remains without art is severed.”

In other words, our Great Leader is saying: If you do not have artists and, naturally, your own national art, you cannot have a civilization; if you do not have a civilization, you cannot advance in science and technology, and therefore you cannot prosper. Because you will be forced to depend on societies that have developed a civilization, you cannot take your place on the stage of history as a wealthy and free nation.

A nation that is poor and underdeveloped in terms of civilization will unfortunately be unable to escape being subjected to humiliating treatment, as it will constantly be in a position of bowing down before other nations that possess wealthy and developed civilizations.

What remained of the Ottoman Empire, which emerged defeated from the First World War, was a ruined and occupied homeland. Following the National War of Independence that we waged under the leadership of our Great Leader Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the enemy was driven from our homeland and the Republic of Turkey was able to be established. While our homeland was under occupation, the Turkish Nation had to endure many humiliating things.

So that the Turkish Nation would never again be subjected to such humiliating situations, as soon as our Republic was founded, world-renowned educational scientists were invited to our country so that education suitable for the requirements of the age could be provided in schools to train the artists, scientists, architects, and engineers who could get our country back on its feet as quickly as possible, and educational processes were carried out from which we could benefit from their knowledge. Again, during that period, despite all the economic difficulties, our talented youth selected through examinations were sent to Europe to receive education.

The Gazi Education Institute was established to train teachers who could provide art education. Later, Village Institutes were established to train teachers who could carry this qualified understanding of education to every corner of Anatolia. While these massive steps were being taken for children in the field of education, People's Houses (Halkevleri) were established in cities for the art education and other training, such as literacy, of adults. All these steps taken in the field of art education and education in general were realized in a short period of fifteen years.

So, why did the newly established young Republic of Turkey place so much importance on art education?

Because as the individuals who make up society discover that art education contributes positively to the country's development, social welfare, and the development of more civilized relationships between people, they will be able to take much more permanent and greater steps in this direction.

The resources that countries allocate for art and art education will enable the training of artists and designers who can represent those countries in the best possible way in the world art league. The energy that will emerge thanks to the works that these trained artists and designers will produce in fields such as painting, sculpture, industrial design, and digital games will turn into the national prestige of those countries.

In today's world, which has turned into a global village thanks to communication technologies that are accelerating day by day, artistic production and competition ensure that the names of countries remain in memory. This helps to increase the brand value of countries in an artistic and cultural context, and subsequently helps the economic returns in the field of tourism to grow and develop for that country.

With the effect of the development of art tourism, cultural tourism, faith tourism, and holiday tourism are also growing in a positive direction. The growth of tourism in every aspect leads to more production and more people being able to find jobs. Thus, the country's national income increases, personal savings increase with the rising national income, and this contributes significantly to the economic infrastructure necessary for the formation of the capital required for the country's development.

In conclusion, the cultural, scientific, and technological developments that individuals who have received art education will provide will enable that nation to create a civilization and wealth, and at the same time, it will give the members of that nation the power to take pride in their nation. Just as our Great Leader Atatürk gifted us a state to be proud of by establishing the contemporary, secular, democratic, and populist Republic of Turkey.

Do you want to be honorable individuals?

Then we will say national honor first.

So, what will we do for this?

It is very simple.

We will do what our young Republic did 100 years ago.

We will provide contemporary art education for all our people of all ages, starting with our children and youth.

It is that simple.

I hope I have been able to convey my point.

Until we meet again, for now, goodbye; now and always, breathe with art, stay with art.