The significance of the Turkish Revolution

At the end of the 13-year civil war in Syria, the Assad regime was toppled. The Arab Spring has become an autumn for yet another country. I do not know and cannot foresee what consequences these events will have for Turkey.

However, I determine how I should approach any event anywhere in the world by looking at the stance of the USA. It is not a scientific method, but it usually yields accurate results. If the USA is happy, it is almost certain that the event will have negative consequences for our country.

When we look at the reactions of the USA and its supporting states, we can say that what is happening in Syria will not lead to auspicious outcomes for our country.

We watched the opposition's advance on Damascus and the footage of them seizing the capital.

Since I have never been to Syria, I can only comment based on what I have watched. The buildings, roads, and streets in the capital, Damascus, look quite old and neglected when compared to those in our country. It is as if there is a difference of several decades. It would not be out of place to say that the highways connecting Syria's cities are far behind our country's transportation network.

Similarly, the weapons and equipment said to have been seized from the Syrian Army also looked quite old and did not resemble modern weapons of today.

I had thought about a similar issue when I saw the helicopter of the Iranian President, who died as a result of an accident or assassination.

When we compare ourselves with our southern and eastern neighbors, we see that the capabilities and resources of the Republic of Turkey are far superior to those of our neighbors.

Does this relative superiority of our country's cities, infrastructure, transportation network, and industry stem from Turkey being a wealthier country? Even if the answer is partially yes, our true wealth is our qualified human capital. Even if we make the harshest self-criticism about our country, we must accept this fact.

What, then, is the foundation of this qualified human resource of our country that I mentioned? Is it that our religious beliefs, sects, or races are different from our neighbors? Of course not.

The answer lies in two words: revolution and republic.

We are ahead of these countries thanks to the Turkish Revolution, for which we have been struggling for nearly 150 years. In 1908 and 1923, we fought the struggle to become citizens and to become a nation.

We are in a better position than the neighbors I mentioned because we have achieved gender equality.

We are different because we are bound to the state not by religious, racial, or sectarian ties, but by the bond of citizenship. We have secular laws, and we are able to maintain social peace because we were able to implement the Civil Code in 1926.

We have institutions, no matter how much they may have been worn down. We have a strong army that can carry out cross-border missions even during the most turbulent days, such as in 2016. We have brilliant people in fields like medicine, engineering, and software who are at or even above world standards.

When you look at the leaders marketed as "moderate" in Syria on Western news channels, what do you see?

When you see jihadists with beards down to their navels on Japanese-made pickup trucks with machine guns in the back, does citizenship, gender equality, secularism, or democracy come to your mind?

"The Republic was founded incorrectly, Atatürk was a dictator, the revolutions were made in spite of the people, we need equal citizenship"—for those insolent people who belittle the Turkish Revolution by uttering such nonsense, our neighbors and the Middle East stand as a cautionary tale.

In a country that has been fighting against a separatist organization for nearly 40 years, it is a major event that people have not slaughtered each other despite so many casualties. If we did not become Yugoslavia, we owe it to the republic that is so often criticized. Despite all kinds of provocations, our people refuse to drift apart due to sectarian and ethnic differences.

Whatever makes us better off today, we owe it solely and exclusively to the Turkish Revolution.

The founding philosophy and foundations of the Republic of Turkey are extremely solid. It still stands because it is rational and bases its sovereignty on the nation. We are grateful to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the brightest point of the Turkish Revolution, and to all our other heroes.

Without being pessimistic, there is no problem we cannot solve through the inspiration we draw from the past and the path of reason dominated by science.