While everyone is becoming Arabized, how happy is the one who says I am a Turk...

He was doing his internship in Jaffa.

He was attending training sessions, training soldiers, overseeing their marksmanship, and working to ensure they became well-trained soldiers for their army.

This person was Captain Mustafa Kemal. He was a young staff officer at the age of 24.

He was serving under the command of the 5th Army, stationed in Damascus. He did not view the soldiers under his command as superior to one another. To him, every soldier was equal. They were each a soldier who had left their village, their homeland, and their hearth to come here, even at the cost of their lives. Mustafa Kemal saw every soldier as equal, but there were those who did not. Not every Company Commander was the same. Some Company Commanders viewed Arab soldiers as superior to Turkish soldiers. Since the 5th Army Command was in an Arab region, the soldiers to be trained consisted mostly of Arab soldiers.

The non-commissioned officers providing training to these soldiers were Turkish soldiers who had come from Anatolia.

Since the Arab soldiers did not know Turkish very well, disagreements occasionally arose between them and the non-commissioned officers. That day, an elderly officer who had risen through the ranks called one of the Turkish sergeants, who had been acting harshly toward an Arab soldier struggling to follow orders due to the language barrier, into his office. He began by acting harshly toward the sergeant, and then started insulting him. The sergeant was a sturdy, large-framed soldier. Mustafa Kemal was there too.

He was sitting in the Captain's office with Müfit. The Captain began to speak in a way that would break the honor of the Turkish soldier;

-“You,” he said. “How can you act harshly toward these children who belong to the noble Arab race, the descendants of our Prophet?”

The level of insults began to escalate with similar sentences. The Captain was Turkish. But while glorifying the Arab race, he was insulting and belittling his own Turkish race. His voice kept rising. Mustafa Kemal looked at the expression on the sergeant's face; the sergeant was very respectful. However, as the Captain continued to insult him, tears began to stream down the face of the sergeant, who could not stomach this situation.

Seeing this scene, Mustafa Kemal could no longer bear it. He suddenly shouted, "Captain, be silent!" The Captain was startled and fell silent. He was afraid. He only managed to say in a low voice;

-“Did I say something wrong?” Mustafa Kemal, who was angry, ended the matter with these words and left the room.

-“Yes, you made a very bad insult. You have no right to do this. The Arab nation may be superior in many respects, but it is an undeniable fact that the Turkish nation, to which you, I, Müfit, and the sergeant belong, is also a great and noble nation,” he said.

This was the final word.

The Captain regretted what he had done. Mustafa Kemal left the room and walked away. He was angry.

However, Mustafa Kemal did not forget this incident. It stuck in his mind like a nail. What did it mean to insult one's own race and view another race as superior?

What kind of social illness was this?

Yet, no society or state that belittles its own race could survive.

However, Mustafa Kemal learned something else here. A state, while not denying its own race, should not view any race as superior and should not impose this on society. That day, he learned that the state he would establish and envisioned in his mind should only provide its people with a higher identity, a roof identity, and that with the acceptance of this higher identity by the peoples, they should have the freedom to express their own sub-identities in every aspect.

Starting from this thought, Mustafa Kemal did not say, “How happy is the one who is a Turk” that day.

He said, “How happy is the one who says I am a Turk.”

Today, when we look, we see that history is repeating itself in this regard. The Republic of Turkey is becoming Arabized, some administrators view the Arab nation as superior to the Turkish Nation, Arabic openings and opening speeches are being made in schools and universities, and according to some, the Turkish identity is unfortunately being trampled upon.

The Arab identity is being preferred.

In the words of Mustafa Kemal, “Let us not forget that those who forget their own identity (self) are the prey of other nations.”

Mustafa Kemal surely said these words having foreseen these days. It is as if he felt it. What other explanation could there be?

Back then, as the Ottoman Empire, we were the prey of the Imperialists. We were saved thanks to the personal struggle of Mustafa Kemal.

If we do not want to be prey to other nations today, let us all say together;

Once again,

How happy is the one who says I am a Turk...