November 10, 1938: What was written after Atatürk

THE ONE WHO CREATED TURKEY FROM NOTHING

“Mustafa Kemal, who drove out the sultans, defeated armies, the hero of Gallipoli, the creator of Sakarya, is dead. Atatürk, who created Turkey from nothing, raised it to the level of the most powerful states; who led the homeland from slavery to freedom, from humiliation to honor, is dead. The greatest enemy of tyranny, the deity of the eternal Kemalist regime, is dead. The Ghazi, before whom every hero bowed his head when his name was mentioned, is dead. Our hearts tremble in the face of this great sorrow.”

EBABİL NEWSPAPER

(Beirut, 1938)

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HUNGARY

NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING

Budapest, 20 (a.a.) — The Hungarian agency reports:

"In Budapest, the day of Atatürk's funeral has been declared a national day of mourning. On this occasion, it has been decided that government offices and official buildings will be adorned with black flags. The Minister and the Mayor of Budapest have issued orders that there is no need for a separate decision for municipal buildings. The Mayor also stated that the public should also hang black flags."

NAMZETTI UISANG NEWSPAPER

(Budapest, 1938)

MODERN STATESMAN

“Among modern statesmen, the leader of the new Turkey always holds his place. His task was one of the rarest in Turkish history, and he succeeded in it in an astonishing way. The source of this success was made possible by a character steeled through struggles and the will he created. His death will not mean the shaking of Turkey; because the entire young generation is following the path drawn by their leader with faith and desire.”

UJMAGYAR NEWSPAPER

(Budapest, 1938)

THE GREAT DECEASED

“The great importance of the revolution he carried out lies in the fact that it awakened the Turkish consciousness and gave it the opportunity to recognize its own value. Hungary remembers with love this great deceased, who was a loyal friend and who was the first to tear up peace treaties solely by his own strength.”

MAGYAR NEMZET NEWSPAPER

(Budapest, 1938)

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THE GREAT DECEASED

"It is impossible to describe the life of this great deceased who shook the entire world. Atatürk was one of the geniuses that the world rarely produces. He changed the course of an entire history. We bow with respect before the world's most honorable dictator and offer our deepest condolences to the Turkish nation, which has suffered an incomparable pain."

ENNEHAR NEWSPAPER

(Beirut, 1938)

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NORWAY

“Atatürk will remain in history as one of the greatest men of his country. Turkey has recovered and, as a strengthened nation, possesses the most suitable opportunities to continue Atatürk's work.”

Le Morgen Bladet Newspaper

(Oslo, November 12, 1938)

“Atatürk recreated Turkey. And he left behind a country that continues its forward march on a secure path.”

Monges Handels Newspaper

(Oslo, November 12, 1938)

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POLAND

Father of the Nation

“Atatürk built the new Turkey with his sword and organized it with his genius. There is no field where his creative spirit and ardent patriotism have not been set in motion. He was the first man to understand that the old Turkey was a regime of Sultans that allowed foreign states to interfere in the internal affairs of the Ottoman Empire, the source of all its disasters. Atatürk saved Turkey from shame and partition. The current Turkey has many friends both in its immediate vicinity and throughout Europe.

The history of its organization is 1923. That is, the date of the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne. Poland, which has been tied to Turkey by traditional friendships for 150 years, accepted this treaty before other states. There is nothing surprising in the fact that the Turkish nation, which possesses a sense of national honor, holds Atatürk in unshakable love and respect. The new Turkey has become a state that must be reckoned with in international politics. Turkey's movement of modernization and renewal continues. The sick man of the Ottomans has recovered. Its progress and energy are intact. By doing this, Atatürk truly performed a miracle.”

Gazete Polska

(Warsaw, 1938)

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FRANCE

AN EXCEPTIONAL HUMAN

“…The high-ranking personalities of the era had declared in books and conferences that Turkey would never change and would perish without changing. Yet, it changed without perishing. And it changed from the roots up, from top to bottom. Beliefs, traditions, and methods were destroyed. They drove out the last remnants, like foreign warships and capitulations, from the country. Turkey had changed its soul. Completely and as much as it is possible to imagine…

How did this happen?

A human simply passed through there. A human of medium height, walking like everyone else, with a gaze and a light in his eyes that were different… His name is Mustafa Kemal.”

Raymond Cartier

(Le Nouvelliste Newspaper, Paris, 1938)

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SICK MAN

“Turkey's leader Atatürk achieved something that all states never expected, and created a powerful country out of what was called the sick man, Turkey.”

Social Demokraten Newspaper

(Copenhagen, 1938)

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ROMANIA

The Reformer

Understanding the true needs of the nation very well, Atatürk did not adopt the old sultans' policy of external expansion as a unit of measurement, but rather a policy of intensive development within a specific area. By raising his country with a conscious organization and achieving new revolutions, he built national life on foundations that could not be destroyed. These efforts, directed toward the depths of the nation's soul, can be very well compared in terms of intensity to the efforts of Sultan Mehmed in the field of expansion. Atatürk, as his name suggests, became a true father to the Turks. A stern father, but a father to whom everyone owes their current prosperity…

Curentul Newspaper

(Bucharest, November 12, 1938)

Friends in the East

“We join with all our hearts in the grief felt by the Turkish nation due to the death of their Great Leader and guide. Among the administrators who saved, strengthened, and elevated a nation from the edge of the abyss with their unshakable determination, Atatürk is the foremost.”

Timpul Newspaper

(Bucharest, November 12, 1938)

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AFGHANISTAN

I BOWED, I WEPT…

“We were at home in Rome. We were listening to the radio. You cannot imagine what state we were in when we learned the ‘dark news.’ It was as if we had been shot in the heart. We thought we would go mad. The information provided by the newspapers increased our mourning even more. ‘My children, you stay, I am going to express my pain and sorrow in the face of the loss of the Great Ata in his own presence,’ I said. I came to Istanbul for this purpose and completely privately. If I had not come, if I had not wept before the Great Deceased who passed into eternity, it would have been very difficult for me to endure this eternal separation. I came to Istanbul to perform my final duty of respect to him. As soon as I arrived, I went to the Palace. I stood before the coffin of my great friend, I bowed, and I wept. My pain is as great as the pain of the Turkish nation. I request your mediation to convey my condolences to the Turkish nation, whom I love very much.”

Amanullah Khan

(Former King of Afghanistan, November 16, 1938, Istanbul)

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BELGIUM

THE TRUE SUN

“When I was in Ankara, I would look at the Sun, but I would not see this Sun on the horizon, but in Çankaya. I can sincerely say that the true Sun was the Sun in Çankaya. The painful loss of Atatürk is a great loss for the world. The King of Belgium, who harbors great admiration for his high genius and determined character, commissioned me to be present at the funeral of the Great Deceased to show these feelings in action as well.

All Belgians sincerely share in your national mourning. The demonstration held in your Parliament to commemorate Atatürk's memory is proof of this.”

De Raymond

(Belgium's former Ambassador to Ankara, November 20, 1938)

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HUMANITY'S GREAT LOSS

“We are going to bow before the Great Deceased and perform our final duty of respect to your Great Leader, whom I knew as a high commander, an unparalleled revolutionary, and a statesman. The untimely death of Atatürk has caused great sadness in Bulgaria, as it has everywhere in the world. There is no doubt that with his closing his eyes to life, humanity has lost a great man whose place cannot be easily filled.”

General Daskalof

(Head of the Bulgarian Delegation at the funeral)

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A Deep Pain

“Atatürk's death has plunged the large masses of people in Turkey and those for whom the independence and freedom of their country are very sacred into deep pain. The Soviet public, who are friends of Turkey, and all progressive circles in other countries are sincerely sharing in the mourning of the Turkish nation.”

Journal de Moscou

(Moscow, 1938)

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Great Atatürk

“The Syrians join with all their hearts in the deep pain felt by the Turkish nation with the death of the Great Atatürk, the builder of the Turkish homeland and the creator of Turkish power and greatness. In the face of this pain suffered by the brother nation, our greatest consolation is to follow the path drawn by the great man.”

Elkares Newspaper

(Damascus, 1938)

Great Loss

“Atatürk's death is the greatest loss not only for the Turkish nation but for all eastern nations that are in great need of his leadership.”

Eleyyam Newspaper

(Damascus, 1938)

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GREECE

The Power of Nature

“Atatürk has been one of the greatest figures of all modern world history.

The Great Turk, the Great Balkanite, the Great Man… An English biographer rightly described him as a ‘Power of Nature.’ He died after fully strengthening his work. We feel deep mourning.”

Etniki Newspaper

(Athens, November 12, 1938)

Atatürk

“The brilliance of his sword is not Atatürk's only virtue, his only glory and honor. What he did in peacetime shows the strength of his will and the brilliance of his ideas even more. Since the great Pier revolution, such an attempt had not been made. In sixteen years, Atatürk succeeded in creating a new Turkey, full of youth and strength, knowing what it wanted and where it was going.”

Akropolis Newspaper

(Athens, November 12, 1938)

Plutarch, who wrote the biographies of many heroes, accepts that the greatest success and happiness in life are achieved only by those who, after performing great deeds on earth, pass to the other world amidst the love and mourning signs of their nation. If Atatürk had lived before Plutarch, he would have been among these happy people. The Turkish nation has truly wept for days like a father for Atatürk, who gave them their life or returned their life to them.

It is one of the rare events in the history of nations that such signs of love and mourning are shown to a person after their death.

Athinai Newspaper

(Athens, November 12, 1938)

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If He Had Not Been…

“If one looks at Atatürk's work, it is seen that the works he brought about during the 14 years this Great Leader was at the head of the Turkish nation have left deeper and more numerous marks than the past centuries. If he had not been, there would be no modern Turkey. Thanks to him, the Turks will be able to raise their already very high reputation in the world even further.”

Nya Daglight Allehanda Newspaper

(Stockholm, 1938)

________________________________________Atatürk

“It was Atatürk who returned the historical values of its past to a collapsed country. Even this work alone is sufficient for the name Atatürk to be recorded among the bravest reformers of modern times.”

Messagero Newspaper

(Rome, November 12, 1938)

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If Atatürk Had Not Been

“Atatürk was an extraordinary statesman, one of the greatest figures of post-war world history. If Atatürk had not been, the new Turkey would not exist.”

Hufvud Stadsbladet Newspaper

(Helsinki, 1938)

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PARLIAMENT WAS ADJOURNED.

The Legislative Assembly today unanimously accepted a motion of condolence due to Atatürk's death and suspended the Assembly's work for that day as a sign of respect for the Great Leader.

The motion was made by Congress Party Leader Mr. Bhulabhai Desai and was supported by all other leaders in the Assembly. The Speaker of the Assembly, Sir Abdurrahim, said:

“Atatürk was a man who had a dominant and great influence on the world politics of the day, and his operation and influence on the lives of a large part of the Asian people were so great that their equal is not encountered in modern times.”

(Delhi, November 14, 1938)

________________________________________ Such Geniuses Do Not Die

“Such geniuses only die in appearance. Because, in reality, they always live on with their works that leave deep and indelible marks on the understanding of nations. Such people are not born for a generation, nor are they born for a specific era. Such people are those who will dominate the history of their nations for centuries by enabling their nations to benefit from these sources of blessings without ceasing.”

Tahran Newspaper

(Tehran, November 21, 1938)

Official Mourning

Tehran, 12 (A.A.) – “Due to the death of Atatürk, the Shahanshah and the Government have declared one month of official mourning. His Majesty the Shahanshah has ordered that flags be flown at half-mast on military and official buildings in Iran and at Iranian missions in foreign countries until the end of the burial ceremony. This imperial will has been announced in all newspapers today.”

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Constructive and Creative Atatürk

Atatürk, who was a builder and creator in the full sense of the word, drew a brand new border for his country on the world map, found the resources necessary to keep it alive, armed it for defense, and also gave it a language and an alphabet. He gave the country an ideal and instilled a will and a spirit. He did all these things with extreme success from 1923 to 1938. He strengthened the country against foreign ambitions. Those foreigners who emerged victorious from the war and possessed the power to make others do what they wanted. Here, this leader, who closed his eyes to life forever in a palace room on the shores of the Bosphorus, is a miracle of humanity for every era of history.

Loryan Newspaper

(Beirut, 1939)

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TUNISIA

A Source of Inspiration

“The Tunisian nation joins today with the brotherly and noble Turkish nation, with which it is tied by centuries-old bonds, in uniting in respect to keep the unforgettable memory of Mustafa Kemal alive.

At a time when everything was thought to be completely lost, we exalt this great human chosen by God, who fiercely refused to lose hope in his nation and to accept defeat. He knew how to unite forces, raise broken spirits, and by challenging fate, he re-established the integrity of the country and succeeded in winning the independence and sovereignty of the land.

Atatürk thus showed the world, which was in astonishment, what a nation that prefers death to captivity can do. This example will not be forgotten.”

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Builder and Pioneer

“Atatürk was the builder and pioneer of many revolutionary movements such as the proclamation of the Republic, the establishment of national banks and national industry, the construction of railways, the nationalization of foreign privileges, the separation of religion and state, the adoption of the Latin alphabet, the recognition of women's equality, and the abolition of titles.”

Pravda Newspaper

(Moscow, November 10, 1963)

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I AM PROUD

“The soldier-statesman was one of the greatest leaders of our age. He ensured that Turkey took its rightful place among the most advanced countries in the world. Again, he gave the Turks the feeling of self-confidence and self-reliance, which forms the cornerstone of a nation's greatness. I am very proud to be one of Atatürk's comrades-in-arms.”

General MacArthur

(Retired General, November 10, 1963)

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PAKISTAN

Kemal Atatürk

“Kemal Atatürk is not only one of the greatest men of this century. In Pakistan, we see him as one of the greatest men of all ages. A military genius, a born leader, and a great patriot, Kemal Atatürk put your country back on the path of greatness. He is not only the beloved leader of your nation. All Muslims in the world have turned their eyes to him with feelings of love and admiration. He was one of the handful of people who took a bold step forward in the direction of political awakening in the Muslim world. On this unforgettable anniversary, we share your feelings and would like to join in the feelings of love and respect that your nation shows for the immortal memory of its great founder.”

Ayub Khan

(President of Pakistan, November 10, 1963)

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ISRAEL

A Brave and Great Revolutionary

“Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is undoubtedly one of the greatest statesmen who grew up in the 20th century, before the world war. He was a brave and great revolutionary, which is not granted to every nation. The great leader, who won the trust and support of the Turkish nation, protected the independence and integrity of his country; by saving his nation from the rotten tradition of the Middle Ages, he drew a secure and bright path that would lead it to progress internally and externally.”

Ben-Gurion

(Former Prime Minister of Israel, November 10, 1963)

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NETHERLANDS

EXAMPLE ATATÜRK

“In our age, it is Kemal Atatürk who made Turkey the modern Republic it is today with his far-sighted, brave, political, social, and economic reforms. At the same time, it is he who prepared the foundation of the modern economy that enables Turkey to reach the level of entering the European Common Market today. Atatürk has been an example with his personality, sense of responsibility, and civic courage. These virtues were what developed the sense of togetherness and nationhood of his citizens. Atatürk and his friends laid the foundation of the intelligence that the Republic of Turkey has achieved from its establishment to this day.

As Kemal Atatürk said, the Turkish nation is ready and determined to advance on the path of civilization without stopping and without fear. I would also like to add that this progress is observed exactly the same in the field of economic power and wealth.”

Luns

(Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, November 10, 1963)

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CHINA

A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR THE WORLD

“On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the death of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, I would like to convey, on behalf of my country and my nation, my profound feelings and admiration for the Great Turkish Leader who achieved success by struggling to bring his country to freedom and democracy. Atatürk's life and work will continue to be a source of inspiration not only for Turkey but for all the free nations of the world.”

Chiang Kai-shek

(President of China, November 10, 1963)

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SWEDEN

Creator of Modern Turkey

“The works of Kemal Atatürk, the creator of modern Turkey, and what he did for his country are very well known in Sweden. We watched Turkey's development and extraordinary forward leaps under Atatürk's leadership with admiration. With the reforms Atatürk introduced in the field of law as well as in other fields, Turkey was saved from the very difficult situation it was in and placed on strong and reliable foundations.”

Erlander

(Prime Minister of Sweden, November 10, 1963)

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RUSSIA

ATATÜRK

“Our country knows Kemal Atatürk, who fought tough struggles for the freedom of the Turkish nation and the national development of Turkey, very well.

Atatürk awakened the Turkish nation to enter into a struggle against provocative forces, imperialists, and reactionary forces that wanted to crush a nation by force of arms and turn the country into a colony of great states. In the Near and Middle East, the birth of the first Republic owes itself to him. This Republic has shed light on the national freedom movements of many nations. His struggle against imperialism, which Atatürk held sacred, was appreciated not only by the Turkish nation but also by other eastern countries.

Atatürk did much for Turkey to be saved from its centuries-old backwardness. The reforms he realized aimed at the rapid progress of the country's economic life, industrial and agricultural development. During Atatürk's administration, Turkey's international authority rose, and the country began to play an important role in world politics.”

N. S. KHRUSHCHEV

(President of the Soviet Union, November 10, 1963)

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MY SORROW IS OF TWO KINDS

“My sorrow is of two kinds. First, I am sad like the whole world because of the loss of such a great human. My second sorrow is that there is no longer any possibility for my desire to meet this great human to be realized.”

Franklin Roosevelt

(President of the U.S.A., November 10, 1963)

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SPAIN

Symbol

“The great Turkish patriot has passed into eternity; but his work retains its vitality. And the magnificent homeland is climbing a step every day on the path leading to strength. Kemal Atatürk's monument in Ankara is a constant symbol of unity and revolution for the Turkish people.”

Arriba Newspaper

(Madrid, November 10, 1963)

…

I wonder if the Turkish people still carry even a little bit of the feelings written at the passing of the great genius, the leader, and the guide Atatürk?

Compiled by: Prof. Dr. Duran BÜLBÜL