I have no face!

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, whom we will commemorate today with respect and longing, is like our health.

We only realize his importance when we lose him…

He is like our teeth, for instance. We don't appreciate their value on ordinary days, but if they ache even a little, our world turns dark!

Or…

The pain that shoots into our legs when we get into bed to sleep is what it feels like to be without Atatürk!

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His absence is our thirst… It makes one thirst to the core!

It is being left naked in the freezing snow!

It is our loneliness; the bridge of our nose aches…

Being without Atatürk is like withered branches; it always reminds one of trees that once bore fruit…

It is cracked earth. When you close your eyes, you see yellowed wheat stalks swaying in the wind…

A baby left without a mother…

A child whose toy is broken…

A young man abandoned by his lover…

A father fired from his job…

A mother whose milk has dried up…

We do not know their value while we have them, but their absence causes agonizing pain.

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It is, for example, the more than 800 thousand girls who are not sent to school…

It is the apprentices forced to work illegally at school age.

It is also the worker's overalls worn instead of the white-collared black school uniform…

It is the teacher who cannot be appointed; the one who has studied for years but cannot reach their students!

It is education without a “national” spirit…

It is our national oath that is not allowed to be recited, our anthem that is not allowed to be sung, our “T.C.” (Republic of Turkey) that has been removed!

It is healthcare without doctors; where you are told, “Go wherever you want!”

Being without Atatürk is the dead of winter; your insides freeze!

It is the bigotry that insults your skirt on the bus you ride.

It is the intolerance that interferes with your lifestyle, the arrogance that ignores the laws, the audacity that uses God as a cover for all kinds of evil.

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The grinding to a halt of industrial gears…

Factory chimneys that no longer smoke…

National wealth sold off like a father's inheritance…

It is SEKA, which was demolished to build a park on its land, turning us from a country that exported paper into one that imports it!

It is the closed-down Sümerbank; with its colorful printed cottons…

It is the demolished Beykoz Leather and Shoe Factory, which kept feet so warm!

It is the flour factories, sugar factories, and mines that were handed over to others!

It is the farmer who is encouraged not to produce, rather than to produce.

It is lack of planning, lack of programs, and waste…

It is the illegal palaces built in place of the unique farms established on barren land with a thousand efforts!

It is the 2-B land status that turns a blind eye to looters, it is the zoning and tax amnesties!

It is the vulgarity that seeks honor not in the prosperity of its people, but in ostentatious buildings!

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Being without Atatürk is not being self-sufficient, but being dependent on others…

It is a republic without the people, based not on the will of the people but on one-man rule; it is journalists thrown into prison with their freedom taken away, soldiers held captive, and traitorous prosecutors given armored official cars!

It is lawless judgment and unjust justice!

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Today at five past nine…

I will again stand tall, as always, with my hands pressed to my sides.

I will commemorate with love and longing that great man who made us who we are.

And again, as always, two tears will fall from my eyes, which are now prone to drying up…

But this time, I will not cry for him.

My tears will flow for every treasure he won for us that we could not protect.

I will feel exactly what I feel when my tooth aches, when pains shoot into my legs and neck.

I will say, “Ah,” “Ah… I did not know the value of those healthy days!”

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I will not tell you to “Rest in peace” this time…

I have no face to do so!