Atatürk and social change

Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his generation, those cadres, matured very early, not only through what they learned in their educational lives but also through what they experienced and witnessed on the front lines. Influenced by the Ottoman modernization process in general, and specifically by the modernization in education—especially in military schools and the army—the final staff officer cadre of the Ottoman Army was well-trained. Indeed, this cadre, led by Atatürk, is the very group that would go on to wage the War of Independence.

That generation was also influenced and nourished by the political, social, cultural, and intellectual climate, just like any other generation. In this context, Thessaloniki, where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born and raised, is a port city that played a very important role in the upbringing of the great leader, not only due to its geographical proximity to Europe but also because of its social, political, and cultural vibrancy and its demographic structure.

The political quests, social disintegrations, economic collapses, ideological debates, organized struggles, and press activities of that period undoubtedly had an impact on the military-civilian cadres and the pioneering intellectuals.

Mustafa Kemal was undoubtedly a very successful student and a soldier with a great curiosity for reading. He read the 4,000 books that are known and have been found (the Anıtkabir Association has published a list of these in 24 volumes), taking notes and writing comments in them.

However, Atatürk is more than all of this; he is beyond it.

Atatürk is the determination, the will, the self-sacrifice, and the courage that set out for Samsun on May 19, 1919.

Atatürk is the consciousness that said, "We are not taking weapons or ammunition to Anatolia; we are taking ideals and faith."

Atatürk is the pioneer who announced his intentions to the country and the world with the Amasya Circular on June 22, 1919.

When the Parliament opened on April 23, 1920, while the capital Istanbul and many parts of Anatolia were under occupation, Atatürk was the genius who never lost hope.

Atatürk is the revolutionary who understood the great influence of England and France throughout the 1800s, and later Germany, on the Ottoman Empire's economy, trade, production, and politics, and who therefore identified that the Ottoman Empire had lost its economic independence and, consequently, its political independence.

Atatürk is the people's leader who saw that while political, economic, military, and bureaucratic structures could change, the most difficult change was in the social structure; he grasped that this change would be painful, arduous, and slow, and would face strong resistance, yet he succeeded in the difficult task.

Therefore, Turkey owes the point it has reached in its social structure, change, and momentum; the presence of Turkish women in social, political, economic, bureaucratic, and academic life; its qualified human resources; its individuals and institutions in every field that compete with the world; and the level it has reached in culture and art, solely and exclusively to Atatürk and the Republic.