How to correctly understand Atatürk?

There are many works, articles, poems, novels, and books written about the justification, greatness, genius, foresight, legacy, and goals of our great leader Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Films and documentaries can also be added to this list. However, to understand the great revolutionary, one must start from the foundation and from the right sources.

First, Atatürk must be read from accurate sources, from sources that are scientifically competent and objective. Atatürk readings should begin with the "Nutuk" (The Speech). The Nutuk, which came directly from Atatürk's own pen and is supported by documents at the end, is important for learning about Atatürk's struggle, his goals, his actions, and the difficulties he faced directly, from the primary source. Although some may call it "official history," "personal narrative," "containing subjective judgments," or a "one-sided perspective," the Nutuk is important as the work in which Atatürk accounts to the nation and to history. Since every act of accounting also contains a challenge, it is an ambitious work.

Second, every leader, every action, every historical development, and every revolution must be examined within its own conditions and the objective circumstances of its era. This is a requirement of science and objectivity, as well as a requirement of reason, logic, conscience, and fairness. Therefore, Atatürk must be evaluated within the conditions of his time, alongside his contemporary leaders and revolutionaries. Every leader, every revolutionary, and every soldier acts in proportion to the historical, political, cultural, and social material at their disposal. There can be no political revolution or social movement independent of human material. No one can outsmart history. No one can tunnel under history. No one can pole-vault over history.

Third, Atatürk cannot be understood without knowing the legacy he inherited from the Ottoman Empire. Atatürk and the Republican Revolution cannot be correctly grasped without learning well about the Tanzimat reformers, the Young Ottomans, the Young Turks, and the Committee of Union and Progress.

Fourth, the characteristics that distinguished Atatürk from the other leading cadres and founding fathers with whom he set out and fought together in the War of Independence must be well understood. Atatürk was as much a genius of timing as he was a revolutionary. He calculated very well where to take a step and where to stop. He prepared very well for the War of Independence and the Republican Revolution. In addition to being a soldier, a revolutionary, and a statesman, he was a very distinguished intellectual. He read his 4,000 recorded books by taking notes in the margins, making comments, and asking questions.

Fifth, it is also necessary to compare the Republic of Turkey, which is Atatürk's greatest work, with other countries in the geography we live in and with the states established after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire. With its successes and failures, its accomplishments and shortcomings, Turkey owes its status as the most developed country in the Middle East and the Islamic world entirely to the Republic.

Sixth, Atatürk was a Republican. As an Ottoman pasha, the note "He is a Republican" was recorded in his personnel file at the Ministry of War. His statement in later years in response to a question, "I kept the Republic in my conscience like a national secret," is proof that from the very beginning, he set out to establish a secular, modern republic based on national sovereignty. Indeed, the British intelligence in Istanbul, in a briefing note sent to London even before the proclamation of the Republic, stated: "The Turks are heading toward a Republic."

Seventh, Atatürk is a revolutionary who, with the War of Independence and the Republic, became an example to all oppressed nations, the third world, or in his own words, the "downtrodden nations." He is influential in this regard across a very wide geography, from India to China, from Cuba to Algeria. There is a strong admiration for Atatürk in the Ba'ath movements in Syria and Iraq, in Reza Shah Pahlavi of Iran, in Gamal Abdel Nasser in Egypt, in the young revolutionaries known as "Young Turks" in Latin America, in Tito in Yugoslavia, in Castro in Cuba, and in Gandhi and Nehru, the founding fathers of India.

Eighth, when one thinks of Atatürk, one thinks of reason, science, secularism, enlightenment, independence, and anti-imperialism. This is accepted not only by his supporters but also by his opponents.

Ninth, the summary and symbol of Atatürk's revolutionary program, and the emblem of his party, are formed by the 6 principles, commonly known as the 6 Arrows. These are complementary and complete each other. Giving up even one of them renders all the others dysfunctional and incomplete. These principles have ideological, political, class-based, and economic dimensions. Atatürk's statement, "The Republic is especially the protector of the unprotected," reveals his class-based approach and his public-oriented, collectivist, and populist stance.

Tenth, Atatürk was different from many of the friends he set out with in terms of scope, purpose, and method. He was different in scope because he gathered regional and local organizations under a single roof, under a national roof. He waged a national-scale war of independence. He was different in purpose because he did not set out to establish a sultanate and a caliphate, but to establish a Republic. He was different in method because he did not seek salvation in mandates and protection, but in armed struggle against occupation. Rauf Orbay said the following about Atatürk to Falih Rıfkı Atay: "If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have succeeded in this, but if it weren't for us, he would have succeeded in this anyway."

Eleventh, Atatürk is a leader vindicated by history. For example, the Treaty of Lausanne is still in effect because it is based on realistic foundations. For example, his economic model, the concept of a mixed economy, is still current and valid. For example, how valuable the secular, scientific, populist, and mixed education approach is, is being better understood with each passing day. For example, his region-centered stance in foreign policy and the importance of the principle of "Peace at home, peace in the world" have been proven once again by recent events. For example, how precious his philosophy, which transcends sub-identities, feudal ties, and medieval remnants, and which centers on the citizen and addresses the citizen, is, has been understood once again today.

Twelfth, Atatürk attached great importance to grassroots organization, national will, and parliamentary legitimacy. After landing in Samsun on May 19, 1919, he organized the people through congresses, then gathered all these organizations under a single roof, and subsequently opened the Parliament in Ankara. He conducted the War of Independence under the will and legitimacy of the Parliament. As Commander-in-Chief, he always received his authority from the Parliament. His sensitivity regarding national will was reflected in all his words, actions, and institutions. His gathering of all organizations in Sivas under the roof of the "Society for the Defense of Rights of Anatolia and Rumelia"; his saying "Sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation"; and his naming of the newspapers he founded as Hâkimiyet-i Milliye (National Sovereignty) and İrade-i Milliye (National Will) are all proof of this.