Atatürk's leadership

It is a historical iron law; in an occupied country and a defeated society, the person who will lead the liberation and the war, by the very nature of the struggle, primarily and predominantly emerges from among the soldiers. Even if they have not received military training, even if they are a civilian, it is essential that this pioneer knows military affairs very well.

They are expected to always be organized and to always be a good organizer. Nothing else is conceivable. Because there is no other way to drive out the occupying enemy than by force of arms. Although there are exceptions, armed struggle is also, by its nature, mostly led by soldiers.

War, by definition, is a whole with its military, political, social, ideological, and strategic dimensions. Moreover, in the words of Marx, "Every war is, at the same time, a civil war." One must not forget this aspect of war. Therefore, the leader who will lead the liberation and drive the occupying, imperialist enemy out of the homeland must be a soldier, a revolutionary, a statesman, and a leader of the people all at once.

When considering the Turkish War of Independence, the only person who possessed all these qualities under the conditions of the period was Mustafa Kemal Pasha. There was no other commander who stood out with these characteristics anyway. Furthermore, Atatürk's personality and character were shaped long before he became Atatürk, when he was still Mustafa Kemal from Thessaloniki, a young officer.

Mustafa Kemal saw the inevitable end of the Ottoman Empire at a very young age. It is known that our great leader, who set out as Mustafa Kemal, then became Mustafa Kemal Pasha, then Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha, and finally went down in history as Atatürk, was known among the people during the War of Independence as Sarı Paşa (The Blond Pasha) or Gazi Paşa, was also known as the Congress Pasha during the congress process, and was sometimes greeted as Reis Paşa (The President Pasha) after the Parliament opened on April 23, 1920.

Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is a soldier. He is a revolutionary. He is a statesman. He is the leader of the War of Independence. He is a national hero. He is the founder of the state. He is a savior who has been an example to oppressed nations and has inspired wars of liberation. He is an elite intellectual with a vast and rich intellectual background, with wide-ranging interests from language to mathematics, physics to geography, literature to music, and history to philosophy.

The 100th anniversary of our Republic has once again demonstrated Atatürk's unsurpassable and unassailable importance in world history, his unfailing foresight, and his greatness in the memory and heart of the Turkish Nation.