'Long live Atatürk, stay well Atatürk'

Turkish writer Refik Halid Karay, who belittled Atatürk and believed that his struggle and maneuvers would end in failure, wrote these lines in the newspaper Alemdar in Istanbul in February 1920:

“A commotion and noise in Anatolia, congresses, declarations, and so on...

As if they could do anything... Is this the time for bluffing?

What organization do you have, what power! ... What a fantasy!

My dear Mustafa, are you crazy!”

However, Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who was called “crazy,” would recreate the ruined and exhausted Turkish nation from its ashes, while Refik Halid would be exiled abroad after the proclamation of the Republic due to his inclusion on the list of the 150 Personae Non Gratae and his writings and activities against the National Struggle. 

Refik Halid would realize his mistakes while in exile in Beirut and would come to defend Atatürk's reforms. He was now writing letters of apology from Beirut through newspapers. 

Atatürk was following the famous writer even abroad. In June 1938, an amnesty was granted to a portion of the 150 Personae Non Gratae. Refik Halid was among the first to return. After he returned, he showed and expressed his regret until he died. He penned many articles about Atatürk. 

One of them is as follows; 

When I returned to the homeland, I found the new Republic of Turkey as a young man who had developed and flourished. And I embraced it as such. I owe the difference between this departure and return to Atatürk.

Unfortunately, I am a man who could not see or know Atatürk. In fact, I was the man who could not see the power of Atatürk and did not recognize his influence at the time.

In a foreign country, Atatürk forced not only me, but even the most stubborn, backward-minded opponent to carry the pride of being Turkish. And in the exile he sent them to, he saved them from national lethargy, which is much worse than exile.

I lived with that national pride. And thanks to that, I returned to my homeland, which had straightened its back, without my own back bent, vigorous and full of enthusiasm. 

While watching the spirit of national development covering the world, my heart was unknowingly filled with his light. 

Long live Atatürk, stay well Atatürk. For your existence is still in its place with those who follow and will follow your path. Your health is sound. It is the sound constitution of the ticket I left behind. 

I wish everyone a life where they realize the virtues of Atatürk and the Atatürk Republic while they are still alive, just like Refik Halid.

Because thanks to him, it is an honor to be a child of this Republic. Because the Republic is Atatürk's greatest work.

Happy Republic Day.