Atatürk did not bow...

Like everyone else, he was a child too.

They were playing leapfrog in front of their door. In this game, the person whose turn it was would bend over, and their friend would jump over them.

They offered it to young Mustafa as well, but he refused to play. "I do not bow," he said.

He did not bow.

From primary school, middle school, and military high school to the War College, he eventually graduated from the Military Academy. In 1905, he was arrested along with ten of his friends for plotting a coup against the Sultan. He was interrogated for days and gave statements to the palace's chief spies, Kabasakal Mehmet Pasha and Zülüflü İsmail Pasha.

During his interrogation, they placed some papers in front of young Mustafa. These papers contained records of speeches he had made at a house in Sirkeci. The speeches were about changing the oppressive, one-man regime of Abdülhamit. This meant that every speech he made was being reported to the palace. Kabasakal Mehmet Pasha suddenly erupted;

-"Why did you make this speech?"

At the end of the interrogation, young Mustafa could have been executed, sent to a desolate district for life imprisonment, or exiled. But Mustafa did not take a step back. He answered this question without hesitation. He stated the reasons for his speech.

He stood tall; he did not bow.

This young man's name was Mustafa Kemal.

He became a Brigadier General in 1917.

They appointed the German Marshal Falkenhayn as the Commander of the Lightning Armies over him.

Falkenhayn wanted to buy him off on the very first day. He sent a chest of gold to his house. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk refused.

Afterward, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk realized that the Germans would turn the Ottoman Empire into a colony. He stood against them. And in September 1917, he sent a report from Aleppo and the Sinai Front to the General Staff, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of the Interior.

He described the state of the country and the army and their dire condition, and he also specified the ways out and what needed to be done.

On that day, Atatürk was at the top of the list of those to be promoted to Major General at the General Staff. Because he had successes on the Caucasus Front. He had pushed back the Russians, who were about to descend on Diyarbakır with the Armenians, to Erzurum, and had recaptured Bitlis and Muş. He had also served as the acting Army Commander in Diyarbakır.

Therefore, he was entitled to the rank of Major General and was on the list.

But he did not think about that. He did not think about himself, his position, his office, or his rank. He wrote and sent the report known as the "Sinai Report." This was a rebellion by a Brigadier General against the General Staff, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of the Interior. It was a memorandum.

However, those in Istanbul did not take this report into account.

No one was interested. This time, Falkenhayn tried to diminish his duties. He wanted to neutralize him. Mustafa Kemal Pasha drew a line that day. "Either me or Falkenhayn," he said, and Enver Pasha, a staunch German admirer, took Falkenhayn's side.

Mustafa Kemal resigned. He did not belittle himself. He stood tall; he did not bow.

When the First World War was lost, Mustafa Kemal Pasha became the Commander of the Lightning Armies at the end of 1918.

The Ottoman Empire, which signed the Armistice of Mudros (Captivity), was finished and exhausted. The British wanted to land troops in the Gulf of İskenderun. Prime Minister Izzet Pasha told Mustafa Kemal in a telegram to allow the British soldiers.

But Mustafa Kemal Pasha did not listen.

On the contrary, he gave the order to fire on the enemies landing on the shore. He stood against the mighty Prime Minister; he did not bow.

As such, they removed him from his post. They recalled him to the center, to Istanbul. He wanted to be the Minister of Defense in the new cabinet to be formed. His goal was to resist the enemy as a Minister. But they did not make him Minister of Defense.

He did not wait either. He had himself appointed to Anatolia, landed in Samsun, and chose the struggle.

He did not bow.

It didn't take long. Less than a month after he landed in Samsun, they called him back to Istanbul. But he did not go. The Prime Minister called, he did not listen. The Sultan called, he did not return. They threatened to dismiss him, he resigned.

He returned to the "bosom of the nation"; he did not return to Istanbul.

From there, he went to Sivas. He organized congresses. He went to Ankara. He established the Parliament, built an Army, and after the First Battle of İnönü and the Second Battle of İnönü, he founded a state. Then he won the Battle of Sakarya. And by finishing with the Great Offensive, he drove the enemy into the sea and saved the country.

Then he founded the state.

He carried out a series of revolutions in domestic and foreign policy.

In the First World War, the victorious states established the League of Nations (Cemiyet-i Akvam) among themselves. That is, this was today's United Nations Organization. Since the Ottoman Empire left this war defeated, the young Republic of Turkey was not admitted to this League. In any case, Atatürk had not made any attempt to be admitted.

You know how we have been kept waiting at the door of the European Union for more than half a century,

Dishonorably.

In those dates, in the 1930s, the European states that saw the Second World War made a decision among themselves and sent an invitation to Turkey. Atatürk evaluated this decision. And he never kept Turkey waiting at the door of the League of Nations. He did not apply for membership. They issued an invitation by unanimous vote. And Atatürk accepted. He honored the invitation.

He did not go to anyone's feet.

What I mean is that Atatürk never went to anyone's feet. He stood tall and did not bow anywhere.

If you are sitting in his seat, be careful,

Stand tall, do not bow...