Atatürk: We have no other Turkey to go to

Date: November 16, 1937

Atatürk had gone to Elazığ for the opening of the Singeç Bridge. This bridge had previously been burned down by bandits to prevent the transport of troops.

After Atatürk inaugurated the bridge, the next stop was a visit to Pertek. He went to Pertek and noticed deep scars and boils on the faces of the primary school children who greeted him. He asked the Provincial Health Director the reason for this, but when the Health Director said it was caused by a type of sandfly, Atatürk became angry;

- “What do you mean a type of sandfly? Has it not been analyzed? Has there been no effort to combat it?” he said.

He looked at the faces of the Governor, the Garrison Commander, and other government officials; there were no such marks on their faces. And he turned to the Minister of Health and Social Assistance, Dr. Hulusi Alataş:

-“Have this sandfly analyzed at the Institute in Ankara and designate this area as a malaria control zone. First, combat the flies causing the disease, and then find a treatment for the wounds,” he ordered.

He looked at the faces of the young girls again and said to Dr. Refik Saydam, who was with him, “You must find a cure for these. The children of this homeland should not be subjected to such disfigurement due to a disease. The children of my country do not deserve this,” he said, expressing his reaction. He then turned to the Minister of Interior, Şükrü Kaya, who was by his side, and:

- “Isn't it a lesson to be learned? These sandflies plague the public, not the administrators,” he said.

And from there, he went to the Pertek People's House. He rested for a while and then chatted with the citizens.

He spoke with an elderly villager who had run from front to front in his youth. Due to the raid on the Singeç Bridge, the villager said in embarrassment;

-“My Pasha, a few ignorant people wanted to tarnish the name of these places. Please forgive us,” and Atatürk put his hand on the man's shoulder and gave this historic answer as if speaking to a fellow soldier, a comrade in fate;

-“We are obliged to forget the minor mistakes of the past. We are obliged not to harbor grudges and to maintain our brotherhood. We are one nation, we are all one nation. We have no other Turkey to go to. If we know this, if we understand this, no one can divide us from within or from without.”

This sentence was truly a historic one. It was a sentence that sheds light on today.

As Atatürk said, if there is a problem, one must fight not only the disease but also the sandfly that causes that problem and the swamp that feeds it.

If we look at today from this perspective, as is known, there is a significant problem. There is a terrorism problem. This problem must be solved. And it must be solved at its source. Its causes must be eliminated.

Isn't it interesting?

Just as Atatürk said about the sandfly boils, the sandflies plague the public, not the administrators. It is the same today. Terrorism, in the same way, plagues the public, not the administrators.

It plagues the poor.

The funerals of martyrs, that fire that burns the hearts of mothers, does not fall upon the homes, palaces, or mansions of the country's administrators. It falls upon the hearths of the governed, into the arms of the people.

Worse still, the country's administrators, parties, and politicians feed on this terrorism. They gain political capital. They gain electoral rent. The political existence of micro-nationalist and political Islamist parties feeds on this.

When this is the case, instead of qualified administrators who want to solve the country's problems, unqualified administrators who turn terrorism into demagoguery and demagoguery into political rent come to power.

No one should feed on the blood of martyrs or the tears of weeping mothers. They should not engage in demagoguery. They should not expect political rent. Even if only for this reason, terrorism must definitely end.

We must focus on development as soon as possible.

Regionally, we are subject to the Middle East and Eastern politics. Eastern politics feeds on blood, grudge, and death. It grows. As Atatürk said, we are obliged not to harbor grudges and to maintain our brotherhood.

Again, as Atatürk said, we are one nation, we are all one nation. We are obliged to forget the minor mistakes of the past. If we know this, if we understand this, no one can divide us from within or from without.

Because we have no other Turkey to go to.