How did Atatürk rescue his mother from Thessaloniki?

He had made up his mind.

On October 15, 1911, he had secretly gone to Tripoli with some of his comrades-in-arms to defend the last remaining Ottoman territories in North Africa. He was a major, and his codename was 'Mustafa Şerif Bey'.

Among those who went were musketeers such as Enver Bey, Ömer Naci, Süleyman Askeri, Nuri Conker, Eşref Kuşçubaşı, and Yakup Cemil.

He fought there for about a year. Mustafa Kemal had not been able to see his mother since the day he left for Tripoli. He organized the people and resisted the Italian occupation. He participated in the clashes himself and was wounded in his left eye. But in the end, he was successful. He did not let the Italians enter the mainland.

However, the Balkan War broke out, and Thessaloniki was personally surrendered to Greek soldiers by Kara Tahsin Pasha, one of the Ottoman's field-promoted pashas.

Thessaloniki fell on November 9, 1912.

And the Italo-Turkish War ended. Mustafa Kemal urgently arrived in Vienna via Italy. He underwent eye surgery in Vienna and, without waiting for the results of the treatment, arrived in Istanbul via Romania.

When the Balkans were lost, waves of migration consisting of tens of thousands of defenseless families—children, the young, and the elderly—had flooded into Istanbul to escape the Balkan defeat.

Everything is normal up to this point.

However, it is often told that after this, Mustafa Kemal's mother also came to Istanbul within those waves of migration, that he found his mother by searching among those victimized families, and that he hugged and embraced his mother in the crowd. Articles have been written and films have been made and released about this.

But this is not true.

Atatürk's mother had remained in Thessaloniki with her daughter. And Zübeyde Hanım had lost contact with her son. Moreover, because her son was an officer—and even an officer sought by the British and Italians due to his successes in Tripoli—their house in Thessaloniki was frequently subjected to searches by Greek soldiers and faced pressure.

At that time, Atatürk had searched all of Istanbul but could not find his mother.

As soon as Mustafa Kemal arrived in Istanbul, he held an evaluation with his friends at the General Staff and concluded that measures should be taken immediately in Bolayır against the advancing Bulgarian occupation. And he went there.

Ali Fethi Bey was with him.

After fighting against the Bulgarians in Bolayır for about a year and stopping them, he was appointed as the Military Attaché to Sofia. On October 27, 1913, he departed from Istanbul Sirkeci Station for Sofia.

It had been exactly 2 years since he had seen his mother.

There is no document indicating that he established contact with his mother while serving in Bolayır.

However, there is a letter that Mustafa Kemal sent to Cemal Pasha on January 17, 1914, while he was in Sofia. In that letter, Mustafa Kemal writes about his experiences in Sofia. He describes the hardships he endured. At that time, the Ottoman treasury was struggling to pay civil servant salaries. Therefore, Mustafa Kemal, who could not receive his salary on time, says that he is in a difficult situation, that his mother and sister are "struggling" due to lack of money, and that his brother-in-law is "living in misery" in Istanbul. This letter shows us that Lieutenant Colonel Mustafa Kemal was informed about his mother and sister through his brother-in-law, Lütfü Bey.

Mustafa Kemal was certainly not idle in Sofia.

He sent exactly 104 reports to the Ottoman General Staff regarding the military and political situations of the Balkan countries and the approaching World War I. He provided detailed information.

There were 4 Turkish deputies in the Bulgarian Parliament.

Mustafa Kemal traveled from village to village. He made election preparations. He gathered the Turks who had been dispersed after the Balkan defeat. He brought them together and organized them. After long and exhausting work, he increased the number of Turkish deputies from 4 to 17 following the elections held in Bulgaria. With these deputies, he supported the Bulgarian Radoslavov Party, and he ensured that the Radoslavov Party received a vote of confidence and came to power. In this way, he ensured that the Bulgarians would stand on the side of the Ottoman Empire in the approaching World War.

As predicted, World War I broke out in 1914, and Mustafa Kemal immediately requested a front-line duty. And he was appointed as the Commander of the 19th Division in Gallipoli. He said goodbye to Sofia and came to Istanbul to go to Gallipoli.

His mind was on his mother.

He had to do whatever it took to bring his mother to Istanbul. In 1911, there was a young first lieutenant under his command in Tripoli. His name was Necati (Pankoğlu). He was now a captain. He was very brave. He was smart. He also spoke Greek very well. He met with him.

He gave him a mission to secretly go to Thessaloniki, kidnap his mother, and bring her to Istanbul. He made a plan with him.

Then he left.

Mustafa Kemal went to Tekirdağ to form the 19th Division.

Captain Necati had gone to Thessaloniki, made the necessary preparations, contacted Zübeyde Hanım, and had started waiting in front of the house on the evening of the day they had determined.

He took Zübeyde Hanım, who came to the door with her suitcases, and took her to the Thessaloniki train station. He secretly placed her in one of the coal wagons. And the train, which took her on a winter day in cold weather, left Thessaloniki and brought her to Dedeağaç in the first days of April.

Dedeağaç was on the Bulgarian border at that time. Captain Necati wrote a letter to Mustafa Kemal from Dedeağaç and gave him the good news.

The date was April 5, 1915.

Mustafa Kemal was fighting on the Gallipoli front at that moment. He was very happy when he received the letter. Without wasting any time, he sent a telegram to the Sofia Embassy through the 5th Army Command on the same day.

"I request that an order be given to our Consul in Dedeağaç to look for my mother, who is traveling to Istanbul. Since I received her letter from Dedeağaç, I assume she is there," he said.

He ensured his mother arrived in Istanbul safely. However, he still would not be able to see his mother. Because it was impossible for Mustafa Kemal to leave the front.

Mustafa Kemal had stopped the British at Kocaçimen and pushed them back by saying to the soldiers under his command, "I order you to die." A piece of shrapnel hit his chest at Conkbayırı, but the watch his mother had given him saved his life.

With the battles he won at Conkbayırı and Anafartalar, he routed the enemy and became legendary in Gallipoli. He had earned the title of "the man who saved the capital."

And a savior was born in Turkish history.

After the Gallipoli Campaign he won, he packed his suitcase and threw it on the roof rack of the vehicle. He went by car as far as Gallipoli.

On the evening of December 11, 1915, he boarded a ship from Gallipoli.

He went immediately, without delay, to house number 76 in Beşiktaş Akaretler. As soon as his mother saw her son, she was overjoyed. Mustafa Kemal hugged, embraced, and kissed his mother.

He had last left his mother without saying goodbye when he went to Tripoli as a fugitive. During that time, the Balkans had been lost, and Thessaloniki had been occupied. The Aegean Islands had been given to the Italians, and Bulgarian soldiers had reached the gates of Istanbul.

Mustafa Kemal had been separated from his mother for the longest time in his life,

he had gone to Tripoli secretly, without saying goodbye to his mother and without her knowing, fought there, was wounded in his eye, came to Bolayır and fought, went to Sofia, ran from front to front in Gallipoli, and had returned from the brink of death.

His mother, too, unaware of her son, had turned into a living dead under enemy persecution in Thessaloniki.

So, his mother escaped from Thessaloniki and came, and her son found her in Sultanahmet Square and they ended their longing, etc.

There is no such thing. Mustafa Kemal rescued his mother from enemy hands and brought her 4 years later.

Just think, a difficult period lived for more than 4 years without ever seeing each other, under pressure, under persecution, with wars, pains, longing, and injuries.

Isn't it hard to think about?

And they also say that Mustafa Kemal's mother and he himself died early, etc.

Yeah, sure.

Which mother, which son could endure so much pain?