Who was at Anıtkabir yesterday?

December 27, the date when the great leader Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk arrived in Ankara following the congresses during the War of Independence, is significant in Turkish history and the history of the Republic. It is celebrated. It was celebrated yesterday as well. And it was celebrated with a very important call. Anıtkabir witnessed a gathering of Republicans and patriots against separatism.

Republicans of all ages with a consciousness of homeland, nation, and history, and patriots from every corner of our country were at Anıtkabir yesterday.

While walking on the Lion Road with my old friend Bahadır Selim Dilek, a veteran Ankara journalist and foreign policy expert, we met young Lieutenant İzzet Talip Akarsu, who paid the price for chanting the slogan "We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal" at the graduation ceremony of the Military Academy by being dismissed from the school he loved so much. While chatting with İzzet Talip Akarsu, who has long since been promoted to the rank of general in the hearts and memories of the overwhelming majority of the Turkish nation, I observed for a while our citizens who came from all over our country—young and old, women and men—to pay their respects and show their loyalty to the great leader at Anıtkabir.

Mustafa Burak Erkan, a young representative of the tradition of Mahmut Esat Bozkurt, the great theorist of the Turkish Revolution and an elite statesman and jurist, had come from Istanbul along with Ekrem Topuz, a young representative of the Hasan Tahsin tradition. Ege Başar, a young medical candidate from the tradition of Tıbbiyeli Hikmet, was also there. All three are very dear to me. My esteemed friend Assoc. Prof. Dr. Halil Akkurt, one of the most competent academics of the young generation in political science, had come along with my valued colleague Prof. Dr. Veli Denizhan Kalkan.

What brought farmer Salih Bey from Erzincan, classroom teacher Ayşe Hanım from Istanbul, retired civil servant Timur Aydın Bey and his grandson Roman Özer from Aksaray, retired physician Dr. Adnan Bey from Ankara, tradesman Murat Bey from Edirne, and Leyla Hanım and her three children from Balıkesir together at Anıtkabir in the freezing cold of Ankara? When young businessman Korhan Bey from Istanbul said to his 2.5-year-old son Tuna, "Don't be cold, we are at Anıtkabir, in the presence of Atatürk," what emotion was he trying to instill in his child?

There were also our older brothers, elders, masters, and teachers who are no longer among us, but whom we always commemorate with their ideas, virtues, courage, and works, whom we never forget, and who continue to guide us.

My master Attila İlhan was there. He was showing me the young people walking with our red flag with the crescent and star and Atatürk photographs in their hands, saying, "Look, do you see? These are the young people who say the password is 'homeland' and the sign is 'honor'."

Uğur Mumcu was there. He was mocking the leftists under the control of the DEM Party, or as the youth put it, the leftists herded like cattle by the DEM Party. He was explaining to the youth that one cannot be a leftist without being a Kuvayı Milliyeci (National Forces member), without being a Kemalist, without being a Republican, without fighting against imperialism, and without defending labor, equality, and enlightenment.

Ahmet Taner Kışlalı was there. With his usual elegant and wise style, he was listing the virtues of the Republic. He was emphasizing that the contradictions of those who call a German a German, a Russian a Russian, a Japanese a Japanese, and a Frenchman a Frenchman, but cannot call a Turk a Turk, and who talk about American left, Italian left, English left, but cannot say Turkish left, instead saying 'Turkey left' or 'leftist from Turkey', are also being seen by the youth.

Nihat Genç was there. Together with the young people gathered around him, he was lashing out at politicians who could not show even a tenth of the sensitivity they showed regarding the honor of Leyla Zana for the honor of martyr mother Pakize Akbaba. He was so angry at the so-called leftists, the funded leftists, the stateless leftists, the FETÖ leftists, and the leftists who mistake ethnicism for Marxism, sectarianism for socialism, and cronyism for communism, that he was saying he was disgusted by these types. He was explaining the extent of the damage these types, who have nothing to do with the left and are collaborators of imperialism, have caused to our country.

Mümtaz Soysal was there. He was answering the young people's questions about the close relationship between republicanism, patriotism, and revolutionism.

Alpaslan Işıklı and Erol Manisalı were also there, walking together. They were talking about the similarity between Colonel Reşat, who taught us what the duty of honor meant during the War of Independence, and Lieutenant Colonel Ali Tatar, who gave up his own life to warn the Turkish nation during the FETÖ conspiracy trials.

Doğan Avcıoğlu was there. He was chatting with young people who were asking about the relationship between Unionism, Kemalism, and the national left.

As I was leaving Anıtkabir, I remembered Kartallı Kâzım, whom Nazım Hikmet described in his Epic of the National Forces...

"He fought for the sake of love

He was wounded several times

And so on

And when the fight was over

He became neither a farm owner nor an apartment owner

Before the fight, he was a gardener in Kartal

After the fight, a gardener in Kartal"

In short, those who carry the spirit of Kartallı Kazım were at Anıtkabir yesterday.