From collapse to victory

With the Tekalif-i Milliye (National Obligations) decrees issued on August 7, 1921, the Turkish nation surrendered one-third of its possessions, and a total war of national liberation began. Mustafa Kemal was granted the authority of Commander-in-Chief by the Parliament and set off for the front on August 12, 1921. A war strategy that lasted 22 days and 22 nights, which astonished the world and was recorded in history for the first time—“There is no line of defense, there is a surface of defense. That surface is the whole fatherland.”—was implemented, and the Greek army retreated.

Following the Battle of Sakarya, Mustafa Kemal Pasha put on the uniform he had taken off in Erzurum on July 8, 1919, exactly 2 years, 2 months, and 11 days later. On September 19, 1921, by a parliamentary decision, he was granted the title of veteran and the rank of marshal…

After Sakarya, the Treaty of Sèvres could no longer be enforced. 

There was now a Kemalist, pristine idea of independence, and the steps of that idea were advancing uncompromisingly.

By then, Gazi Marshal Mustafa Kemal Pasha was writing an epic with the Turkish nation, utilizing the conditions of time and space and his unique foresight in a way that was unprecedented in world history and would make the greatest war strategists applied until that day envious. 

Mustafa Kemal Pasha set off from Ankara on the morning of August 24. Three Mustafas knew the war plan: Mustafa Kemal, Mustafa İsmet, and Mustafa Fevzi.

On the morning of August 26, at 5:30 AM, the unprecedented offensive began at Afyon Kocatepe with artillery fire. The enemy had been surrounded by a silent march that began at night without alerting them, and now Atatürk’s unique leadership, strategic genius, and the discipline of the Turkish army would determine the outcome of this offensive war.

With the Commander-in-Chief's Battle won at Dumlupınar on August 30, a great victory was achieved, and the Greek commander Trikoupis was taken prisoner. 

The retreating enemy had to be prevented from regrouping and attacking again; they had to be completely expelled from Anatolia, and that historic order was given: “Armies, your first target is the Mediterranean. Forward!”

With this order, a relentless pursuit began, and covering 400 kilometers in 9 days, the Turkish military entered İzmir on September 9, and İzmir was liberated from Greek occupation.

During the three-year occupation, all flags in the hands of the public had been confiscated. The crescent-and-star flags waving in hearts were now in hands, at windows, and everywhere, thanks to the red and white fabrics carefully preserved by Turkish women…

Flowers had finally blossomed in the mountains of İzmir.

The Treaty of Sèvres had finally been thrown where it belonged: the trash heap of history.

In summary, a new state was born with the field battle I have described, and the name of that state would be the Republic of Türkiye on October 29, 1923. 

This republic is a republic founded with blood and wisdom, and it is the epic of a nation's resurrection following a collapse. 

Today, our veterans are being dragged on the ground, their prosthetic arms and legs are being stuffed into trash bags, and they are being removed from parks in dawn raids…

Our miners, whose only request is to receive the fruits of their labor, are being detained…

A young person conducting a silent protest in Istanbul Aksaray with a Turkish flag on their back and the Address to the Youth on their chest is being detained…

Condolence tents for terrorists are being set up under the posters of the terrorist leader Apo… And this is happening during the week of victory, on the dates when thousands of our martyrs fell…

Disrespect is being shown to our unitary nation-state and our National Anthem at football matches…

In other words, imperialism is back at work!

With flowery language about peace, brotherhood, and democracy, our unitary nation-state, our secular republic, and our linguistic unity are being targeted again!

Kılıçdaroğlu, who was brought to the head of the party founded by Atatürk by a court decision, says “Long live the brotherhood of peoples” in three languages—Turkish, Kurdish, and Arabic—at the end of the statement he published on the CHP page.

Oh, Atilla İlhan, oh…

“…they are destroying what you built, Mustafa Kemal

remember when they slaughtered Kubilay once

since you ordered, they hanged those who slaughtered

you slept, those who were hanged were resurrected

my Mustafa, my Mustafa Kemal…”

To the imperialism and its local collaborators who think they have surrounded a nation that rose from collapse to victory, look at that victory, look at that epic of resurrection, look!

Look at that pristine Kemalist idea of independence and that nation-state, reborn from its ashes, every inch of whose soil is watered with the blood of martyrs!

Look at what plans it has torn up to avoid being divided and fragmented!

The Turkish nation has not yet said its final word, do not forget!

What did Nâzım Hikmet say:

“There is a rush to the sun, a rush!

  We shall capture the sun, the capture of the sun is near!”

Time for a resurrection again…