“Mankind is a single body and each nation a part of that body. We must never say ‘What does it matter to me if some part of the world is ailing?’ If there is such an illness, we must concern ourselves with it as though we were having that illness.”

A military hero who had won victory after victory against many foreign invaders, Atatürk knew the value of peace and, during his Presidency, did his utmost to secure and strengthen it throughout the world. Few of the giants of the modern times have spoken with Atatürk’s eloquence on the vital need to create a world order based on peace, on the dignity of all human beings, and on the constructive interdependence of all nations. He stated, immediately after the Turkish War of Independence, that “peace is the most effective way for nations to attain prosperity and happiness.” Later as he concluded treaties of friendship and created regional ententes, he affirmed: ” Turks are the friends of all civilized nations.” The new Turkey established cordial relations with all countries, including those powers which had tried a few years earlier to wipe the Turks off the map. She did not pursue a policy of expansionism, and never engaged in any act contrary to peaceful co-existence. Atatürk signed pacts with Greece, Rumania and Yugoslavia in the Balkans, and with Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan in the East. He maintained friendly relations with the Soviet Union, the United States, England, Germany, Italy, France, and all other states. In the early 1930s, he and the Greek Premier Venizelos initiated and signed a treaty of peace and cooperation. (more…)

“The Turkish Nation!

We are in the fifteenth year of the start of our war of liberation. This is the greatest day marking the tenth year of our Republic. May it be celebrated.

At this moment as a member of the great Turkish nation, I feel the deepest joy and excitement for having achieved this happy day. (more…)

You, the Turkish youth!

Your primary duty is to forever protect and defend the Turkish independence and the Republic of Turkey.

This is the mainstay of your existence and your future. This foundation is your most precious treasure. In the future, as well, there will be malevolents, within and abroad, who will seek to deny your birthright. If, one day, you are compelled to defend your independence and the Republic, you shall not reflect on the conditions and possibilities of the situation in which you find yourself, in order to accomplish your mission. (more…)

Kemalism
Atatürk’s principles can be summed up in six fundamentals called “Six Arrows”:

Republicanism:
The Kemalist reforms represent a political revolution; a change from the multinational Ottoman Empire to the establishment of the nation state of Turkey and the realization of national identity of modern Turkey. Kemalism only recognizes a Republican regime for Turkey. Kemalism believes that it is only the republican regime which can best represent the wishes of the people. (more…)

He was born in 1881 (probably in the spring) in Salonica, then an Ottoman city, now in Greece. His father Ali Riza, a customs official turned lumber merchant, died when Mustafa was still a boy. His mother Zubeyde, a devout and strong-willed woman, raised him and his sister. First enrolled in a traditional religious school, he soon switched to a modern school. In 1893, he entered a military high school where his mathematics teacher gave him the second name Kemal (meaning perfection) in recognition of young Mustafa’s superior achievement. He was thereafter known as Mustafa Kemal.

In 1905, Mustafa Kemal graduated from the War Academy in Istanbul with the rank of Staff Captain. Posted in Damascus, he started with several colleagues, a clandestine society called “Homeland and Freedom” to fight against the Sultan’s despotism. In 1908 he helped the group of officers who toppled the Sultan. Mustafa Kemal’s career flourished as he won his heroism in the far corners of the Ottoman Empire, including Albania and Tripoli. He also briefly served as a staff officer in Salonica and Istanbul and as a military attache in Sofia. (more…)

As history and events witnessed, our great ancestors and their mothers have always had high virtues. The highest and most important one of these virtues is the fact that they’ve brought up valuable sons and daughters. I would like to stress that, along with their share in general duties, the most important, virtuous and beneficial duty of all for them is to be good mothers. For today’s mothers, to bring up sons and daughters that have the necessary virtues as the active members of today’s life, depends on having many high attributes in them as mothers. For that reason, our women must be more enlightened, more intellectual and more learned than men if they really want to be the mother of the nation. 1923 ( Atatürk’s S. D. II., p. 151 – 52 ) (more…)

My only honorary title and my only wealth is nothing but being a member of the Turkish Nation. ( Mahmut Esat Bozkurt, Memories from the Recent Past, p. 95 )

This country was Turkish in the past, is Turkish in the present and will live as Turkish forever. 1923 ( Taha Toros, Atatürk’s Adana Visits, p. 3 )

Turk! Be Proud. Work. Trust. ( Afet İnan, About Atatürk H. B., p. 304 )

A Turk is equal to all the world. ( 1925 ) (more…)

To be successful, the true nature and value of sports has to be understood by the whole nation. They must display sympathy and consider it as a patriotic service rather than providing all kinds of support. 1926 (Atatürk’s B.N., P. 106)
All kinds of sports activities must be considered as the main elements of the national education of the Turkish youth. 1937 (Atatürk’s K.A.N., P.32)
A community can not change its color and strength only with sports. All the initiatives and measures aimed at providing many healthful, social, civilized needs and conditions controlling that field must be applied. 1926 (Atatürk’s B.N., P. 106) (more…)

Considering the world as a whole, be it civilization, life or success, science is the only real leader. Looking for a leader other than science is somnolence, ignorance and straying from the true path. But it is necessary to understand the developments and progress of science at all its levels and to follow up on its developments in time. After thousands of years, today pursuing completely the rules, ordered by the science one thousand, two thousands, thousands of years ago, naturally does not mean we are in the realm of science. 1924 (5-197)

We cannot only close our eyes and think we are the only human beings. We cannot isolate our country from the outer world….To the contrary, as a civilized nation that has achieved progress, we must live above a certain level of civilization. This life is only possible thanks to science. Wherever science will be, we will live there and this shall be embedded in the minds of the individuals of our nation. There are no restrictions and conditions for science. (more…)

The republican regime is a form of government with democracy. We establish the Republic, all the necessities of democracy must be applied on the 10th year of the Republic. 1933 (Afet İnan, Atatürk Hakkında B.H, s.251)

The Republic supports freedom of thought. We respect all opinions provided that they are sincere and legal. All convictions are respectable for us. But those opposing us must be equitable to us. 1923 (Atatürk’s S.D 3, s.71)

A Republic is a government that is built on moral virtue. Republic is virtue. 1925 (Atatürk’s S.D 2, s.231) (more…)