19th May, Commemoration of Ataturk, Youth and Sports Day!
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk emerged as the national liberator of the Turks when the Ottoman Empire, carved up by the Western Powers, was in her dying hours. Already a legendary hero of the Gallipoli and other fronts, he became in 1919 the leader of the Turkish emancipation.
Following the Armistice of Montreaux, the Allies' fleet of sixty-one ships passed through the Straits and anchored off Istanbul on 13th November 1918. Occupation of Istanbul was followed by the occupation of other regions of the Empire. Mustafa Kemal Pasha's persistent opposition to the terms of armistice resulted the Sultan to relieve him of his command in South East Anatolia and recall to Istanbul. His pugnacious attitude to the Great Powers did not square with the Sultan's policy of appeasement (if not of active co-operation). Unwilling to place him in direct command of an army but wishing to remove him from Istanbul, where he was a thorn in their flesh, the authorities gave him the post of 'Inspector' of the Ninth Army, which was based at Samsun, on the coast of the Black Sea. Once there, he would (hopefully) be out of sight and out of mind. Mustafa Kemal, seeing in this appointment an opportunity to establish for himself a power base in Anatolia, accepted his new post with alacrity and hastened to take it up before the Sultan had had second thoughts.
Izmir, dubbed by the Turks as the "Aegean Pearl", was occupied on 15th May 1919.The next day Mustafa Kemal Pasha attended the Sultan's 'Selamlik' ceremony for the last time and was received in audience. That night he was warned that his enemies were planning to sink his ship on the way to Samsun. He replied that he preferred to drown rather than stay in Istanbul, where he might be arrested at any time. Nevertheless, when he embarked on the 'Bandirma', he ordered the captain to stay close to the shore. He arrived in Samsun without mishap on 19th May 1919. This date is regarded as the start of the Turkish War of Independence. In defiance of the Sultan's government, he rallied a liberation army in Anatolia and convened the Congress of Erzurum and Sivas, which established the basis for the new national effort under his leadership. On April 23, 1920, the Grand National Assembly was inaugurated. Mustafa Kemal Pasha was elected to its Presidency. With a small and ill-equipped army, he repelled the invading enemy forces on the East, on the South, and on the West. He even had to contend with the Sultan's troops and local bands of rebels before he could gain complete control of the Turkish homeland. By September 1922, he had received one of history's most difficult triumphs against internal opposition and powerful external enemies.
Atatürk shaped the destiny of a nation, which was alone and dying. He gave it a new future. Under his progressive nationalist leadership his country broke free from its passive, inward-looking and parochial conservatism, ingrained through long centuries of habit, and from the defeatism and apathy engendered by the inexorable decline of its imperial power. Aiming to replace the image of Turkiye as ' the Sick Man of Europe' with that of a dynamic and self-renewing non-imperialist country capable of winning the respect of its more advanced European neighbours, he led his country out of the Middle Ages into the twentieth century in a mere couple of decades.
He achieved this through a coordinated series of sweeping reforms, all directed towards the creation in Turkiye of a western-style democracy. These changes were so drastic that it is impossible to conceive that anyone could have brought them about if he had not been, like Mustafa Kemal, a national hero twice over as a result of his leadership at Gallipoli and his single-handed masterminding of the Turkish War of Independence, which ended with the departure of all foreign armies from Turkish soil.
19th of May is a national day in Turkiye celebrated as the "Youth and Sports Day". Secondary School students and Youth Clubs take part in the processions and sports activities throughout the day.
18 Mayıs 2017 Perşembe
19th May, Commemoration of Ataturk, Youth and Sports Day!
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk emerged as the national liberator of the Turks when the Ottoman Empire, carved up by the Western Powers, was in her dying hours. Already a legendary hero of the Gallipoli and other fronts, he became in 1919 the leader of the Turkish emancipation.
Following the Armistice of Montreaux, the Allies' fleet of sixty-one ships passed through the Straits and anchored off Istanbul on 13th November 1918. Occupation of Istanbul was followed by the occupation of other regions of the Empire. Mustafa Kemal Pasha's persistent opposition to the terms of armistice resulted the Sultan to relieve him of his command in South East Anatolia and recall to Istanbul. His pugnacious attitude to the Great Powers did not square with the Sultan's policy of appeasement (if not of active co-operation). Unwilling to place him in direct command of an army but wishing to remove him from Istanbul, where he was a thorn in their flesh, the authorities gave him the post of 'Inspector' of the Ninth Army, which was based at Samsun, on the coast of the Black Sea. Once there, he would (hopefully) be out of sight and out of mind. Mustafa Kemal, seeing in this appointment an opportunity to establish for himself a power base in Anatolia, accepted his new post with alacrity and hastened to take it up before the Sultan had had second thoughts.
Izmir, dubbed by the Turks as the "Aegean Pearl", was occupied on 15th May 1919.The next day Mustafa Kemal Pasha attended the Sultan's 'Selamlik' ceremony for the last time and was received in audience. That night he was warned that his enemies were planning to sink his ship on the way to Samsun. He replied that he preferred to drown rather than stay in Istanbul, where he might be arrested at any time. Nevertheless, when he embarked on the 'Bandirma', he ordered the captain to stay close to the shore. He arrived in Samsun without mishap on 19th May 1919. This date is regarded as the start of the Turkish War of Independence. In defiance of the Sultan's government, he rallied a liberation army in Anatolia and convened the Congress of Erzurum and Sivas, which established the basis for the new national effort under his leadership. On April 23, 1920, the Grand National Assembly was inaugurated. Mustafa Kemal Pasha was elected to its Presidency. With a small and ill-equipped army, he repelled the invading enemy forces on the East, on the South, and on the West. He even had to contend with the Sultan's troops and local bands of rebels before he could gain complete control of the Turkish homeland. By September 1922, he had received one of history's most difficult triumphs against internal opposition and powerful external enemies.
Atatürk shaped the destiny of a nation, which was alone and dying. He gave it a new future. Under his progressive nationalist leadership his country broke free from its passive, inward-looking and parochial conservatism, ingrained through long centuries of habit, and from the defeatism and apathy engendered by the inexorable decline of its imperial power. Aiming to replace the image of Turkiye as ' the Sick Man of Europe' with that of a dynamic and self-renewing non-imperialist country capable of winning the respect of its more advanced European neighbours, he led his country out of the Middle Ages into the twentieth century in a mere couple of decades.
He achieved this through a coordinated series of sweeping reforms, all directed towards the creation in Turkiye of a western-style democracy. These changes were so drastic that it is impossible to conceive that anyone could have brought them about if he had not been, like Mustafa Kemal, a national hero twice over as a result of his leadership at Gallipoli and his single-handed masterminding of the Turkish War of Independence, which ended with the departure of all foreign armies from Turkish soil.
19th of May is a national day in Turkiye celebrated as the "Youth and Sports Day". Secondary School students and Youth Clubs take part in the processions and sports activities throughout the day.
25 Mart 2017 Cumartesi
Sign and send a letter: Postpone this confirmation
With the possibility of collusion with a foreign government hanging over the Trump regime, the last thing the Senate should be doing is considering a lifetime nomination to the Supreme Court. The legitimacy of this presidential regime is now in serious question, and this nomination should be, too.
With the possibility of collusion with a foreign government hanging over the Trump regime, the last thing the Senate should be doing is considering a lifetime nomination to the Supreme Court. The legitimacy of this presidential regime is now in serious question, and this nomination should be, too.
With the possibility of collusion with a foreign government hanging over the Trump regime, the last thing the Senate should be doing is considering a lifetime nomination to the Supreme Court. The legitimacy of this presidential regime is now in serious question, and this nomination should be, too.