April 23
He did not grow up on the coast; he did not have an opportunity to live his childhood. His life was spent at battle fronts; thus, he did not know how to swim… up until the age of 54. To become a role model for children, for them to see and be encouraged, he learned how to swim…
He was read books during even the most critical nights of the War of Independence. After his death, the number of books he had was counted as 7,333.
He was riding Çankaya – that was the name of his horse. The name of his first dog was Alp. He did not have a dog kennel; the dog slept at Mustafa Kemal’s bedroom. Then he had a hunting dog, Alber. Then he bought Foks for 50 liras, which was a lot of money at those times. Foks was a street dog.
He had pigeons. He had a canary. One day, his canary flew and went into a China vase. It was not able to get out and was hurting itself. The vase was broken to release the canary. At some time, he had an Ankara cat.
It would be difficult for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) members who cut forests and put shopping malls in place of them to believe, but while the War of Independence was continuing, while the future of the country was not clear, an association to protect trees was formed.
Before the Battle of Dumlupınar (The great offensive), while everybody’s hands were on the trigger, he set up a museum, the Anatolian Civilizations Museum.
He loved tractors. He would ride a tractor from Atatürk Forest Farm and Zoo to the Çankaya Mansion. The biofuel which has a 20-30 year past even in developed countries was produced in the 1930s there.
We see today how the so-called democrats rob the nation. Mustafa Kemal, on the hand, never had anything to do with money. When he resigned from the army, he did not even have a suit. For his first civilian photo, he borrowed the jacket from Erzurum Governor Münir Bey.
We did not found this republic with thieves. We did it with halal milk, in an absolutely impoverished environment.
One example in the vision of national development: In the Nazilli Sümerbank Printed Cloth Factory, opened in 1937, there were balls organized for female and male workers. There was a 700-person capacity theater hall for the factory of 2,500 workers, showing films six days a week. Nazilli’s population was 12,000 those days. It could only be the product of a revolutionary vision to open a 700-capacity hall in a 12,000 populated place. The workers had a theater club, music club. The factory had a radio; there was piano in the factory. They had a clothing cooperative, a bakery and a mini-train to take the workers to downtown. It produced its own energy, had a power plant and was providing electricity to Nazilli. In short, it was a miracle of the Republic.
I compiled this information from the book “Akl-ı Kemal.” It is the four-volume masterpiece of Sinan Meydan, explaining Atatürk’s clever projects.
Dear parents, today is April 23. Even though this holiday generates joy, today we are not joyful. Our national sovereignty, independence, our revolutions are under open threat. We need your children.
If you want them to get to know Mustafa Kemal, to recognize freedom and the value of these blessed lands and to comprehend what kind of threats bigotry, ignorance and domestic viciousness are. Buy Sinan Meydan books for them, let them keep these books at their bedsides and grow up with them.
