1930 footage revisits Atatürk’s appeal for world peace

ANKARA

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

A new compilation of footage filmed in Ankara in 1930 revisits Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s appeal for world peace to the American public and includes a previously unpublished exchange in French, according to the researcher who assembled it.

History researcher Ali Taner Tümer published the video on his Kronik Doküman YouTube channel, combining footage from separate archives with photographs from the period. The recording was made at Gazi Forest Farm on Nov. 11, 1930, when Atatürk received U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Grew.

Archives had previously published parts of the meeting, including scenes of Atatürk and Grew speaking French as they toured the farm. Tümer said the exchange immediately before the address appeared in the new compilation for the first time.

After Grew finishes speaking, Atatürk asks in French if he may say a few words. “Please, Your Excellency,” Grew replies in French. Atatürk then switches to Turkish to address the American audience.

In his speech, Atatürk described the Turkish people as democratic by nature and spoke of the role American democracy played in building national unity. Despite their different histories, he said, the two countries shared a belief in democracy and popular sovereignty.

He presented friendship between the Turkish and American peoples as a way to build mutual understanding among nations. He linked Türkiye’s aims to the ideals of civilization, humanity and peace and called on nations to leave past divisions behind and work toward a common understanding of peace.

In a dispatch to the U.S. secretary of state dated Nov. 12, 1930, Grew described a filming session that lasted four hours. The cameras recorded scenes in the farm’s gardens and agricultural facilities as well as the address to the American public.

Tümer drew on the General Directorate of Cinema’s Film Heritage archive and the University of South Carolina’s collections. He consulted newspapers from the period and said he was able to locate six or seven photographs of the meeting.

Tümer said the team colorized the footage without sharpening, zooming in or restoring it. Preserving the original images of Atatürk was central to the work, he said.

The meeting took place seven years after Atatürk founded the Republic of Türkiye in 1923 and eight years before his death. The compilation was published nearly 96 years after the original recording, ahead of the 88th anniversary of his death.