Turkish flags and an Atatürk portrait adorn his birthplace in Thessakoniki, Greece. (DHA Photo)
The restored birthplace of modern Türkiye’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Thessaloniki, Greece, has welcomed more than 300,000 visitors in the year since reopening, Turkish Consul General Erdem Kutlu said.
The Culture and Tourism Ministry restored the house, where Atatürk was born in 1881. It reopened on Nov. 9 last year, a day before the anniversary of his death.
“While paying their debt of gratitude to Atatürk, our citizens also get to see Thessaloniki,” Kutlu said.
He said thousands visited daily and numbers were higher on Nov. 10. He linked the turnout partly to travel after the pandemic and positive feedback following the restoration, saying visits also gave citizens a chance to experience the Greek city.
The restored house now contains wax figures, rooms with period objects and digital technology. Kutlu said the restored displays better reflected life at the time, while digital features made the museum better suited to younger generations.
Kutlu said seeing citizens arrive from across Türkiye and around the world made him happy. He described his posting as the proudest of his career and said seeing Atatürk and his ideals kept alive in citizens’ hearts deepened that pride.
He said Nov. 10 was a day to mourn Atatürk while also looking to the future with hope in line with his ideals.
The museum normally closes on Mondays for maintenance, cleaning and staffing reasons. This week it opened on Monday because the Nov. 10 anniversary fell on a Tuesday, allowing people to visit around the commemoration.
Kutlu said the exception applied to this week and visitors could normally enter every day except Monday.
