Mustafah Kemal Attaturk

It is difficult to understand the modern Turkish state without first discussing it's progenitor: Mustafah Kemal Attaturk. Attaturk (who's surname literally means Father Turk) is the George Washington of Turkey. During World War I he rose to power in the military by winning a seemingly impossible campaign against Allied forces at Gallipoli. He defied orders from superiors and turned his insurrections into victory after victory for an army that otherwise seemed to fall flat on it's face.

He was infamous for his direct participation in battles, seen high on his horse in the middle of the fray, shouting out orders and somehow managing to not be killed in the crossfire. His methods were shrewd and effective, but often cruel and calculating. On more than one occasion he sent thousands of troops to their deaths to buy more time for significant reinforcements to arrive. By the end of WWI Attaturk was a controversial figure of near mythic proportions.

After the war Attaturk took advantage of the power vacuum in the capitol and seized control of the country. He set about erecting a new, modern Turkish nation from the now smoldering ashes of the Ottoman Empire. Using clever strategies, both military and diplomatic, he was able to eventually expel occupying forces from Britain, France, Italy, and after many fierce and ugly battles, Greece.

The textbook example of the benevolent dictator, Attaturk created with one hand the blueprint for a democratic nation, while using the other hand the strangle any opposition to it. He put into effect sweeping reforms that included universal suffrage, changing of the alphabet from Arabic to Roman, and adoption of the western calendar. Wishing to avoid the kind of theocratic government that often holds sway in the Middle East, Attaturk drafted laws establishing separation of mosque and state. These moves were aimed directly at creating a new national identity, that aligned Turkey with Europeans in the west whom Attaturk saw as the nation's future, rather than Arabs in the east, whom he saw as the nation's past.

Unfortunately this new national identity was ethnic rather than regional and there was little room in the new Republic for the minorities who had lived alongside Turks for so many generations. For the sake avoiding instability Attaturk made choices that stain the nation to this day.

After WWI an arrangement was made between Greece and Turkey that Greece would receive all of Turkey's Christians while Turkey would receive all of Greece's Muslims. No thought was given to the diverse communities that had flourished side by side so long, and thus a religious exchange across the Mediterranean began. This exodus has left Turkey with a culture that is still heavily influenced by it's former Orthodox Christian citizens while being sadly devoid of their presence.

Everywhere one travels in this country they will find statues, photographs, and monuments of Mustafah Kemal Attaturk. He image graces the presence of not just one, but every denomination of currency. It is a veritable cult of personality. Though there is still some debate about many of the methods Attaturk used, there is no doubting the results. Today Turkey is a thriving, modern nation, that has become more firmly linked to Europe with each passing decade. And good or bad, these people largely have their Father Turk to thank for this, or to blame.