Atatürk, Kemal, 1881-1938; Turkey -- Description and travel; Turkey -- Politics and government -- 1918-1960
He is, as a fact, far more leniently inclined towards the Greeks and
Armenians than any other Turkish statesman. He sees even their wanton
destruction of Anatolia as no more than the outburst of a misguided
people, the victims of bigger, intriguing Powers. He would rather
welcome their return to loyalty than give their place in commerce to the
Jews, from the humane conviction that they have no homes outside Turkey.
* * * * *
The home life of Mustapha Kemal, literally given to his country,
involves severe daily self-sacrifice. From month to month he allows
himself no recreation, no change of scene, no intercourse with the
world’s culture. Among these lonely mountains he cannot break the
monotony by going to a play or to a concert; he does not hunt or follow
any kind of sport; and even Nature, at least in winter, is scarcely
kind.
His life is one of continual mental and physical effort: reading,
studying, and planning, seeing everyone, for they all want to see “The
Pasha” and not the second in command. To me he seems like a professor,
who must be forever explaining to his people what their Nationalism
really means. Perhaps the nearest historical parallel to his abounding
personality is that of Julius Cæsar; and one is tempted to hope that he,
too, may find time to leave us the “Commentaries.” The world would know
how to value what the Turks need put on record, the thought of this keen
and alert mind which is able to interpret, if not supplement, the Koran
for modern conditions and aspirations. They have, as it were, many
centuries of progress to catch up; and, fortunately, he is no blind
respecter of _tyrannical_ religious or historic traditions that hamper
advance to freedom. A commentary of great value could be compiled from
his thoughtful and stirring speeches.
It may be that, as in art the highest form is simplest, we shall, after
all, see the perfect Democracy in the East. The ideals of President
Wilson have been discarded as impossible; Russia has signally failed to
carry out the teachings of Karl Marx. Mustapha Kemal Pasha, at least,
has put _his_ doctrine in practice to the acknowledged advantage of a
country in the “Slough of Despond.”
Turkish statesmen maintain to-day that any form of a Second Chamber
remains only the unfit survival of decadent Monarchies and Empires, that
the Single Chamber is the most perfect machine for Government, avoiding
friction and delay.
Time alone can prove!
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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