What do Armenians think of Ataturk?

[kerkuk_kurdista]

I have a question for the Armenian people. What do they generally think of Kemal Ataturk? Do they like him, or dislike him, and give me any reasons if there are. I am just curious. Many thanks already

[hitite]

I only remember 1.5 million stating that he was a visionary or something similar, however, among other statements of his not so in favour of him. Apart from those remarks he is disliked or hated among the Armenians on the forum. I hope I am proven wrong.

[kerkuk_kurdista]

But when the genocide occured, Ataturk was not the president of Turkey. So is he also responsible for the AG, or am I wrong?


PS: Do not think I admire this bastard, just want to know why Armenians like or dislike him.

[Bulgarian]

I thought Ataturk was fighting in Galipoli in 1915 (during the genocide) and was not a important figure at that time. This is the reason why I dont think he was involved in the genocide.

Although he was the one that caused the Kurds that live in current day Turkey problems like banning their langauge, trying to impose Turkish identity on them and mass murdering them.

Ataturk was blonde and had blue eyes which is why I believe he was a Bulgarian (or perhaps a Macedonian).

[kerkuk_kurdista]

Ataturk is responsible for killing Sheik Said Piran, the great Kurdish revolutionairy leader. Responsible for atrocities against Kurds, against mankind. Like the crush of the Dersim rebellion. He introduced fascist laws in Turkey and calls Kurds, Mountain Turks. No matter what, I'll hate this guy forever.
But do Armenians also despise him? And what about the Bulgarians (question for you Bulgarian)?

[seven_ba]

Are kurdish banned?

Just FYI, Kurdish is not banned in Turkiye. I'd lived in Mardin for a year. In Mardin there are turks, kurds, arabs. You can hear arabic, kurdish in streets. And also many of the people (espacially women) couldn't speak Turkish.
Many of the people in Turkey wants to follow Ataturk's ideas (Kemalizm) and we tought that being a Turk is not a bloodhod thing. Via this thinking way half of the parliament is formed by Kurdish origin people.
And my armenian friends; we have to work to form a peaceful world in this reagon, as you know USA, EU are not looking this region friendly. We can see what's happening in MiddleEast, Cyprus vs. So we have to be clever.
Israel (Jewish people) is one of Jenocide treated people but now they're making the same thing. So we shouldn't look back, (also if we looked at Karabag situation you are not so innocent.)
And you Kerkuk_Kurdish what's your job? I think you're agent and your mission is mixing up minds, And a question in this region all countries Iraq, Turkiye, Syria, Iran have a Kurdish problem and your people always betray the country where they live. Just look at Turkish people, there are many Turks all around the world, but we don't betray where we live. And also we always have an home world. But you don't. I think this makes you jealous.

[kerkuk_kurdista]

And you Kerkuk_Kurdish what's your job? I think you're agent and your mission is mixing up minds, And a question in this region all countries Iraq, Turkiye, Syria, Iran have a Kurdish problem and your people always betray the country where they live. Just look at Turkish people, there are many Turks all around the world, but we don't betray where we live. And also we always have an home world. But you don't. I think this makes you jealous.

Kurds betray countries? Since when do we consider Iraq,Turkey,Syria or Iran as our countries to defend them?

If they try to exterminate Kurdish people and identity, we will not stand by.
By your logic, if the cypriot government was killing all Turks there, they would just have to look.

Get out of your fascism.

[Joseph]

I have a question for the Armenian people. What do they generally think of Kemal Ataturk? Do they like him, or dislike him, and give me any reasons if there are. I am just curious. Many thanks already

Interesting question and I'm sure this subject will become a heated one. I've often thought about this and it's not easy to answer, being that Ataturk was not one of the instigators of the Armenian Genocide. We reserve our hate for Enver Pasha, Talaat Pasha, Djemal Pasha, Dr. Nazim, and the rest of the CUP leadership and pan-turkists, those in charge of the Genocide that dragged the whole of Anatolia to disaster (and unwittingly glorified by Turks whenever they deny the Genocide).

About Ataturk, it is my opinion that he is worshipped like a god in Turkey, which can be both positive and negative I suppose. It's positive if you a devout nationalist and you feel the country should rely on a messianic figurehead to keep the nation together. In Turkey he is everywhere, sort of like Mao during the Cultural Revolution in China or Lenin was in the Soviet Union; Cult of Personality.

Ataturk is very negative if you are a Kurd, Armenian, Assyrian, etc for obvious reasons. They do not fit the mold of being citizens unless they are willing to give up their language, culture, history...even their names.

From what I've read, he is a controversial figure with a dual nature: A smart tactictian, well-read, at times unreasonable, an alcoholic, loved Turkey but hated its people, a strong leader who strived to be worshiped, of ethnic Bulgarian backgroud, despised religion, forced to surround himself with certain remanants of the CUP for convenience but hated them, played the game of manipulation well (able to keep both the Soviets and the West at bay), admired even by his foes, a modernizer yet undemocratic, loved Western culture and despised Anatolian culture, inventor of pseudo-science ( Ataturk "Sun Theory") emancipator of women, crushed any opposition....

What I do know is I could probably get in serious troble if I wrote those things in Turkey.

Though Ataturk was not involved in the AG and denounced the CUP leadership for their roles in the crime he may have ordered the invasion of Armenia in 1920 by Karabekir (though I'm not sure how powerful Ataturk was at this time) and the liquidation of the Armenian population that had repatriated to Cilicia after WWI.

[Joseph]

Author of biography on Ataturk's wife charged with insulting late leader


Saturday, August 19, 2006




SUZAN FRASER

ANKARA - The Associated Press


A Turkish prosecutor has charged an author with insulting the revered late leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in a biography about his wife, the book's publisher said on Friday.

?pek Çal??lar, the latest in a series of writers charged under Turkey's freedom-curbing laws, faces up to four-and-a-half years in prison if found guilty of insulting Atatürk, said Vahit Uysal of Dogan Publishing.

The European Union -- which Turkey hopes to join -- has been exerting heavy pressure on the country to get rid of repressive laws and to improve freedoms.

The prosecutor also filed charges against Necdet Tatl?can, an editor for Hürriyet newspaper, which published excerpts of the book, "Latife Hanim," Uysal said.

In the book, Çal??lar says that the Turkish leader, facing an assassination attempt, left the presidential palace in a chador, disguised as a woman. The charges were initiated by a Hürriyet reader, Hüseyin Tu?rul Pekin, who petitioned the prosecutor saying, "To claim that ... Atatürk, whom no one could even attempt to weigh his courage, would have done something like this ... is the greatest insult." The trial has been set for Oct. 5.Çal??lar's book is the first comprehensive biography of Latife Ussaki, who was married to Atatürk for about two years until he divorced her in 1925. The book became a best-seller within days of its publication in June and helped to dispel a long-held image of her as a reviled woman blamed for the break up of the marriage. It portrayed her, instead, as a strong-willed woman who advanced women's rights in Turkey. Çal??lar said on Friday that the passage in question was based on accounts from Latife's sister Vecihe ?lmen and other sources.

"The assassination attempt ... is a historic fact," Çal??lar said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press. Atatürk's escape in woman's clothing "was a decision Atatürk made at a critical time and was successful," she said. "Historians may discuss the issue, but I don't think that the issue is of any concern to lawyers." Çal??lar joins a long list of journalists and writers charged with insulting Turkey, "Turkishness" or state institutions.

In the most prominent case, novelist Orhan Pamuk stood trial this year on charges of insulting "Turkishness" for commenting on the killings of Armenians by Turks around the time of World War I, which a number of governments and scholars have said was the first genocide of the 20th century. The charges were dropped amid intense international pressure. Turkey vehemently denies that the mass killings were genocide, saying the death toll is inflated and Armenians were killed in civil unrest as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

On Sept. 21, author Elif ?afak is to stand trial because of the words uttered by a fictional Armenian character in her novel "The Bastard of Istanbul." In the book, an Armenian character refers to "Turkish butchers."

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an's government has made clear it has no plans to change laws used to prosecute Pamuk and others, saying the charges are eventually dropped and defendants are acquitted.

EU officials argue, however, that even if the charges are dropped, the threat of prosecution remains as a deterrent against people wishing to express opinions.



© 2005 Dogan Daily News Inc. www.turkishdailynews.com.tr

[elendil]

I would like to add my piece, but the question is forwarded to Armenians. Come on forum people have you say...