It sometimes occurs to me that what you can get done in four years? Maybe, construction-buildings-bridges-highways-airplanes-hospitals…
A child is born, turns four. The child begins to talks, and then walk, and finally its parents breathe a sigh of relief.
You get a degree in four years. You get a job. And it takes at least four years to learn what you haven’t been taught at school. Maybe more…
It stuck in my mind when I was on my way to work. How can a man possibly embark on a ship with a broken compass one dark night to give courage to the people by holding a couple of congresses, start a fight against foreign invasion, set up an Assembly, a Milestone for the Republic and the Democracy, hold an education council under the nose of the enemy and then make an unprecedented victory far more glorious through a diplomatic and economic conquest, hold an economic congress and finally establish the Republic? And how can he possibly achieve all of this and many other things I didn’t mention here in just four years?
It sounds impossible but it helps us understand better what Mustafa Kemal Atatürk meant by “We have accomplished great things in a short period of time”.
Each national holiday is a milestone telling us this glorious saga, telling us how this miracle has happened. “Have you ever heard of anybody else who could achieve all of these goals in just four years?” That’s what I want to ask to those who prefer keeping a certain distance between themselves and the national days. But I don’t need to hear the answer because, there’s no one like him.
“Begin and finish”, apparently this slogan is being used by the contractors nowadays. So, we must take our time to tell people about this miracle. We must know that Atatürk, whom we remember with gratitude and longing today and every day, had won this great victory with the help of each and every single person around him despite what had happened back in the day.
Turkish economy grew at an annual average growth rate of 11% since the foundation of the Republic in 1923 until November 10th, 1938, the day when he passed away. There’s no other period in the history of Turkey which can be compared to the early years of the Republic. In this very short period of time, Turkish women were given the right to vote even before many Western countries, grand reforms were made in a number of fields, from banking to industry, agriculture to mining. Even the foundation of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey is such an inspiring story, definitely worth remembering.
I bow before the loving memory of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the creator of this unprecedented story, and his brothers in arms.
