At the height of its power in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Turkish Ottoman Empire spanned three continents, controlling much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. However, at the end of WWI, as one of the losing countries the Ottomans were forced to sign the Mondros Treaty, where their army and government became powerless; the country was almost fully occupied by the victorious Allied powers. Ataturk arranged for his appointment as Inspector General of the remnant Ottoman Turkish Forces in Anatolia, and arrived at the Black Sea Port of Samsun on 19 May 1919. Rapidly he organized a public movement for freedom, which led to the key milestone of establishing the Turkish Grand National Assembly11 months later. In parallel, he was able to restructure the military forces, which under his leadership defeated stepwise the invading forces. By 26 November 1922 all invading forces had evacuated the Turkish motherland as defined in the 1920 Oath of the Nation. Thereafter, the political restructuring of the country by Ataturk led to the formal declaration of the Republic of Turkey on 29 October 1923.
Ataturk successes were highly respected by global leaders of the period and beyond; some sample quotes appear below:
Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America:
- “I obtained information concerning Mustafa Kemal from someone who knows him very well. When talking with Foreign Minister Litvinov of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, he said that in his opinion, the most valuable and interesting statesman in all of Europe does not live in Europe today, but beyond the Bosphorus, he lives in Ankara, and that this was the President of the Turkish Republic, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.”
John F. Kennedy, President of the United States of America:
- “The name of Ataturk reminds people of the historical successes of one of the great individuals of this century, the leadership that gave inspiration to the Turkish nation, farsightedness in the understanding of the modern world and courage and power as a military leader. It is without a doubt that another example can’t be shown indicating greater successes than the birth of the Turkish Republic and ever since then Ataturk’s and Turkey’s broad and deep reforms undertaken as well as the confidence of a nation in itself.”
General Douglas MacArthur, USA Commander-in-Chief of the Far East Forces:
- “He was a military-statesman, one of the greatest leaders of our era. He ensured that Turkey got its rightful place among the most advanced nations. Also, he gave the feeling of support and self-confidence to the Turks that form the foundation stone of a nation’s greatness. I take great pride in being one of Ataturk’s loyal friends.”
Ernest Hemingway, American Journalist and Novelist Nobel Laureate:
- “The West and the East came face to face at the second class coastal town of Mudanya on a crooked road covered with dust on the hot Marmara coast. Despite the English flag ship “Iron-Duke’s” ash-colored deathly turrets that transported the Allied generals for negotiations with Ismet Pasha, the Westerners had come here to beg for peace, not to ask for peace or to dictate the conditions. These negotiations demonstrate the end of Europe’s dominance over Asia, because as everyone knows, Mustafa Kemal got rid of all the Greeks.”
Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom:
- “Ataturk’s death is not only a loss for the country, but for Europe is the greatest loss, he who saved Turkey in the war and who revived a new the Turkish nation after the war. The sincere tears shed after him by all classes of people is nothing other than an appropriate manifestation to this great hero and modern Turkey’s Ata.”
See following link for further comments: www.aboutataturk.org