Synopsis:

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was the prime mover in the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 on the territory which he had won for it as commander-in-chief of Turkish national forces in the War of Independence, following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. He was also the main influence in shaping the institutions and tracing the policy of the new state.

Atatürk’s genius lay in his realism and the clarity of his vision: he saw the reality of a single universal civilisation, and was determined that his people should join its mainstream and, with time, become a partner in its progress. This required self-confidence and hard work. While recognising the specificities of his own society, he rejected as fantasies all theories of separate values, and separate development, and the excuses offered by proponents of conspiracy theories and the cult of victimhood.  

Today, as we mark the 125th anniversary of his birth, and the 83rd anniversary of the proclamation of the republic which he shaped, we can see – in absolute as well as in comparative terms – that the foundations he laid were solid. Population growth, itself the result of the peaceful conditions established in the republic, obscures the magnitude of its achievement. Today 75 million Turkish citizens live longer and enjoy an incomparably higher standard of living than the original 12 million or so inhabitants of the republic. True Turkey, whose economy occupies the 20th place (more or less) in the world league, has not yet joined the top richest countries, but it has achieved Atatürk’s primary objective – it is without a doubt a member of the family of civilised nations. 

Andrew Mango:

Andrew Mango was born in Istanbul . He complemented his knowledge of Turkish by studying Persian and Arabic at the school of Oriental Studies in London , where he was awarded a Ph.D. for a dissertation on the Islamic versions of the legend of Alexander the Great. He joined the BBC as a student in 1947, and was fourteen years in charge of broadcasts in Turkish. He retired in 1986 as Head of the South European and French Language Services. He has since been engaged full-time in the study of Turkish affairs.  

Andrew Mango wrote his first article on Turkey for the Political Quarterly in 1957. Since then he has published dozens of articles, book reviews, and chapters in collected studies, as well as two general introductions to Turkey . Mango’s biography of Atatürk was first published in 1999 and it is accepted as the best biography of Atatürk. Mango had spent five years on the biography, using Turkish and foreign printed sources. His latest book is Turkey : The Challenge of a New Role (Praeger, 1994).  

Andrew Mango visits Turkey several times a year. He lectures and writes fluently in Turkish. He is a member of the editorial boards of academic publications in Britain , Turkey and France .