THE Ataturk Society UK (ASUK) along with its UK Youth Branch, presented the Atatürk Remembrance and Understanding conference on November 8, 2019, at the Grand Palace on Friday night.
The opening and salutation speech of the program was made by ASUK President Jale Özer. Özer started her speech by saying, “Since all the painful days of the mortal existence reached immortality, as in all November 10, we are experiencing your thoughts and emotions more intensely than ever before.”
Unlike the usual leader of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Özer said that after saving his country from disintegration, he taught the world as a leader who advocated peace, not war, and said that he aimed to glorify the order that Atatürk had established.
Saying that Mustafa Kemal wrote a heroic epic in his military service, Özer said, “Besides this military genius, it is not only the fact that it is the greatest immortal leader of the century but that it wins a war. It is that he was able to create a nation, a Republic from a cluttered empire. Moreover, a system formed a regime. Constitution, Republic and Parliamentary system. The concept of “Sovereignty is the Nation”… Then revolutions: Letter revolution, adoption of the Latin alphabet, language revolution, distance from the Arab world, abolition of the caliphate, secularism, rights given to women, a revolution ”
Following the Özer speech, the guest of the night to make his speech from the Istanbul Gedik University Ataturk Principles and Revolution History Department Professor Dr Orhan Çekiç took the floor. “I will tell you tonight the unknown and the wrong with documents.” Dr Çekiç told about the process from the Gallipoli War to the War of Independence and the unknown realities.
In his speech, he explained the struggles of Atatürk in the military field between 1917 and 1918. After the proclamation of the republic, the hammer touched upon the foreign policy of Atatürk.
Stating that peace agreements with Western countries and then with Eastern countries is the greatest proof of Atatürk’s importance to peace at home, peace in the world.
Özer presented Dr Çekiç plaque and expressed her great thanks for his support. National Struggle Exhibition prepared by 6 associations the ASUK, +1 Turkey, TGB England, Azerbaijan House, Anatolia Cultural Center and the Turkish Cypriot Cultural Association, was viewed while guest enjoys food and drink.
