THE Atatürk Society UK (ASUK) shared a statement commemorating the Menemen Incident (Kubilay Olayı) 90 years on from the event. Remembering Lieutenant Mustafa Fehmi Kubilay and the two neighborhood guards Bekçi Hasan and Bekçi Şevki who were killed in the incident.
On December 23, 1930, in Menemen, Dervish Mehmet Efendi a member of the Naqshbandi order, called for armed crowds to protest following the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne. During the riots crowd killed and beheaded the commanding officer of the squad, Lieutenant Kubilay and placed his severed head on a pole with a green flag before parading through town with it.
In a statement by ASUK said: “In the early years of the Republic, there will always be those who interpret the principle of secularism according to their own purposes, those who use religion in politics, and those who oppose the revolutions by drawing a single shariah. This is why we should not remember the 23 December 1930 Menemen Incident only as a black page in our history. Taking this as a lesson from this incident, we should always be prepared against the threats and reactionary actions against the founding philosophy of the Republic, Atatürk’s principles and revolutions, and we must show our determination that we will never give up the achievements of the Republic.
Today, the Turkish Youth, to whom our Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk entrusted the Republic’s regime, Atatürk’s principles and revolutions, the Revolution martyr teacher Lieutenant Kubilay who sacrificed his life 90 years ago to protect them, and the neighborhood guards Hasan and Şevki will never forget and will never make them forget.
They believed, fought, died. We are the keepers of the trust they left.”