Thursday, October 8, 2015

PDP 3 - A Turkish Republic for the Civilized World


Author Bio: Born in May 1881, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was the first President of Turkey, and served as a military officer in World War I and the Balkan Wars. He helped Turkey become an independent state, and became the first president of Turkey on October 29, 1923. He died in 1938 from cirrhosis of the liver.

Date/Context: The Ottoman Empire began its slow demise in 1571, after it lost the Battle of Lepanto, causing the expansion of the country to stagnate. Fast forwarding to 1918, after World War I has ended, the Ottoman Empire was on the brink of extinction, being threatened on all sides from countries such as England and Russia. The Ottoman empire was faced with two options: dissolve into a neighboring country and surrender all land, or create a new state, maintaining the majority, or even all of the land.

Summary: This speech from Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is split into 3 sections, the first being about the state of the Ottoman Empire post-World War I. Atatürk talks about the disarray that the vilayets were in, and how phrases such as “Ottoman Empire” and “Padishah-Caliph” were essentially meaningless. The second section is about one of his previous speeches in 1924, in which Atatürk talks about three main points that the Turkish state would achieve and adhere to. The third section is about the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the creation of the Turkish state. Atatürk talks about the newly formed Turkish state, and the measures it took in order to return to a peaceful state, specifically the Restoration of Order act.

Key Quotation:

The result we have attained today is the fruit of teachings which arose from centuries of suffering, and the price of streams of blood which have drenched every foot of the ground of our beloved Fatherland.”

2 comments:

  1. Overall, I think that you did a very good job providing a succinct yet strong background of the development of the Turkish State after the demise of the Ottoman Empire. The only criticism I have is that in the "Date/Context" portion of the blog, you inform the reader that the rulers of the Ottoman Empire were left with two options that would decide the fate of the region. Rather than explicitly stating which option they choose and provide reasoning as to why this was what they chose, you decided to leave that up to interpretation or assumed that the reader would understand through common sense or prior knowledge. Despite this small fault, the blog was written properly, and gave me a solid understanding of the situation of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century. Also, the quote that you chose to involve was very powerful, and most definitely fitting in this context.

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  2. Kemal is a Turkish nationalist who embraced westernization and modernization at the cost of tradition. For example, he banned wearing the fez and the practice of veiling. For this reason, he drew the ire of not only the Ottoman elite but also traditionalists and fundamentalists who perceived his actions as threat to the traditional order.

    It is also important to recognize that Kemal was both a product of his Turkish roots and the age of imperialism. European powers were lurking greedily on the edges and in the shadows of the collapsing Ottoman Empire in hopes of adding to their own empires.

    Excellent quote selection!

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