We are on the 88th anniversary of Atatürk's death. Like every November 10th, millions will flow to Anıtkabir like a flood, to show their love and respect to their Atatürk, and to increase the longing in their hearts even more.
According to the 10th century thinker Farabi, who is known as Muallimi Sânî (second teacher) after Aristotle; However, a person who is a “philosopher-manager” can achieve immortality. Greek thinker Plato, in his work titled Republic; He draws a portrait of an ideal ruler by saying, "What if philosophers were rulers or rulers were philosophers?" We can say that the inferences or aspirations that both great thinkers expressed thousands of years ago in different time periods found their definition in Gazi Mustafa Kemal at the beginning of the 20th century. Undoubtedly, according to Mustafa Kemal; The source of a legitimate government - even if it is a philosopher - is the ruler, king, sultan, etc., as mentioned above. It couldn't happen and it didn't happen! He adopted Jean Jacques Rousseau's management approach and assumed the wise leadership of a government based on "popular sovereignty" as the legitimate source of government.
THE TWO MUSTAFA KEMAL
In a speech he made in 1933, Atatürk made a double distinction and framed his own immortality with the following words: "There are two Mustafa Kemals: One is me, the individual, the mortal Mustafa Kemal. I cannot talk about the second Mustafa Kemal as 'I'. That is Mustafa Kemal, that is, you, those around me this evening, the peasants working in every corner of the country, alert, enlightened, patriotic, nationalist." Citizens... I represent their dream. I tried to make their dream come true. That Mustafa Kemal will not die. He will live forever, developing over time, along with the needs of the Turkish nation, and the one who created the revolution in us. He is Mustafa Kemal, whom I can describe as 'we'."
Undoubtedly, the meaning attributed to immortality here; The "Enlightenment" symbolized by Atatürk is "social consciousness" that includes "independence" and "scientific thought", which is the product of reason. This immortality in question has a philosophical depth. To see this, it is enough to look at Atatürk's mentality, which has defied time and remained up-to-date, and the institutions built on this mentality, especially the Republic, even though 100 years have passed. Moreover, Ataturk should be described as a system and an institution, not as a purely intellectual leader.
THINK LEGACY
If we leave aside the obsessive Ataturk opponents who are unaware of what a great honor it is to be a free individual (not a slave!) and a citizen; It cannot be said that even a section of the millions of people who declared their sincere devotion and love to him have a deep understanding of the mentality that made him immortal. The main reason for this is; It is a conscious stance against Ataturk's mentality during the political breaking stages of our 100-year Republic history. Kemalism has either been included in the educational perspectives of the younger generations in a shallow form, devoid of any substance, or has been tried to be eliminated completely, as is the case nowadays. However, Belgian thinker and writer Daniel Dumoulin, known for his works on Turkish culture, history and especially Ataturk, said, "Türkiye owes Ataturk to God and everything it has to Ataturk." he says. The meaning of Atatürk for the Turkish nation is defined in this pithy saying - without the need for further words.
It is undeniable that the people of our country, especially the sensitive first generations of the Republic, who are aware that they have reached their current position thanks to the Republic, have achieved great success in education, science, production, art and sports by serving with the concern of paying their debt to the Republic, and have carried our Republic far beyond the 1920s and will continue to do so! However, it is a bitter truth that we cannot adequately protect the Republic and its achievements that Atatürk entrusted to us! For this reason, we owe an "apology" to the Great Atatürk on his 88th death anniversary! We must apologize and self-criticize spiritually for not being able to carry our trust properly. On the 88th anniversary of his death, we remember him with longing and offer our gratitude.
