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Mustafa Kemal Ataturk: A Closer Look & An Embarassing Past

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Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

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Oct 27, 1998, 3:00:00 AM10/27/98
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Kemal's Life At a Glance:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Turkey,
by Emil Lengyel,
1941, p. 118

At school he could not bear discipline, annoyed little girls,
beat up the boys and made himself thoroughly disliked. His master
thrashed him, and Mustafa ran away from school. Now his mother
consented to his preparation for a military career. Army education
in Turkey began in childhood. With flying colors Mustafa passed the
entrance examinations. At the age of fourteen he became father of a
child by a neighbor's daughter. He was intensely jealous of other
boys who showed promise or challenged his position at the top of the
class. At the Military Cadet School of Salonika, his teacher of
mathematics, a Captain Mustafa, dubbed him "Kemal", the Arabic word
meaning "perfection."

***

Grey Wolf, Mustafa Kemal, An Intimate Study of a Dictator,
by H.C. Armstrong, 1934, pp. 201-202.

For since he was a boy he had lived uncleanly, and when the
wildness of youth had passed, he had not put uncleanness from him.
He had no morals nor any belief in women or in virtue, nor had he
even good taste to keep him steady in his lack of morals. In his
affairs there had been no great pulse of love to give them glamour
or excuse their sins. They had been crude, sweaty intrigues of the
'maison de rendez-vous' of bastard Levantine Constantinople, with now
and again a peasant girl. He had lusted in Paris, and Sofia, and Pera
with the harlots, and paid the price in disease and reaction. He had
indulged in many vices, debased himself in uncleanliness, and grown
coarse-fibred. He had taken his pleasure with the loose painted women,
who drank with him as his boon companions in the house at Chan Kaya.

He had no delusions about women. They were to be used and enjoyed.
When done with they must be pushed aside, and their complaints stifled
with money. Of the possibilities of Woman and Love he had a vague
academic knowledge from the western books he had read. In reality he had
no such conception. He was oriental right through, and moreover an
oriental despot.

***

From:
Ataturk, The Rebirth of A Nation,
by Lord Kinross, 1965, p. 478-479.

By their standards Ataturk was indeed a loose-liver. Like many an army
officer he had used women fitfully and casually, taking them when he
wanted them and throwing them aside when he did not...
...........
In his youth and in the prime of his manhood he had enjoyed women
freely when opportunity allowed. But from his mid-forties onwards
his desires and with them his powers declined; and now the less potent
he became the more he chose to advertise his potency.
.......
Thus the dining-rooms of the embassies and the clubs and the Ankara
Palace Hotel hummed with the latest gossip about Ataturk's public
behaviour. No woman was held to be safe at his hands. Turkish mothers
might indeed thrust their daughters at him (and Turkish husbands
their wives), but Diplomatic mothers would hurry their daughters
away from a party for fear he would invite them to his table. When
he did so he would often merely subject them to a "viva voce" exam.
Taking a fancy to a young Polish girl at an Embassy party, he was
heard asking her for proof of the existence of God. With a married
woman the interrogation might be on the more intimate subject of her
relations with her husband. He had always sensed just how far to go
with women, and was a good judge of husbands, never flirting with the
wife of one likely to be jealous, and continually warning his less
discerning friends against blunders of this kind. Occasionally,
however, a scandal arose when the wife of some diplomat allowed
herself to become emotionally too much involved with the President,
while once Ankara was diverted by the tales of an American lady who,
in pursuit of him, lay down across the road by which he drove through
his farm and was invited to stay for some days at Chankaya.

Hayat ve Hatiratim (3)
Dr. Riza Nur,
1992, s. 318-319

Artik bir balo ve dans devridir acildi. Guya medeni ve asri olmusuz.
Dava bu... Bu zevk ve safalari Kara Kapli'ya uyduruyorlar, mesru
gostermek lazim!.. Artik Ankara'da mukellef balolar veriliyor. Bu
balolarda muthis rezaletler de oluyor. Hatta kavga, dogus de var.
Mustafa Kemal geliyor. Zil zurna oluyor, kadinlara tasallut ediyor.
Bir defa dans ederken Fransiz Sefiri'nin kizinin memesini sIkmIs; kiz
kacmis, babasiyla beraber balodan gitmisler. Bir defa Mustafa Kemal
kadin yerine tuysuz bir zabitle dans etmis, cocugu opmus. Kadinlardan
bir kaci Gazi'ye <<Biz burada iken bu olmaz>> demisler, herif
keyiflenmis. Bir adam karisini, yani Mubarek Bey'in kizini onlarla
dans ettirmek istemediginden Salih ve avanesi adamcagizi oyle dovmusler
ki, bicare sedye ile hastahaneye goturulmus. Avrupa'da balolarda boyle
sey asla olamaz. Bunlar baloyu da tulumbaci kogusu yaptilar. Zaten
Meclis'leri, Hukumetleri de o... Demek seviyeleri bu kadar.

***

Grey Wolf, Mustafa Kemal, An Intimate Study of a Dictator,
by H.C. Armstrong, 1934, pp. 254.

A certain well-known pasha came to the Gazi's house. He complained that
the Gazi was too friendly with his wife; people were talking and he would
be grateful if the Gazi would not single her out so often for special
attention at public functions; there was probably nothing in it, but
people said unkind things.

For answer Mustafa Kemal glared at him.

"I know you," he shouted, "you have been intriguing against me. Yes!
it is true. I have had your wife. I took her to punish you for your
intrigues," and he shouted for the guard to chase the pasha from the
house.

***

Hayat ve Hatiratim (3)
Dr. Riza Nur
1992. s. 356


.....Bu Said karisi ve kizkardesini Mustafa Kemal'e takdim etmistir.
Latife bu kadinlari hic sevmezdi. Cunku bir gun Mustafa Kemal sofrada
Said'in karisinin ayagina basiyorum diye, Latife'nin ayagina basmis,
kavga cikmisti.....

Ataturk, The Rebirth of a Nation,
by Lord Kinross, 1965, pp.422-423

The situation came to a head during a visit to Erzinjan in the Eastern
provinces, where there had been a serious earthquake, and then to
Erzurum. Here a luncheon was given to which, at the Gazi's request,
officers and officials were bidden with their wives. It was the first
time men and women had sat down at table together in this conservative
city - hence a social occasion of a symbolic and somewhat stilted
kind. Few of the guests were at their ease, and Kemal, breaking the
ice, chose to rally his hostess, the handsome wife of the military
commander, with expressions of gallantry and admiring glances across
the table. Latife showed her displeasure, then lost control and
exclaimed, `Be careful of your feet, Kemal. They are reaching as far
as me.'

Kemal went rigid with anger. The guests became silent with embarrassment.
The social experiment had ended in disaster. After it Kemal refused to
speak to Latife. Instead he telegraphed instructions to the Cabinet, in
Ankara, to arrange on his behalf for an immediate divorce. Latife was
sent off by train next day, with two officers for escort. Kemal did not
bid her farewell; nor did the wife of the commander with whom they were
staying.

***

Double Diploma, The Life of Sir Pierson Dixon, Don and Diplomat,
by Piers Dixon,
1968, pp. 34-35.

Another evening at the Ankara Palace (where all these dramas take
place in the most public way) the French Ambassador and his Military
Attache were dining together. The President of the Republic came in
with some of his suit, and the Ambassador was invited to their table.
Soon the Gazi called over the dancing girls, one of whom, a Hungarian,
was wearing a blouse which buttoned down the centre from the neck to
the waist. "Deboutonnez!" ordered the Gazi (his French no longer causes
him anxiety and he speaks it habitually among foreigners). The poor girl,
petrified, undid the top button. "Continuez," he roared, and so on until
the last button was undone and the girl's naked bosom exposed. The Gazi
carefully scrutinised it, and then discussed her with the remark that her
breasts were not up to the standard expected of an artiste. The miserable
dancer had a "crise de nerfs" after this verdict, went to hospital and
shortly afterwards left Ankara.

There were seven Austrian singing girls at the Ankara Palace in the
autumn, all respectable, hard-working artistes, whose dread was to
be summoned up to Bluebeard's chamber on the hill ["Bluebeard": (From
the name of a character in a children's story) a husband who marries and
kills one wife after another. HD]. One evening, Bluebeard invited them to
his table at the Ankara Palace, and after talking and joking with them
for a while suddenly pulled out two 50-lira notes, handed them to a young
man in his suite and ordered him to take off one of the girls (the
prettiest, youngest and shyest), and sleep with her at once. Obediently
(for no one dreams of disobeying the Great Man) the couple got up and
walked out of the cabaret into the main hotel building. What happened
next was narrated to Col. de Courson by the girl herself. She turned
furiously on the young man, who was embarrassed, and said she had never
been so insulted in her life. He stoutly maintained that the appearance
of obedience must be given, even if nothing were done in fact. She
angrily told him to keep the money for himself (which he did) and they
sat for half an hour glowering at one another in a passage, and then
returned to the cabaret, where the young man expressed gratitude to his
master and satisfaction at a pleasant half hour.

***

The First Turkish Republic,
by R.D. Robinson, 1965, p. 27

Like almost all who described Kemal, Miss Gabor speaks of his eyes: "The
pupils were so light blue as to be almost colorless; it was like looking
at a blind man, yet one whose eyes pierced you through." She reports
that in private Kemal laughed a great deal, drank incessantly, was
greatly interested in a foreigner's reactions to Turkey. Over twenty
years later, she writes in obvious awe of the man. One senses that men
she has known since Kemal have been measured against his stature. In
fact, she admittedly married the next man who reminded her of him.


New York Post, November 8, 1991

After marrying a Turkish Diplomat at age 15 and leaving Hungary, she
was introduced to Kemal Ataturk, the godlike Turkish ruler who banned
the veil. Her marriage still unconsummated because her husband was
repelled by her constant contacts with dogs. She obeyed when Ataturk
sent word for her to appear at his villa. Ataturk clapped, dancing
girls appeared and Zsa Zsa "unquestionably" smoked opium and drank the
potent anise drink 'raki.' "Sometimes I think it happened in a dream,
sometimes that I was in opium haze, or a stupor induced by raki. All
I know is that that day, Ataturk, the conqurer of Turkey....took my
virginity."

***

Western Civilization, Islam and Muslims,
by Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi,
translated from Urdu version by Dr. Mohammad Asif Kidwai, M.A., Ph.D.,
Academy of Islamic Research & Publications, Lucknow, 1969, p.46.

We will confine ourselves here only to the reproduction of a few
extracts from his contryman and admirer, Irfan Orga, who, in his famous
biography of him written in collaboration with his wife, Margaret,
observes (1):

[..deleted..]

"He felt at home with the prostitutes and the homosexuals because
they were so much worse off than he. The underlying sadism of his
nature came out. He never credited people with feelings since he had
none himself save the fundamental urge to conquer and see others
submit to his will. He had to be at the top."
(1). Orga, Irfan and Margaret, Ataturk, 1962, p. 246.


Grey Wolf, Mustafa Kemal, An Intimate Study of a Dictator,
by H.C. Armstrong, 1934, pp. 253-254.

......Then he went back to the long nights in smoke-filled rooms with
his drinking friends - the "desperadoes" as they were nicknamed- his
painted women and the life to which he belonged.

After that he became shameless. He drank deeper than ever. He started
a number of open affairs with women, and with men. Male youth attracted
him. He made advances to the wives and daughters of his supporters.
Even important men sent their women-folk away from Angora out of his
way.

*****

Hayat ve Hatiratim (3)
Dr. Riza Nur
1992, s: 153

Ali Fuad'la bir aksam ikimiz basbasa konusuyoruz. Mustafa Kemal'in
fuhus hikayelerinden bahsediyoruz. Dedi ki: "Ayol onun erkekligi yok.
Mektepte iken, Selanik'te iken beraber capkinliga giderdik. Kadinlarla
ugrasirdi, bir sey yapamazdi." Hayretimi mucip oldu. Bilmezdim. Cunku
fuhusa cok duskun. Bu sozu sonra bir binbasinin hareminden de isittim.
Mustafa Kemal bir aralik buna dadanmisti. Herkesin agzindaydi. Kadin
hasta olmus, bana muracaat etti. Pek guzel bir hanim. Mustafa Kemal ile
olan macerasini ne yapip soylettim. Dedi ki: "O kadina cok duskundur.
Ama bir sey yapamaz. Kalkmaz. Ugrasir surusturur. Sonunda disina akitir.
Iste bu kadar." Bu soz Ali Fuad'i teyid etti. Derken Mustafa Kemal
Latife ile evlendi. Latife haremimle ahbab idi. Ona Mustafa Kemal'in
kocalik yapamadigindan sikayet etmis. O da bana soyledi. Latife bu
sikayeti Fethi Bey'in refikasi Galibe hanima da yapmis. Fethi'den
isittim. Demek ki Ali Fuad'in sozu tamammis. Demek bu adam ibnedir.
Ve bu hali gencliginden beridir. Simdi fuhusa inhimakini tabii bir
suretle izah mumkundur. Anadan dogma uzvu kalkmayanlar, ya ahmak dogmus,
veya dimagi tereddiye ducar kimselerdir. Kadina bir sey yapamiyanlar,
yapamadikca azar. Ve daha ziyade bu isin ustune giderler. Artik deli
gibi bir sey olurlar. Her kadina saldirirlar. Akillarina ziyan gelir.
Namuslu, namussuz, yeri veya degil bilmezler. Nitekim bu adam bunu
son alti yildir muthis surette yapmis. Nice namuslu kadinlari riza ile,
dalavere ile dusurerek, zor ile irzina gecmistir. Bununla da kalmazlar,
$ehvetin marazi kisimlarina da dokulurler... Erkek cocuklarina inhimak
ederler. Bir sey yapamayinca, bu sefer bu cocuklara kendilerini
yaptirirlar. Nitekim Mustafa Kemal son uc-dort yildir bunlarin her
turlusunu yapti. Ileride vak'alar zikredecegiz.

*****

Hayat ve Hatiratim (3)
Dr. Riza Nur
1992, s: 314-315

Birgun bir teblig-i resmi: Mustafa Kemal Latife'yi bosamis. Bunu da
Hey'et-i Vekile karari ile yapmis. Bu Kanun-u Medeni'ye mugayirdi.
Bosanmak, iki tarafin rizasiyla, veya onun mucip sebebi mahkeme hukmu
ile olacakti. Hey'et-i Vekile, adliye kanun ve mahkemelerinin ustune
cikmis ve vahidulcalip olarak karar vermis. Al iste, Mustafa Kemal'in
kanuna riayeti...Bir Kanun-u Medeni yapti, bugun iptida kendi bozuyor.
Hem aleme ilan suretiyle...Ismet de bunu yapiyor...O, ne yapmaz? Tek
mevkide dursun, bunun icin cinayetler, katliamlar yapiyor da, bu bir
sey mi? Kanunen Latife hala onun karisidir...

Latife Istanbul'a geldi. Son zamanda haremimi aramiyordu. Mevhibe ile
iyi idi. Refikamin Mevhibe ile muhaberesi de kesilmisti. Latife simdi,
Istanbul'a gelince, derhal refikami istedi. Refikam gitti. Ona bir takim
muhim seyler soylemis, bosanma vak'asini anlatmis. "Doktor gelsin,
ona muhim havadislerim var" demis.

Anlasildigina gore bosanma vak'asindan iki-uc gun evvel Latife kardesi
Ismail ile haremi Sureyya Pasa'nin kizi Melahat Ankara'ya gitmislerdi.
Cankaya'da misafir olmuslar. O vakit Mustafa Kemal'in yaninda katip
sifatiyla Halit Ziya'nin oglu Vedad vardi. Guzel tuysuz bir cocuk. Bir
aksam uzeri karanlik cokerken Ismail, Melahat balkona cikmislar. Bakmislar
Vedad Mustafa Kemal'i agacin dibinde yapiyor. Latife'yi cagirmislar.
O da gormus. Bir kiyamettir kopmus. Latife Mustafa Kemal'e "Herseyini
gordum, hepsine tahammul ettim. Artik buna edemem." demis. Gazi (!)
savusmus, Ismet'in evine gitmis. "Bu kariyi simdi bosayacagim" demis.
Ismet sabahleyin erkenden Hey'et-i Vekile'yi toplamis. Talaka [bosanmaya]
karar vermisler (!). Latife'yi Ismet alip trene koymus. Trende teselli
etmek istemis, Latife ona "Sus, sus! Ismet Pasa! Ismet Pasa! Sen ona
bir gun dalkavukluk etme seni benden daha rezil eder. Hep aleti sensin."
demis. Neden sonra birgun Ankara'da Ismet'e Latife'yi gordugumu soyledim.
Yuzume bakti, "Bir facia oldu" dedi. Halbuki Latife en ziyade Ismet'e
kiziyordu. "Bunlarin butun sebebi Ismet'tir" diyordu.


------------------------------------FORWARDED ARTICLE------------
***

Grey Wolf, Mustafa Kemal, An Intimate Study of a Dictator,
by H.C. Armstrong, 1934, pp. 201-202.


He had no delusions about women. They were to be used and enjoyed.
When done with they must be pushed aside, and their complaints stifled
with money. Of the possibilities of Woman and Love he had a vague
academic knowledge from the western books he had read. In reality he had
no such conception. He was oriental right through, and moreover an
oriental despot.

***

From:
Ataturk, The Rebirth of A Nation,
by Lord Kinross, 1965, p. 478-479.

By their standards Ataturk was indeed a loose-liver. Like many an army
officer he had used women fitfully and casually, taking them when he
wanted them and throwing them aside when he did not...
...........
In his youth and in the prime of his manhood he had enjoyed women
freely when opportunity allowed. But from his mid-forties onwards
his desires and with them his powers declined; and now the less potent
he became the more he chose to advertise his potency.
.......
Thus the dining-rooms of the embassies and the clubs and the Ankara
Palace Hotel hummed with the latest gossip about Ataturk's public
behaviour. No woman was held to be safe at his hands. Turkish mothers
might indeed thrust their daughters at him (and Turkish husbands
their wives), but Diplomatic mothers would hurry their daughters
away from a party for fear he would invite them to his table. When
he did so he would often merely subject them to a "viva voce" exam.
Taking a fancy to a young Polish girl at an Embassy party, he was
heard asking her for proof of the existence of God. With a married
woman the interrogation might be on the more intimate subject of her
relations with her husband. He had always sensed just how far to go
with women, and was a good judge of husbands, never flirting with the
wife of one likely to be jealous, and continually warning his less
discerning friends against blunders of this kind. Occasionally,
however, a scandal arose when the wife of some diplomat allowed
herself to become emotionally too much involved with the President,
while once Ankara was diverted by the tales of an American lady who,
in pursuit of him, lay down across the road by which he drove through
his farm and was invited to stay for some days at Chankaya.

***

Grey Wolf, Mustafa Kemal, An Intimate Study of a Dictator,
by H.C. Armstrong, 1934, pp. 254.

A certain well-known pasha came to the Gazi's house. He complained that
the Gazi was too friendly with his wife; people were talking and he would
be grateful if the Gazi would not single her out so often for special
attention at public functions; there was probably nothing in it, but
people said unkind things.

For answer Mustafa Kemal glared at him.

"I know you," he shouted, "you have been intriguing against me. Yes!
it is true. I have had your wife. I took her to punish you for your
intrigues," and he shouted for the guard to chase the pasha from the
house.

***

Hayat ve Hatiratim (3)
Dr. Riza Nur
1992. s. 356


.....Bu Said karisi ve kizkardesini Mustafa Kemal'e takdim etmistir.
Latife bu kadinlari hic sevmezdi. Cunku bir gun Mustafa Kemal sofrada
Said'in karisinin ayagina basiyorum diye, Latife'nin ayagina basmis,
kavga cikmisti.....

Ataturk, The Rebirth of a Nation,
by Lord Kinross, 1965, pp.422-423

The situation came to a head during a visit to Erzinjan in the Eastern
provinces, where there had been a serious earthquake, and then to
Erzurum. Here a luncheon was given to which, at the Gazi's request,
officers and officials were bidden with their wives. It was the first
time men and women had sat down at table together in this conservative
city - hence a social occasion of a symbolic and somewhat stilted
kind. Few of the guests were at their ease, and Kemal, breaking the
ice, chose to rally his hostess, the handsome wife of the military
commander, with expressions of gallantry and admiring glances across
the table. Latife showed her displeasure, then lost control and
exclaimed, `Be careful of your feet, Kemal. They are reaching as far
as me.'

Kemal went rigid with anger. The guests became silent with embarrassment.
The social experiment had ended in disaster. After it Kemal refused to
speak to Latife. Instead he telegraphed instructions to the Cabinet, in
Ankara, to arrange on his behalf for an immediate divorce. Latife was
sent off by train next day, with two officers for escort. Kemal did not
bid her farewell; nor did the wife of the commander with whom they were
staying.

***

Double Diploma, The Life of Sir Pierson Dixon, Don and Diplomat,
by Piers Dixon,
1968, pp. 34-35.

Another evening at the Ankara Palace (where all these dramas take
place in the most public way) the French Ambassador and his Military
Attache were dining together. The President of the Republic came in
with some of his suit, and the Ambassador was invited to their table.
Soon the Gazi called over the dancing girls, one of whom, a Hungarian,
was wearing a blouse which buttoned down the centre from the neck to
the waist. "Deboutonnez!" ordered the Gazi (his French no longer causes
him anxiety and he speaks it habitually among foreigners). The poor girl,
petrified, undid the top button. "Continuez," he roared, and so on until
the last button was undone and the girl's naked bosom exposed. The Gazi
carefully scrutinised it, and then discussed her with the remark that her
breasts were not up to the standard expected of an artiste. The miserable
dancer had a "crise de nerfs" after this verdict, went to hospital and
shortly afterwards left Ankara.

There were seven Austrian singing girls at the Ankara Palace in the
autumn, all respectable, hard-working artistes, whose dread was to
be summoned up to Bluebeard's chamber on the hill ["Bluebeard": (From
the name of a character in a children's story) a husband who marries and
kills one wife after another. HD]. One evening, Bluebeard invited them to
his table at the Ankara Palace, and after talking and joking with them
for a while suddenly pulled out two 50-lira notes, handed them to a young
man in his suite and ordered him to take off one of the girls (the
prettiest, youngest and shyest), and sleep with her at once. Obediently
(for no one dreams of disobeying the Great Man) the couple got up and
walked out of the cabaret into the main hotel building. What happened
next was narrated to Col. de Courson by the girl herself. She turned
furiously on the young man, who was embarrassed, and said she had never
been so insulted in her life. He stoutly maintained that the appearance
of obedience must be given, even if nothing were done in fact. She
angrily told him to keep the money for himself (which he did) and they
sat for half an hour glowering at one another in a passage, and then
returned to the cabaret, where the young man expressed gratitude to his
master and satisfaction at a pleasant half hour.

***

The First Turkish Republic,
by R.D. Robinson, 1965, p. 27

Like almost all who described Kemal, Miss Gabor speaks of his eyes: "The
pupils were so light blue as to be almost colorless; it was like looking
at a blind man, yet one whose eyes pierced you through." She reports
that in private Kemal laughed a great deal, drank incessantly, was
greatly interested in a foreigner's reactions to Turkey. Over twenty
years later, she writes in obvious awe of the man. One senses that men
she has known since Kemal have been measured against his stature. In
fact, she admittedly married the next man who reminded her of him.


New York Post, November 8, 1991

After marrying a Turkish Diplomat at age 15 and leaving Hungary, she
was introduced to Kemal Ataturk, the godlike Turkish ruler who banned
the veil. Her marriage still unconsummated because her husband was
repelled by her constant contacts with dogs. She obeyed when Ataturk
sent word for her to appear at his villa. Ataturk clapped, dancing
girls appeared and Zsa Zsa "unquestionably" smoked opium and drank the
potent anise drink 'raki.' "Sometimes I think it happened in a dream,
sometimes that I was in opium haze, or a stupor induced by raki. All
I know is that that day, Ataturk, the conqurer of Turkey....took my
virginity."

***

Western Civilization, Islam and Muslims,
by Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi,
translated from Urdu version by Dr. Mohammad Asif Kidwai, M.A., Ph.D.,
Academy of Islamic Research & Publications, Lucknow, 1969, p.46.

We will confine ourselves here only to the reproduction of a few
extracts from his contryman and admirer, Irfan Orga, who, in his famous
biography of him written in collaboration with his wife, Margaret,
observes (1):

[..deleted..]

"He felt at home with the prostitutes and the homosexuals because
they were so much worse off than he. The underlying sadism of his
nature came out. He never credited people with feelings since he had
none himself save the fundamental urge to conquer and see others
submit to his will. He had to be at the top."
(1). Orga, Irfan and Margaret, Ataturk, 1962, p. 246.


Grey Wolf, Mustafa Kemal, An Intimate Study of a Dictator,
by H.C. Armstrong, 1934, pp. 253-254.

......Then he went back to the long nights in smoke-filled rooms with
his drinking friends - the "desperadoes" as they were nicknamed- his
painted women and the life to which he belonged.

After that he became shameless. He drank deeper than ever. He started
a number of open affairs with women, and with men. Male youth attracted
him. He made advances to the wives and daughters of his supporters.
Even important men sent their women-folk away from Angora out of his
way.

*****

Hayat ve Hatiratim (3)
Dr. Riza Nur
1992, s: 153

Ali Fuad'la bir aksam ikimiz basbasa konusuyoruz. Mustafa Kemal'in
fuhus hikayelerinden bahsediyoruz. Dedi ki: "Ayol onun erkekligi yok.
Mektepte iken, Selanik'te iken beraber capkinliga giderdik. Kadinlarla
ugrasirdi, bir sey yapamazdi." Hayretimi mucip oldu. Bilmezdim. Cunku
fuhusa cok duskun. Bu sozu sonra bir binbasinin hareminden de isittim.
Mustafa Kemal bir aralik buna dadanmisti. Herkesin agzindaydi. Kadin
hasta olmus, bana muracaat etti. Pek guzel bir hanim. Mustafa Kemal ile
olan macerasini ne yapip soylettim. Dedi ki: "O kadina cok duskundur.
Ama bir sey yapamaz. Kalkmaz. Ugrasir surusturur. Sonunda disina akitir.
Iste bu kadar." Bu soz Ali Fuad'i teyid etti. Derken Mustafa Kemal
Latife ile evlendi. Latife haremimle ahbab idi. Ona Mustafa Kemal'in
kocalik yapamadigindan sikayet etmis. O da bana soyledi. Latife bu
sikayeti Fethi Bey'in refikasi Galibe hanima da yapmis. Fethi'den
isittim. Demek ki Ali Fuad'in sozu tamammis. Demek bu adam ibnedir.
Ve bu hali gencliginden beridir. Simdi fuhusa inhimakini tabii bir
suretle izah mumkundur. Anadan dogma uzvu kalkmayanlar, ya ahmak dogmus,
veya dimagi tereddiye ducar kimselerdir. Kadina bir sey yapamiyanlar,
yapamadikca azar. Ve daha ziyade bu isin ustune giderler. Artik deli
gibi bir sey olurlar. Her kadina saldirirlar. Akillarina ziyan gelir.
Namuslu, namussuz, yeri veya degil bilmezler. Nitekim bu adam bunu
son alti yildir muthis surette yapmis. Nice namuslu kadinlari riza ile,
dalavere ile dusurerek, zor ile irzina gecmistir. Bununla da kalmazlar,
$ehvetin marazi kisimlarina da dokulurler... Erkek cocuklarina inhimak
ederler. Bir sey yapamayinca, bu sefer bu cocuklara kendilerini
yaptirirlar. Nitekim Mustafa Kemal son uc-dort yildir bunlarin her
turlusunu yapti. Ileride vak'alar zikredecegiz.

*****

Hayat ve Hatiratim (3)
Dr. Riza Nur
1992, s: 314-315

Birgun bir teblig-i resmi: Mustafa Kemal Latife'yi bosamis. Bunu da
Hey'et-i Vekile karari ile yapmis. Bu Kanun-u Medeni'ye mugayirdi.
Bosanmak, iki tarafin rizasiyla, veya onun mucip sebebi mahkeme hukmu
ile olacakti. Hey'et-i Vekile, adliye kanun ve mahkemelerinin ustune
cikmis ve vahidulcalip olarak karar vermis. Al iste, Mustafa Kemal'in
kanuna riayeti...Bir Kanun-u Medeni yapti, bugun iptida kendi bozuyor.
Hem aleme ilan suretiyle...Ismet de bunu yapiyor...O, ne yapmaz? Tek
mevkide dursun, bunun icin cinayetler, katliamlar yapiyor da, bu bir
sey mi? Kanunen Latife hala onun karisidir...

Latife Istanbul'a geldi. Son zamanda haremimi aramiyordu. Mevhibe ile
iyi idi. Refikamin Mevhibe ile muhaberesi de kesilmisti. Latife simdi,
Istanbul'a gelince, derhal refikami istedi. Refikam gitti. Ona bir takim
muhim seyler soylemis, bosanma vak'asini anlatmis. "Doktor gelsin,
ona muhim havadislerim var" demis.

Anlasildigina gore bosanma vak'asindan iki-uc gun evvel Latife kardesi
Ismail ile haremi Sureyya Pasa'nin kizi Melahat Ankara'ya gitmislerdi.
Cankaya'da misafir olmuslar. O vakit Mustafa Kemal'in yaninda katip
sifatiyla Halit Ziya'nin oglu Vedad vardi. Guzel tuysuz bir cocuk. Bir
aksam uzeri karanlik cokerken Ismail, Melahat balkona cikmislar. Bakmislar
Vedad Mustafa Kemal'i agacin dibinde yapiyor. Latife'yi cagirmislar.
O da gormus. Bir kiyamettir kopmus. Latife Mustafa Kemal'e "Herseyini
gordum, hepsine tahammul ettim. Artik buna edemem." demis. Gazi (!)
savusmus, Ismet'in evine gitmis. "Bu kariyi simdi bosayacagim" demis.
Ismet sabahleyin erkenden Hey'et-i Vekile'yi toplamis. Talaka [bosanmaya]
karar vermisler (!). Latife'yi Ismet alip trene koymus. Trende teselli
etmek istemis, Latife ona "Sus, sus! Ismet Pasa! Ismet Pasa! Sen ona
bir gun dalkavukluk etme seni benden daha rezil eder. Hep aleti sensin."
demis. Neden sonra birgun Ankara'da Ismet'e Latife'yi gordugumu soyledim.
Yuzume bakti, "Bir facia oldu" dedi. Halbuki Latife en ziyade Ismet'e
kiziyordu. "Bunlarin butun sebebi Ismet'tir" diyordu.

From:
TIME,
February 15, 1926,
p. 15-16

"Turkey presents today the most promising and challenging field
on the face of the earth for missionary service." Thus wrote James
L. Barton, missionary executive, in last week's issue of 'Christian
Work.' But first he summarized the revolutionary changes in Turkey
since 1923. The changes:

[deleted]

For a hundred years Christian missionaries have struggled hopelessly
to capture the hearts of the Calif-awed Turks. They had come, said
Mr. Barton, to suspect that "the Moslem was outside the sphere of
the operation of divine grace."


From:
TIME,
July 2, 1928,
p. 17
Awful Desecration

Enough to set hairs a-standing on pious Mohammedans heads
would be a proposal to cover the broad, flat floors of mosques
with hateful, heathen pews.

Pews would prevent squatting in the traditional attitude of
prayer. Pews would obstruct reverent foreheads from bending down
to touch the floor of the House of Allah. Pews would be an awful
desecration -as awful as though heathen Christians should not
don slippers before entering a mosque, and thus pollute the floor.

However, since the present ruling class of Young Turks are not
pious Mohammedans, it was natural, last week, that the Commission
on Religious Reform, recently appointed by President Mustafa Kemal
Pasha should recommend: 1) Pews to cover the floor of every mosque;
2) abolition of the mosque slipper and prayer rug; 3) installation
of organs, choirs.

Observers of the Young Turks' successful occidentalization of
Turkey marveled, once more, at the docility of the Turkish masses,
which have abandoned the fez, ceased to contract polygamous marriages,
and now seem prepared to alter the fundamental rites of their
religion - all this within ten years.


From:
The Emergence of Modern Turkey,
by Bernard Lewis,
1965, p. 408

The recommendations of the committee, for the achievement of this
purpose, was grouped under four headings. The first, 'the form of
worship', speaks of the need for clean and orderly mosques, with pews and
cloakrooms. 'People must be urged to enter into them with clean shoes.'
The second, on 'the language of worship', insists that this must be
Turkish, and that all prayers and sermons should not be in Arabic but in
the national language. The third, on 'the character of worship', seeks to
make worship beautiful, inspiring, and spiritual. For this the mosque
needs trained musicians and also musical instruments. 'The need is
urgent for modern and sacred instrumental music.' The fourth, and last,
deals with 'the thought side of worship'. Printed, set sermons must be
replaced by real religious guidance, which only preachers with the
necessary philosophic training would be competent to give.


From:
TIME,
January 9, 1933,
p. 64

Squinting skyward last week, Turks looked for the new moon. When
they should see it Ramadan would begin. Ramadan the mystic month in
which the Koran was revealed to Prophet Mohammed. This year the first
glint of the new moon had a special, dread significance. Turks had
been ordered by their stern dictator, Mustafa Kemal Pasha who made
them drop the veil and the fez (TIME, Feb. 15, 1926 et seq.), that
beginning with Ramadan they must no longer call their god by his
Arabic name, Allah.

No godly man, Dictator Kemal considers that there is no reason
why Turks should not call Allah by his Turkish name Tanri. There is
no reason except centuries of tradition, no reason except that Turkish
imams (priests) all know the Koran by heart in Arabic while few if any
have memorized it in Turkish. Strict to the point of cruelty last week
was Dictator Kemal's decree that muezzins, calling the faithful to
prayer from the top of Turkey's minarets, must shout not the hallowed
"Allah Akbar!" (Arabic for "God is Great!") but the unfamiliar words
"Tanri Uludur!" which mean the same thing in Turkish.

When imams threatened to suspend services in the mosques and hide
the prayer rugs, the Government announced that it was holding 400
brand-new prayer rugs in reserve, threatened to produce "newly trained
muezzins who know the Koran in Turkish and are ready to jump into the
breach."

[deleted]

Nearer & nearer crept the moon to crescent. Ramadan was almost upon
Turkey when officials of the Department of Culture (which includes
religion) screwed up their courage and told Dictator Kemal that he
simply could not change the name of Turkey's god - at least not last
week. Already several muezzins had been thrown into jail for announcing
that they would continue to shout "Allah Akbar!" The populace was
getting ugly, obviously sympathized with the Allah-shouters.

Abruptly Dictator Kemal yielded "Let them pray as they please,
temporarily" he growled. Beaming, his Minister rushed off to proclaim
the glad respite only a few hours before the new moon appeared. "On
account of the general unpreparedness of muezzins and imams," they
suavely declared, "prayers may be offered and the Koran recited in
Arabic during the present month of Ramadan, but discourse by the imams
must be in Turkish."

During Ramadan all Moslems are especially irritable because they eat
nothing during the hours of daylight. After the fasting is over Turks
will be more tractable, may accept from their Dictator a new name for
their God.


From:
TIME,
February 20, 1933,
p. 18
Word for God

A hard father to his people, Mustafa Kemal told his Turks last
December that they must forget God in the Arabic language (Allah),
learn Him in Turkish (Tanri). Admitting the delicacy of renaming
a 1300-year-old god, Kemal gave the muezzins a time allowance to
learn the Koran in Turkish. Last week in pious Brusa, the "green
city," a muezzin halloed "Tanri Uludur" from one of the minarets
whence Brusans had heard "Allah Akbar" since the 14th Century.
Raging at Kemal Pasha's god, they mobbed the muezzin, mobbed the
police who came to save him.

Quick to defend his new word for God, quicker to show new Turkey
the fate of the old-fashioned, Kemal the Ghazi, "the Victorious One,"
pounced on Brusa, had 60 of the faithful arrested, ousted the Mufti
(ecclesiastical judge) of the Ouglubjami mosque and decreed that
henceforth God was Tanri.


From:
Grey Wolf, Mustafa Kemal,
An Intimate Study of a Dictator,
by H.C. Armstrong, 1934

He was drinking heavily. The drink stimulated him, gave him energy,
but increased his irritability. Both in private and public he was
sarcastic, brutal and abrupt. He flared up at the least criticism.
He cut short all attempts to reason with him. He flew into a passion
at the least opposition. He would neither confide in nor co-operate
with anyone. When one politician gave him some harmless advice, he
roughly told him to get out. When a venerable member of the Cabinet
suggested that it was unseemly for Turkish ladies to dance in public,
he threw a Koran at him and chased him out of his office with a stick.

p. 241:
"For five hundred years these rules and theories of an Arab sheik,"
[referring to the Prophet-hd] he said, "and the interpretations of
generations of lazy, good-for-nothing priests have decided the civil
and the criminal law of Turkey."

"They had decided the form of the constitution, the details of the
lives of each Turk, his food, his hours of rising and sleeping, the
shape of his clothes, the routine of the midwife who produced his
children, what he learnt in his schools, his customs, his thoughts,
even his most intimate habits.

"Islam, this theology of an immoral Arab [referring to the Prophet
-hd], is a dead thing." Possibly it might have suited tribes of nomads
in the desert. It was no good for a modern progressive State.

"God's revelation!" There was no God. That was one of the chains by
which the priests and bad rulers bound the people down.

"A ruler who needs religion to help him rule is a weakling. No weakling
should rule.."

And the priests! How he hated them. The lazy, unproductive priests
who ate up the sustenance of the people. He would chase them out of
their mosques and monasteries to work like men.

Religion! He would tear religion from Turkey as one might tear the
throttling ivy away to save a young tree.

p. 243:
Further, it was public knowledge that he was irreligious, broke all
the rules of decency, and scoffed at sacred things. He had chased the
Sheik-ul-Islam, the High Priest of Islam, out of his office and thrown
the Koran after him. He had forced the women in Angora to unveil. He had
encouraged them to dance body close to body with accursed foreign men and
Christians.


From:
Turkey,
by Emil Lengyel,
1941, p. 134

Kemal cared nothing about Allah; he was interested in himself
and in Turkey. He hated Allah and made him responsible for Turkey's
misfortune. It was Allah's tyrannical rule that paralyzed the hands
of the Turk. But he knew that Allah was real to the Turkish peasant,
while nationalism meant nothing to him. He decided, therefore, to
draft Allah into his service as the publicity director of his national
cause. Through Allah's aid his people must cease to be Mohammedans and
become Turks. Then, after Allah had served Kemal's purpose, he could
discard him.


From:
Ataturk, The Rebirth of a Nation,
by Lord Kinross, 1965, p. 437

For Kemal, Islam and civilization were a contradiction in terms.
"If only," he once said of the Turks, with a flash of cynical insight,
"we could make them Christians!" His was not to be the reformed
Islamic state for which the Faithful were waiting: it was to be a
strictly lay state, with a centralized Government as strong as
the Sultan's, backed by the army and run by his own intellectual
bureaucracy.

p. 470:
The cleavage in his musical tastes emerged in Istanbul, where he
once had two orchestras, one Turkish and one European, brought to the
Park Hotel. He listened with constant interruptions, commanding one
to stop and the other to play in turn. Finally, as the raki [Turkish
alcoholic beverage, hd] took effect, he lost patience and rose to leave
the restaurant, saying, "Now if you like you can both play together."
Another evening, incensed by the sound of the muezzin from a mosque
opposite, which clashed with the dance-band, he ordered its minaret to be
felled - one of those orders which was countermanded next morning.


--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Allah, no god except Allah, the Creator, The One, The Merciful, The
Forgiving, The Compassionate, Allah The God Of Abraham, Moses, Jesus,
Muhammad (peace upon them all) true Prophets of God.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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