türkçe links to original Turkish article
(Hürriyet Newspaper, 10 November 2023)
Atatürk in 1919 published by TNT on 29 October 2023 -
the 100th anniversary of the Turkish Republic.
In connection with the 85th anniversary of the death of Turkey's founder
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on 10 November 1938, Dr. Murat Soysal of
Uşak University published an article about Atatürk's acceptance of an
award from the International Mark Twain Society, with some fascinating
details.
The Mark Twain Society's founder and president Cyril Clemens
(Mark Twain's cousin) sent a letter to Atatürk on 4 November 1937
thanking the Turkish leader for accepting the award and noting that
"we think that if Mark Twain were alive today he wouldn't admire
anyone more than you for your success in making the Turkish people
smile and love life."
In response, Atatürk sent a silver-framed photograph of himself,
which had the letters "K.A." inscribed on it in gold, to the committee.
In his memoir, Münir Hayri Egeli, who met many times with Atatürk,
noted that Atatürk had read French translations of Twain's books and
genuinely enjoyed them. Egeli stated that Atatürk, who even declined
to accept "Order of the Garter" award from the King of England,
surprised everyone by accepting the Mark Twain Society's award,
remarking "this is the highest compliment of my life, because it
applauds my human side."
The Mark Twain Society lauded Atatürk as the "modern Romulus".
Dr. Soysal explained that "according to Roman mythology, Remus's
twin Romulus was the founder of Rome. The related legend says
that the twins were left to float in a basket in a river and found and
raised by a wolf - not unlike the Turks' legend of "Kurt Ana"
(mother wolf)." Similarly, Atatürk founded a new country and a
new capital, Ankara.
Two great men.
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