Today, 10 November, marks the anniversary of Atatürk's
death in 1938.
In
Erzurum in July 1919, British Col. Alfred Rawlinson met
Mustafa Kemal Paşa for
the first time and recorded this
impression, published in his book “Adventures
in the Near
East 1918-1922”, London 1923:
//Mustafa Kemal Paşa, in light-colored suit, revisiting
Erzurum in October 1924, as Turkey's president.//
"There now arrived at Erzurum the Inspector-General of the
Turkish Eastern Armies, who has since become the famous
Mustafa Kemal Paşa, the
great Turk, the remarkable nature of
whose striking personality never fails to
impress itself on all
who are brought into contact with him.
European
rather than Asiatic in type, with fair hair and blue eyes,
Kemal is more
Teutonic than Turkish in appearance. He
has
read much and travelled widely, and is thoroughly competent
to give a
considered opinion on all subjects of general interest
either at the present
day or in the history of the past.
A man
of great strength of character and very definite and
practical views as to the
rightful position of his race in the comity
of nations, he is no seeker after
personal fame or advancement,
but is imbued with a deep sense of duty, which
causes him to
place his country’s interest before all others and to labour
unceasingly towards those ends which he considers to be most
to her advantage."
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