Turkey is often referred to as a secular country with a predominantly Muslim population. But after eight years of Ak Party rule, and discreet, long-term efforts to erode its secular tenets, I find it difficult to recognize the secular nature of the Republic of Turkey. One of the most important changes Atatürk implemented with the status of a new Republic was...
In the seventh grade, Abby Bowman wrote a research paper on Mustafa Kemal Atatürk for the National History Day competition. The paper received first at the regional and state levels, and finally was awarded 8th place in the paper division among the 700,000 history projects at the national level. While Abby was visiting Washington, D.C., to present her paper, the...
News regarding the global economic crisis and political developments in Turkey has been filled with doom and gloom, a dark cloud hanging over Turkey and the region which has been plagued by terrorism, war, unemployment, and malaise. Surprisingly, my October-November trip to Turkey was an uplifting one, with the spirit and hope of the Turkish people piercing the fog of melancholy...
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?” The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”...
In the lives of nations, leaders have played key roles in the success and prosperity of their countries. Thus, it is important to study effective leadership styles. One of the most popular leadership styles is called “transformational leadership.” It is defined as the ability to develop a shared vision, culture, and the means that enables the transformation of a social...
I visited Turkey for a month during autumn 2007. It was great pleasure for me to join my friends and Turkish citizens to attend the 84th anniversary celebrations of the Republic of Turkey in Istanbul on October 29th. Then I participated in the 69th Commemoration Day at Atatürk Mausoleum in Ankara on November 10th, as I do every year. From the...
Well it has been two years since I was elected President of the Atatürk Society, and while I am excited by what we accomplished, and I am even more excited about how much more the Atatürk Society can do with your continued support. At the beginning of my term, I had stated that we were limited in what we could...
It is difficult to follow news in the international media without reflecting on the fact that America is different than other countries; in that American’s live in the greatest democracy in the world because of our Constitution, and the First Amendment. The American forefather’s had the wisdom to know that true enlightenment can only happen when people are allowed to...
When contemplating Atatürk’s foreign policy, one adage comes to mind; “peace at home, peace in the world.” Having liberated Turkish lands from foreign occupation, Atatürk was not interested in aggrandizement or territorial expansion. He knew that in order to reach the goals he envisioned for his country, modernity, economic success, independence, and secularism, he had to concentrate on developments within...
When one considers the most prominent reformers and leaders of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, the names of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Kemal Atatürk come to mind. Although these men governed during different centuries, their objectives were the same; to modernize their laws and institutions to move their countries ahead, and to improve the lives of...
A noted Jefferson scholar Dr. Garrett Ward Sheldon, The John Morton Beaty Professor of Political and Social Sciences at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise is the author of The Political Philosophy of Thomas Jefferson; The History of Political Theory; and Religion and Politics. He has lectured at Oxford University, Moscow University, and at the University of Istanbul. Professor Sheldon’s...
The realization of the power of political Islam by the Western world occurred with the 9/11 carnage. Reactions to it ranged from the extreme of declaring crusade against Jihad (the so-called clash of civilizations) to the other extreme of courting Islam. Armed with Ataturk’s experience we know better that none of these reactions can eliminate the root cause of the...
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