A VILLAGER’S ANSWER TO ATATÜRK
Our history is filled with countless wars. From these wars, we
neither managed to rebuild our country nor attain prosperity.
The reason lies partly with us, but also with our enemies. For
our enemies—especially the Russians—always thought:
"The Turks must never be allowed peace, so they cannot advance
in other fields..."
Thus, they constantly brought trouble upon us, waged wars, and
incited the Balkan nations. While we fought endlessly, the
non-Muslims who were not conscripted into the army grew
wealthier.
The reason why they became rich while we remained poor was
explained most eloquently by a villager in a brief reply to
Atatürk.
During one of his visits to Mersin, Atatürk pointed to the large
buildings in the city and asked:
— Whose mansion is this?
— Kirkor’s.
— And that big building?
— Yargo’s.
— And that one?
— Salomon’s.
Growing irritated, Atatürk asked:
— While they were building these, where
were you?
From the crowd, the voice of an old villager was heard:
— Where were we? We were in Yemen, on the
banks of the Danube, in the Balkans, in the mountains of
Albania, in the Caucasus, at Çanakkale, and at Sakarya,
fighting, Pasha...
When recounting this memory, Atatürk would
often say:
— In my life, the only person I could
not answer was that white-bearded old man.