LOVE FOR PEOPLE
Atatürk’s chief aide-de-camp
and close colleague Muzaffer Kılıç recounts:
It was after the proclamation of the Republic, during a trip
along the Black Sea. I was among those accompanying him. When we
arrived in Rize, the well-maintained roads caught his attention.
He asked the governor:
—
How did you manage to bring your roads into such condition?
The governor explained that he had gathered nearby villagers
with the help of gendarmes and forced them to work on road
repairs.
Atatürk’s eyebrows furrowed, and in a rather stern tone he said:
—
Governor, do you know what ‘corvée’ means? Then let me tell you:
it means forced labor. And you must understand that in the
Republic, no citizen can be taken from his work unlawfully or
compelled to labor. In the Republic, there is no such thing as
forced labor.