A MAN OF THE NATION
Journalist, researcher, and writer Niyazi Ahmet Banoğlu
recounts:
During the troubled days of the National Struggle, while
returning from a walk near Ankara, Atatürk encountered a hodja
wearing a turban. Pointing to an airplane flying overhead, he
asked:
-Hodja, how does this plane fly?
-How should I know… They never taught us,
the hodja replied.
-Well then, what do you know? asked Atatürk.
-What do I know? If you tell me to get on
that plane, I’ll get on. If you tell me to throw myself down
from it, I’ll throw myself down… That’s what I know. But even
that, I learned from you, Pasha!
Upon hearing this, Mustafa Kemal said:
-Good for you, hodja! But know this as well: I am just like you…
I too cannot refuse any wish or desire of my nation, even if it
costs me my life!