MEMORIES FROM ATATURK

MEMORIES 1
 

Title 7

Title 8
Title 9

Title 10
Title 11

Title 12
Title 12

Title 13
Title 14

Title 15
Title 16

Title 17
Title 18

Title 19
Title 20

ANILAR 2
Title 1
Title 2

Title 3
Title 4
Title 5

Title 6
Title 7

Title 8
Title 9

Title 10

ANILAR 3
Title 1
Title 2

Title 3
Title 4
Title 5

Title 6
Title 7

Title 8
Title 9

Title 10

SECTION 4
Title 1
Title 2
Title 3
Title 4
Title 5
Title 6

Commander-in-Chief Mustafa Kemal Pasha launched the Great Offensive from Kocatepe at 5:30 a.m. on August 26, 1922, with cannon fire, personally commanding the battle. The enemy was routed in the field battle of Dumlupınar on August 30 and in hand-to-hand combat, and victory was achieved with the Turkish Army's entry into Izmir on September 9, 1922. On the 103rd anniversary of this victory, we commemorate all our martyrs and veterans, especially Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his comrades-in-arms, with mercy and gratitude. (August 26, 2025)

EVERYTHING IS YOUR RIGHT

Mr. Salih Bozok, who was with Atatürk during the days of the Commander-in-Chief's war, describes a memory from those days as follows:

It was the night of the battle. According to a report, the enemy was in a very bad situation. The next morning, we set out for Dumlupınar with Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who had arrived from Afyon. We found the First Army Commander in his tent there. Atatürk requested that a staff officer among the captured Greek officers be brought to him. After asking them to bring him some tea, he explained that he had no knowledge of the situation... Mustafa Kemal Pasha then opened the map and marked the situation based on the reports received about the enemy situation. The enemy staff had seen the net into which his own army had fallen and understood the very dangerous situation. In a rather impulsive gesture, he ran his finger over the map and said:

-According to this situation, I believe our Corps Commander and our four Division Commanders are within the circle of your Armies!

 Gazi immediately reported this information to Corps Commander Kemaleddin Sami Pasha by telephone and demanded the capture of the aforementioned commanders. The enemy officer initially declared that he did not speak Turkish and had been spoken to in Greek through an interpreter.

However, upon hearing Gazi Pasha's order in Turkish, he turned pale. He touched his forehead, refrained from drinking the tea out of sorrow, and asked permission to leave the tent. Sensing that he spoke Turkish, I went out with him. I asked him in Turkish:

-Where are you from?

He answered my question as follows:

-I'm from Salonika, living in the Kule Coffeehouses neighborhood.

What a strange coincidence! I also lived in that neighborhood in Salonika. I asked.

-Why did you leave that beautiful Salonika and come here?

⁃ I am soldier, I have received orders!...

When he explained that his head ached so badly that he couldn't speak much, we gave him the necessary medicine.

Mustafa Kemal Pasha wanted to go to Kemaleddin Sami Pasha's headquarters. The warning that the road could be very dangerous didn't deter him. As he watched the enemy retreat there through binoculars, he asked:

-I see smoke up ahead. What is this?"

Kemaleddin Sami Pasha answered:

-The enemy is burning their weight, Pasha!

The last rays of the sun, which had retreated between the mountains on the horizon, were reflected on the gleaming bayonets of our soldiers in the enemy positions.

As night fell, the firing had ceased. While we thought we were returning to Afyon, Gazi Pasha announced that we were going to the village of Dumlupınar. We pitched the Pasha's tent on the roof of one of the village houses. Shortly thereafter, General Kazım brought in four enemy generals who had been captured in the war. These were the Corps Commanders whom Ghazi had ordered captured the day before. Mustafa Kemal Pasha met with the captured Greek generals and received information. At the end of the interrogations, one general asked whom he had met with, and I replied:

-He is General Mustafa Kemal!

He opened his eyes in astonishment, refusing to believe it. He repeated his question:

-But is this General Mustafa Kemal the Marshal Mustafa Kemal we know?"

he asked. After believing that the Commander he was speaking with was indeed Commander-in-Chief General Mustafa Kemal, he asked:

-Was he here yesterday too?

-He personally led the war as Commander-in-Chief!

In response to our request, the enemy General remained silent for a moment before turning his gaze respectfully and appreciatively to Gazi Pasha and mouthed the following words:

"Victory, victory, fame, and this land, everything is yours... Our Hacı Anesti hasn't moved from Izmir!"