The motto on the 105th anniversary of Atatürk's landing in Samsun: ‘Either Independence or Death’

The Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk arrived in Haydarpaşa on 13 November 1918 when the Bosphorus was occupied by the Entente fleet of 61 ships and set foot on the Galata dock with the ‘Kartal’ dockboat. He said to his doctor Rasim Ferit, who came to meet him; ‘I made a mistake, I should not have come to Istanbul, I should find a way to return to Anatolia’. Again, looking bitterly at the giant armoured ships filling the harbour, he said to his aide Cevat Abbas: ‘They will leave as they came’. The view he saw in Istanbul; The Ottoman Empire has completed its political life, collapsed and disintegrated. The Ottoman state and the country are materially and morally in a state of rape; it has been decided to destroy and disintegrate. Commanders and officers, seeing that the homeland is disintegrating, are weeping their hearts out and are busy looking for a way out of the dark abyss of disaster that is deepening before their eyes. Those who began to realise the horror and gravity of the catastrophe resorted to the measures they considered to be the means of salvation. While the nation and the army were thinking of a means of salvation, they did not think of salvation without the sultan and the caliph, provided that they remained loyal and devoted to the sultan and the caliph, and they thought of the salvation and inviolability of the supreme caliphate and the office of the sultan before themselves. Those who opposed this belief, who put forward ideas and opinions, were labelled as irreligious, stateless and traitors. Those seeking a solution for salvation were based on the principle of not offending imperialist states such as England, France and Italy and not taking a hostile stance against them. It was ingrained in the minds of the people that it was not possible to fight even with one of these states. 

Sounds of resistance in Samsun. On 9 March 1919, the occupation forces occupied Samsun, which has great importance as an important strategic point and is the most comfortable and reliable gateway from the Black Sea to Central Anatolia, in order to maintain order. The Greeks also planned to land in Trabzon in order to revive the old Greek Pontic State. In reaction to the occupation of Samsun, Lieutenant Hamdi from the Turkish Machine Gun unit took his soldiers and went up the mountain on the night of 17-18 March. Upon this incident, on 21 April 1919, the British focused on Samsun. The British High Commissioner, Admiral Calthorpe, complained that the Turkish people were taking up arms and that the Ottoman army had established ‘Shuras’ in the interior of Eastern Anatolia from Sivas to Erzurum and asked the Ottoman Government to take immediate measures to disband them. ‘Many Greek villages in Samsun and its neighbourhood are being raped by Turks every day. The Istanbul Government does not prevent these brutal rapes. It is our obligation in the name of humanity to ensure the safety and peace of this region.’ The note was given that the Turks were disrupting public order and asked for the maintenance of public order in Samsun and its surroundings and said, ‘If you are incapable of taking measures, we will take this duty upon ourselves’. With this note, the British signalled that they would enter Central Anatolia from the Black Sea starting from Samsun. 

The government decided that it was no longer possible to control the problem from Istanbul and that the local authorities were not strong enough to deal with it. Maintaining public order in Samsun and its surroundings became equivalent to saving the state. As the only solution, it was decided that it would be appropriate to send a young and energetic general to Samsun, who would be able to deal with this problem, who would have authority over the military and civilian sector, and who would be equipped with extraordinarily broad powers that the government could trust him. Atatürk, who had served as Vahdettin's aide and whom he trusted and whose abilities were well known, was deemed suitable for the post of 9th Army Inspectorate. He would fulfil the requirements of the note given to the Government on 21 April 1919 for the occupation of Samsun and its surroundings by England, remove the excuse and prevent the occupation. 

Removal of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk from Istanbul. 

On 29 April 1919, Minister of Defence Şakir Pasha summoned Atatürk to his office and ordered him to go to Samsun to prepare a report on the situation between Turks and Greeks in Anatolia. Kazım İnanç Pasha, the 2nd Chief of General Staff, stated that he had been assigned to ‘punish the Turks who had encroached on the Greeks in the Samsun region, then to eliminate certain nationalist organisations in Anatolia, to disband various nationalist organisations in the vicinity, to inspect the disbandment of the remaining forces, to prevent Turkish resistance, to ensure the disarmament of the local population and to prevent uprisings’. 

On 5 May 1919, Kazım İnanç Pasha, who wrote the assignment letter at the General Staff Headquarters, prepared the assignment and authority directive by expanding the limits of his authority in line with Atatürk's wishes, since he was aware of Atatürk's proposals. The Prime Minister did not sign the directive, Minister of Defence Şakir Pasha refrained from signing it, and the appointment letter was given with his seal.

Atatürk said on that day: ‘Fortune has prepared such favourable conditions for me that I cannot describe how blessed I felt when I felt myself in their embrace. I remember biting my lips with excitement as I left the ministry. The cage was opened, a vast realm was spread out before me, I was like a bird preparing to fly by flapping its wings’. He marvelled at the authority given to me to rule over a very wide area; ‘It may strike you as strange how this wide authority was given to me by those who sent me to Anatolia with the aim of expelling and removing me from Istanbul! I must immediately state that they did not give me this authorisation knowingly and with understanding. In any case, the reason invented by those who wanted me to move away from Istanbul was to go as far as Samsun in order to see the disorder in Samsun and its neighbourhood on the spot and to take measures. I argued that the fulfilment of this duty depended on having a position and authority. They saw no harm in this. At that time, I met with the Chief of the General Staff, who had sensed my intention to some extent. After reading this instruction, the Minister of National Defence, Şakir Pasha hesitated to sign it and stamped his seal in an incomprehensible manner’. 

He said to Kazım Pasha: ‘For whatever reason or purpose, they looked for an opportunity to remove me from Istanbul and found the post. I immediately accepted. I was already looking for an opportunity to move to Anatolia in one way or another. Now that they have offered it. We should utilise the opportunity as much as possible’. Ahmet İzzet Pasha, one of the witnesses of the incident, stated that ‘the assignment was the project of the Minister of Defence and the Grand Vizier, and that the Grand Vizier perceived it as a threat to him and that it was made in order to remove him from Istanbul’. 

Appointment of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk as 9th Army Inspectorate. 

9 Army Inspectorate duty; ‘In Anatolia, two main army inspectorates were established. As soon as the armistice agreement was concluded, the fighting soldiers of the troops were demobilised, their weapons and ammunition were taken away, and these troops were turned into a number of cadres devoid of combat power. 2 Since I was in direct command of the corps, I had a great deal of authority, which enabled me to send notifications even to the military units neighbouring the area of the inspectorate. I was also able to send notifications to the provinces in my area and neighbouring my area. According to this authority, I was able to communicate with the 20th Corps in Ankara and the inspectorate to which it belonged, with the Corps in Diyarbakir and with all the high level administrative officials in Anatolia.’ 

On 6 May, he was notified of the mandate of the inspectorate, which covered all regions of the Black Sea, Eastern and Central Anatolia. He was asked to prevent the Greek villages in Samsun and its vicinity from being attacked by Turks, to restore public order in the region and to establish internal order, to open an investigation into the causes of the disturbances, to pacify Muslim-Christian conflicts, to ensure that the semi-military maverick units operating in the region were disarmed, to prevent all kinds of arms distribution, to collect the weapons and ammunition of the Ottoman forces, to place them in suitable warehouses and to supervise their demobilisation. As the 9th Army Inspector, he achieved his goal with a wide authority given to commanders and civilian administrators in the whole region and to be obliged to obey their requests and instructions. In order to protect the Sultan's sultanate and suppress the movements complained by the occupation forces, he was given the authorisation of the 9th Army Inspectorate. This assignment gave him powers and conditions that he had never expected.

On 13 May 1919, Grand Vizier Damat Ferit Pasha asked Atatürk at the dinner he invited to his house what he would do in Samsun and its vicinity and asked him to show which regions he would command on the map. According to the British reports, he said that he would resolve some conflicts in Samsun and its vicinity with on-site investigations, that he would only command these small regions, and that the task was not important at all. British Diplomat Andrew Ryan wrote in his memoirs that day; ‘At the dinner, General Mustafa Kemal, the first and only inspector appointed in order to better maintain order under central control in Anatolia, convinced me by saying that he had received sufficient assurances about his loyalty and that he accepted them as an officer's assurance’. 

On 14 May, his meeting with Sultan Vahdettin; ‘Vahdettin started to speak with the following words that I will never forget, Pasha Pasha, you have served the state a lot so far, all of these are now in history. Forget them, the service you will do now may be more important than all of them. Pasha Pasha, you can save the state. I was astonished by these words. Was Vahdettin talking to me sincerely? I thank you for your trust and confidence in me. Please be assured that I will not fail to serve to the best of my ability. My duty is to resolve the issues they complain about. If I could please them, if I could convince the country and the people that this policy was right, and if I could pacify the Turks who opposed this policy, I would have fulfilled Vahdettin's wishes. Do not worry, my lord, I have understood your point of view. I will act immediately and I will not forget for a moment what you have ordered me.’

The establishment of ‘Kuvayı Milliye’, the resistance organisation of the National Struggle. 

During his farewell visit to the Chief of General Staff on 15 May 1919, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk stated that they had reached an agreement not to surrender weapons and materials to the Entente States, to establish a national administration based on the ‘Kuvayı Milliye’ organisations formed by the committee members in Anatolia and that military operations should not be limited to defence. He made a detailed planning of the steps he would take in the future to İsmet İnönü, whom he visited the day before his departure for Samsun, during the last 6 months, which he described as a morally exhausting struggle.

He visited Fethi Bey, who was imprisoned in Bekirağa Division, in prison; ‘The government and the palace are in deep ignorance about me. The British are not yet aware of the matter.’ He said that he would establish a national revolutionary army under his own command, that he would convene a parliament based on the will of the people in Anatolia and that he would not return to Istanbul until he achieved his goal and shared his plan. Communicating with the commanders and governors in Anatolia, Atatürk directed the reactions to organisation and asked for unity and solidarity and organisation for the National Struggle. He believed that the salvation of the nation could be achieved by organising the people and making armed warfare and the determination for national independence the common desire of the society. 

To this end, he called on the people to rise up and stated that those who attacked the Turkish ancestral homeland and the Turkish independence should be opposed and fought by the whole nation, regardless of their strength and identity. ‘The central government is not strong enough to fulfil its duty. Only the determination and will of the nation can save national independence. Those who want to be free must sacrifice everything, including their lives, for this cause. Leave your work, raise your voice openly, take to the squares and encourage the whole nation to take up arms and stick to their leader no matter what. Let your decision be life and death. For my part, I have sworn on behalf of my sacred beliefs that I will work with the whole nation, with all my devotion and strength, until we obtain our full independence once and for all. It is out of the question for me to leave Anatolia’. He combined his determination with an understanding of struggle in accordance with the conditions of that day and the libertarian tradition of the Turkish people, and embarked on a national as well as universal action. He said: ‘I know all nations. I have studied them at the moment when the character of a nation is revealed in all its nakedness, on the battlefield and under fire, on the brink of death. I swear that the moral strength of the Turkish nation is superior to that of the whole world’.

Relying on the libertarian and independence accumulation created in the Turkish people by the Turkish history, he decided to go to the people, whose love he had always reciprocated, to appeal to the nation, the only power that would provide salvation, and to mobilise this superior power with which he integrated his existence and hopes. Captain Bennett, the liaison officer of the British Occupation Command, was suspicious of the high military qualifications of the 15 officers and 21 men selected for the headquarters. He expressed his concerns to the British High Commissioner Rumbolt by saying, ‘This committee looks more like a war committee than a peace mission’, but he received the reply, ‘Let him go, let him do whatever it takes, give him the visa’. Unwittingly, they gave the Turkish army the visa for the liberation movement and the first step towards the birth of the free Turkish Republic. 

Last night at the mother's house

On 15 May, Atatürk, who spent his last night with his mother Zübeyde Hanım and his sister Makbule Hanım at the house in Beşiktaş, did not say where he went. His sister Makbule; ‘We prepared a table on the floor opposite my mother's cot. My brother sat opposite my mother. He was very thoughtful. Mummy, I am leaving. There is a possibility that this place will be like Thessaloniki. Don't be mistaken and go out on the streets after I leave. My mission is very important. I need to work with a peaceful heart to be successful in this job. Do not leave me in worry and anxiety. Don't leave me behind when I leave. Do not tie my hands and feet. I don't want to fall into any sorrow on your side while working for the country. My mother fainted from excitement. They hugged. They kissed. He took my mother's hands to his lips again and again. He said, ‘You are a soldier's brother. It's shameful, don't cry over a soldier. Don't show your sorrow to anyone. Pour sherbet for the guests. You don't cry after a person who leaves for his homeland.’ After saying goodbye with these words, he called İsmail Hakkı Bey, the captain of the Bandırma Ferry, which was prepared for him and would take him to Samsun, to his office and received information about the journey and said that they would depart at noon the next day. When his lawyer Sadettin Ferit was at his home in Şişli and Minister of Marine Rauf Orbay came to see him off, he said: ‘According to what I have learnt, the Bandırma ferry you will board will be monitored. Either the ferry will not be allowed to leave Istanbul or it will be sunk by the British in the Black Sea.’ 

Before leaving his house in Şişli, Atatürk said: ‘The Bandırma ferry is ready at the Galata dock. Those from our headquarters would gather at the pier at the appointed time. Just then, my friend Rauf Orbay, who took me to my office, told me that according to a news he had received, either my movement would not be allowed or the ferry would be sunk in the Black Sea. Later on, a military officer who had been working with me for a long time came and told me that he had learnt the same thing from the son-in-law he was working for. A lightning bolt flashed through my brain; they can hold me, they can drive me, but to kill me! For that, I must be caught in the raging waves of the Black Sea. For me, being captured, imprisoned, exiled, banned from doing what I think, all of them are equal to death. I immediately made up my mind, jumped into the car and came to the Galata dock. I looked and saw that the ferry, which I thought would be docked at the dock, was far away. We came to the ferry with boats.’ He expressed his determination with his words.

The arrow is out of the bow for the Anatolian exit. 

Samsun, where history was rewritten at a strategic point with a connection to Central and Eastern Anatolia, came the day of departure with the duty of the 9th Army Inspectorate and the arrow was out of the bow. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a young man with the rank of Brigadier General, stepped into the beginning of the road to liberation, which would change the course of history from Istanbul with the military and civilian inspectorate delegation he chose with great authority and power. The journey to Samsun started at 17.55 on Friday, 16 May at 17.55 on the ‘Bandırma Ferry’ with 23 officers, 25 enlisted personnel and 48 people under the direction of the ship captain İsmail Hakkı Durusu between the occupation battleships. Before the ferry left the harbour, the British wanted to check whether there were any contraband materials off Sirkeci Station. 

Atatürk; ‘I told the captain to speed up the preparations for departure. 27 years old captain started to anchor. I was in the captain's place. The officers and soldiers went out. As we left the Black Sea strait, I told the captain about the dangerous possibilities. I advised him to follow the coasts, because after that, all I wanted was to set foot on a piece of land in Anatolia.’ He ordered that the voyage should continue as planned and in case of an enemy attack, he should put the ship on the nearest shore. 

When he passed through the enemy armoured ships and headed towards the Black Sea, Atatürk, referring to the invaders, said; ‘These are the ones who rely only on iron, steel and gun power. The only thing they know is only matter. They do not understand the power of those who decide to die for freedom. We are taking neither arms nor ammunition to Anatolia, we are taking ideals and faith.’ Atatürk; ‘I don't know why I was in such a hurry to reach Samsun as soon as possible that I preferred to face danger rather than lose time. We continued the journey in the same order and reached Samsun harbour.’ On Monday 19 May 1919, at 08.15 in the morning, he completed the journey in a hazy weather at Samsun-Tütün Pier. As he took his first step on the black Anatolian soil, a new sun of hope was born. 

The nightmare that had lasted for months was now over, the organisation process of a Turkish war of independence that would make a breakthrough in history and the first actual fire of the National Struggle was lit.  The initiative that started with the landing in Samsun was first and foremost a revolution. Thus, a few days after the Greeks planted the flag of occupation on the Aegean coast, Atatürk planted the flag of liberation on the Black Sea coast. A new leaf was opened in the history of the Turkish nation and the first step was taken on the road to revolution. He travelled from Istanbul, where he arrived sick and tired, without any treatment, to a conflicted future full of new tensions and fatigue, including the possibility of death. 

Atatürk; ‘Following the coast, we first came to Sinop. I went up to the town, talked to the people there and enquired whether there was an easy way to Samsun. I was in such a hurry to set foot in Samsun as soon as possible that I preferred to face danger rather than lose time. We boarded the Bandırma ferry. Travelling in the same order, we finally arrived at Samsun harbour!’ 

Lt. Hikmet Bey informed the Samsun Division Command by telegram about their arrival on the shore by boat. There was no special welcome, neither an authorised administrative officer nor a military commander came. Sakine Baturay was the only woman among those who welcomed Atatürk at the Tobacco Pier. The most influential, founding and liberating leader in the history of civilisation landed on Anatolian soil, and this was Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. 

He established his headquarters in Mıntıka Palas, but the moments he spent here were not very comfortable and peaceful. On that day; ‘When I saw Samsun and the people of Samsun, I once again strongly believed that all my ideas and decisions regarding the country and the nation could be fulfilled. The patriotism and sacrifice I saw in the state and condition of the people of Samsun, which I read in their eyes, was enough to lead my hopes and ideas to a positive belief. ‘ It is the starting point of a new journey and the National Struggle, which paved the way for the regaining of the homeland lands that our ancestors made a homeland by giving thousands of martyrs for the sake of our ancestors after the defeat of the imperialist states and their collaborators. 

Despite the great distress and poverty of the Turkish nation when leaving Istanbul under dark clouds, the aim of the departure was to expel the enemy from the country, to stop the demobilisation of the army, to prevent the collection of ammunition and weapons. To establish a national organisation by uniting and organising national forces, and to establish an army by forming new ones. To raise the morale of the people against the invasion and to nationalise the struggle to be undertaken. Instead of the Ottoman sultanate, which had actually lost its authority and had fallen into a situation where it could not protect the independence of the Turkish nation, the departure to Samsun, which is the point of departure to Anatolia in order to put into practice the ideal of establishing a new modern, civilised and modern Republic of Turkey State based on national sovereignty, unconditionally fully independent, modern, civilised and modern, constituted an important turning point for the Turkish Nation in our glorious history, a versatile and decisive step towards the light.

The awakening of the nation has begun. 

19 May 1919, the departure to Samsun with the spirit of the National Struggle has awakened a nation, changed its destiny and illuminated its path. It is the birth year of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, when a defeated, damaged, tired, exhausted and impoverished people embraced their homeland and attempted to re-establish their future, when their hopes for independence, freedom and a bright future turned into faith, when the fire of liberation was lit, when the nation took its own destiny into its own hands, and when organisation and rebirth began. It is a historical day when the Turkish Nation revolted against imperialism and changed the destiny of our nation and illuminated our path with the struggle for ‘Full Independence’, ‘National Sovereignty’ of the Turkish Nation against the collaborator palace and sultan, ‘Civilisation’ against ignorance and bigotry, ‘Resistance and Liberation’ against bankruptcy and occupation.

In his speech, Atatürk said: ‘Friends, on the day I set out for Samsun in May 1919, I had no material force at my disposal. I had only a high and spiritual force that arose from the nobility of the great Turkish Nation and filled my conscience. I was travelling from Samsun to the interior of Anatolia in a broken automobile. As that broken automobile travelled along the Anatolian roads, I was so sure that one day an absolute sun would rise on the Turkish horizon, that its heat and strength would warm us, and that a power would emerge from it, that I could almost see it with my own eyes. My purpose in making them read and repeat that song (the anthem ‘The Mountain has gone up in smoke’) was to explain that the Turks would succeed when this sun rose.’  With this sun rising on our nation, the people's belief in liberation and victory increased. The sunrise of Atatürk as a ray of hope among the dark clouds of despair that descended on the Turkish Nation increased the people's belief in salvation and victory. With the sun rising on our nation, the first step towards the establishment of a fully independent Republic of Turkey based on national sovereignty was taken. The established state was the work of the spirit of 19 May 1919. The essence of that spirit is national unity and its chief architect is Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. 

The general situation and view of the country when he set out for Samsun is described in the Nutuk. 

‘The community in which the Ottoman Empire was located was defeated in World War I, the Ottoman army was damaged on all sides, and a treaty of armistice was signed with heavy conditions. During the long years of the Great War, the nation was tired and poor. Those who had dragged the nation and the country into the Great War fled the country in fear of their own lives. Vahdettin, who is in the position of Sultanate and Caliphate, has become degenerate and is looking for despicable measures that he imagines will secure his person and his throne alone. The government headed by Damat Ferit Pasha is impotent, dishonourable, cowardly, subject only to the will of the Sultan, and has consented to any situation that can protect their personalities together with him. The army has been and is being stripped of its weapons and ammunition. The fighting men of the troops have been demobilised. The Entente states do not consider it necessary to comply with the provisions of the armistice treaty. The navies and troops of the Entente States are in Constantinople for fabricated reasons. Adana province is occupied by the French, Urfa, Maraş and Gaziantep by the British. There are Italian troops in Antalya and Konya, and British troops in Merzifon and Samsun. Officers, officials and private men of foreign states are working everywhere. Finally, on 15 May 1919, four days before the date we had accepted as the beginning, the Greek army occupied Izmir. Furthermore, Christian minorities all over the country were secretly and openly trying to realise their national ambitions and aims and to bring about the collapse of the state as soon as possible. The Ottoman country was completely disintegrated.‘ The view he saw was not very bright.’ 

Trying to maintain the Ottoman dynasty and sultanate was, of course, the greatest evil against the Turkish nation. Because, even if the nation secured its independence by making all kinds of sacrifices, this could not be considered independence if the sultanate continued. It was necessary to revolt against the Ottoman government, the Ottoman Sultan and the Caliph of the Muslims and to revolt the whole nation and the army’. The Sultan and the Caliph did not think of anything other than what would save their lives and comfort. Partition proposals were made among the Entente States and aimed to establish Armenia covering 6 provinces and to expel the Turks from Europe. Atatürk said, ‘The basic principle is that the Turkish nation should live as a nation of dignity and honour. This can only be achieved through complete independence. No matter how rich and prosperous a nation is, a nation lacking independence can go no further than remaining a servant in the face of civilised humanity. To ask for the protection and protection of a foreign state is nothing but to reveal the lack of human qualities, weakness and incompetence. The honour, self-confidence and abilities of the Turks are very high and great. It is better for such a nation to perish than to live in captivity. So, ‘Either Independence or Death.’

This has been the motto of the National Struggle of the Turkish people who want real liberation, which started under the leadership of Atatürk. He started a war of independence and set out to realise this goal. He believed in the Anatolian people, who had no power other than his headquarters consisting of officers he trusted, but whom he would call to his own power and liberation struggle with great hope and enthusiasm, and trusted the Turkish nation from whose bosom he emerged. The idea of liberating the country from occupation by aiming for full independence and the decision that he started in Adana, developed in Istanbul, thought before he left and put into practice as soon as he set foot on Anatolian soil in Samsun; Anatolian-centred ‘To establish a new unconditionally independent Turkish state based on national sovereignty’. In his speech, he said that the Ottoman government did not know his real purpose and that he concealed his real purpose from the Sultan and Grand Vizier Damat Ferit. The path he would follow; ‘We will never bow our heads. We will walk on the path we have taken until the end. We will not surrender under any circumstances and we will endeavour to succeed. We will defend our rights against the local or foreign enemy. At the last border we reach, if we have no hope of defeat, we will take shelter under a Turkish flag and die there for the sake of independence.’ He stated that when the life and death of a nation is in question, those who say they are patriotic have no room to think about their own future.

The Fire of National Struggle spread to Anatolia. 

19 May 1919; It led to the establishment of the ‘Kuvayı Milliye Movement’ (National Forces) and the formation of shepherd fires spreading throughout Anatolia, starting the resistance against the enemy and spreading all over the country. This war, which was launched to end the occupation of imperialist states, is the history of the Turkish nation's emergence on the stage of history and the foundations of a new state, the Republic, as a result of a 4-year struggle. A great leader, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, emerged while searching for means of salvation and united the shepherd's fires, paved the way for ‘Salvation’ and transformed it into a national resistance movement. Kuvayı Milliye, the militia forces of the National Struggle, became a military and political national resistance spirit of the nation in a very short time.  The Kuvayı Milliye movement became the fearful dream of both the occupying imperialism and its collaborators and those who wanted to usurp national sovereignty. The spirit of Kuvayı Milliye is the spirit of the liberation of the homeland and the foundation of the Republic. The essence of this spirit is national unity and its chief architect is Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. He is a young general who earned his ranks on the battlefields at the age of 38, a conscious patriot and a convinced warrior who trusts himself and his people. ‘I have aims, and very lofty ones at that. These are not things like obtaining office, attaining spiritual pleasures or earning money. When my goals are realised, I will experience the happiness of being useful to my country. This ideal will be my only principle throughout my life. I chose the path I will walk at a very young age, but I will not leave this path until my last breath.’ He was determined that he would either save the Turkish homeland or die for this cause, and he risked everything.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk shared with his most trusted friends, 15th Corps Commander Kazım Karabekir and 20th Corps Commander Ali Fuat Pasha, the intentions in his mind, that he did not come to these lands only for the narrow task assigned to him by secret code. As the first thing he did, he issued a notification to the Provinces and Corps Commands in the inspectorate region: ‘I will stay in Samsun for a few days. I would like to be informed about your information and opinions on the public order of the country, the causes and factors of banditry, if any, and the degree and the latest measures taken to prevent it.’ 

When he landed in Samsun, he wrote in his notebook: ‘From the date I landed in Samsun, I started to contact with the existing organisation in the whole country and to reinforce and spread the organisation everywhere. First of all, I enlightened those who were and were not under my command and mobilised them for the national purpose and organisation. On 21 May 1919, Atatürk said to Kazım Karabekir Pasha: ‘I accepted this last duty with the conviction that the last conscientious duty that we owe to the nation and the country can be best done by working together. I wish to reach you as soon as possible. However, the situation in Samsun and its vicinity is about to suffer a bad fate due to disorder. For this reason, it is necessary to stay here for a few days.’ 

While going to Samsun, he aimed to liberate the nation from the palace and the sultan, as well as liberating the homeland lands occupied by the imperialist states, and stated that it would lead to the inevitable arrival of national will, that is, national sovereignty. Ataturk, in his Nutuk; ‘Trying to maintain the Ottoman dynasty was, of course, the greatest evil against the Turkish nation. Because even though the nation had secured its independence by resorting to all kinds of self-sacrifice, this independence could not be looked upon with confidence if the sultanate continued. How could it be considered appropriate to have a bunch of lunatics, who no longer had any ties of conscience and thought with the homeland and the nation, as the guardians of the independence and honour of the state and the nation? As for the status of the Caliph, was there anything left for him but to be regarded as a laughing stock in the world of true civilisation, which science and technology had brought to light?’ 

He acted alone against the Istanbul government, which was against the National Struggle, by realistically determining this situation with his great intuition and observations. ‘Neither the nation nor the army will be able to digest and accept this unjust rape against its existence. It is only because of the complete loyalty to His Majesty the Sultan, who devotes his ambitions only to the salvation and salvation of the state, the army and the nation, and the confidence in the protection of the law of the nation by taking the sharpest initiatives and actions of the government, which you have assumed the presidency of again, that the peace of the nation can be maintained.’ The ‘Anatolian Revolution’ thought to realise the National Struggle and divided the implementation into phases with great genius, prepared the nation intellectually by making use of the events and aimed to reach the goal by walking step by step.

Establishing the cornerstone of the National Struggle. 

In the report prepared on 22 May 1919, which constituted the first main element of the National Struggle, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk sent to the Istanbul Government, which was still asleep; ‘If the Greeks of Samsun region give up their political ambitions, public order will be restored by itself. Turkishness does not tolerate foreign mandate and control. Greeks have no rights in Izmir. The occupation is temporary and most importantly, the nation has accepted the principle of national sovereignty and Turkish nationalism. It will try to realise this. There is a clear opposition to the activities of the Greek minority and the Greek occupation of Izmir. It is extremely important that the Turkish nation openly declares that it will not tolerate foreign mandates and links the references of the national struggle movement to the idea of Turkish nationalism.’ He stated that the British occupied Samsun without informing the local administrators, that this situation hindered the influence of the state, and that the British were in cooperation with the Greeks. It was stated that there was no question of Turks attacking Christian elements, but on the contrary, they were attacking Turks and Muslims and trying to protect their lives, property and honour. This report formed the basis of the National Struggle and the spirit of 19 May. 

Atatürk defined the strategy and plan of liberation as ‘to divide the implementation into phases and to reach the goal by progressing step by step’ in his Nutuk. In the Nutuk, he explained that the goal was ‘to establish a new fully independent Turkish state based on national sovereignty’. He has skilfully applied the problems that the Republic will face in the process until the establishment of the Republic and the general strategy to be followed for the solution of these problems. The path he has taken is realistic, justified and healthy. ‘On behalf of the people, I decided what was right for them and I decided and implemented it.’ In Atatürk's words, the National Struggle was also a struggle that lit the fire of freedom and independence for all ‘oppressed nations’. ‘It is the nation itself, its sons and daughters who directly fought the National Struggle. The nation took the struggle as an ideal for itself with its mothers, fathers and brothers. In the National Struggle, national ideal and national honour were the real factors, not personal ambition.’ It is the story of the Anatolian people's refusal to accept the document of captivity and a rare resistance. The Turkish Nation, under the leadership of Atatürk, took the first step towards liberation by winning the National Struggle, then towards independence by establishing the Republic of Turkey and then towards modern life through revolutions in all areas of society.  

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who set out as the 9th Army Inspector on 16 May 1919, was saddened by the hopeless situation the country had been in for a long time in the captive capital Istanbul and made great efforts and efforts for 6 months to do something. First of all, he conducted the liberation movement of Turkey with a skilful diplomacy and aimed to save the country politically in the early days. This process was a very difficult process in which the National Struggle to be waged by the Turkish nation in Anatolia under the leadership of Atatürk was shaped and qualified, with difficulties, dangers, pain, sadness and preparations, and its infrastructure was planned. This process is the name of the process of being able to exist as a nation, which constitutes the preliminary preparation and foundation of the national resistance leading to liberation. It constituted the period in which he sought remedies as a patriot for the future of the Turkish homeland and believed that it was necessary to establish a fully independent new Turkish state. It is the period when he decided to go to Samsun in order to integrate with the Turkish people in order to realise the promise of ‘Sending the ships as they came’ by moving rapidly towards the interior of Anatolia. He started to look for the solution of salvation, that there was no other way out than to pass to Anatolia, where he saw signs of revival, and that he started to look for ways to pass through official ways as soon as possible. While moving to Anatolia, he decided to establish an organisation based on the Turkish nation's own will and to announce the voice of the Turkish nation to the world. 

The idea of establishing a new independent Turkish state. 

During his stay in Istanbul, he established extremely careful and cautious relations with the palace and its surroundings and with the people he was in contact with and gained their trust. He discussed his plans with everyone he knew, including the Sultan, and realised that nothing could be done against the imperialist occupation by staying in Istanbul under the existing conditions. He had the opportunity to meet with Sultan Mehmet Vahdettin on 15 November, 22 November, 20 December 1918 and 15 May 1919. He explained his activities during this period to Falih Rıfkı Atay as follows: ‘I stayed in Istanbul for 4-5 months, 13 November-16 May 1919, during the armistice, in order to consider the situation from every corner, to leave no room for hesitation, to believe that there was no other possibility, in order to believe in the correctness of a heavy and definite decision’. He said, ‘To disappear from Istanbul by looking for a suitable time and opportunity, to enter Anatolia with a simple organisation, to inform the Turkish nation of the disaster after working anonymously for a while’. He decided that the national resistance should be led from Anatolia, not from Istanbul. 

In order to realise this ideal and purpose, he held meetings at his home in Şişli with his closest friends such as İsmet İnönü, Kazım Karabekir, Ali Fuat Cebesoy, Rauf Orbay, Fethi Okyar, Fevzi Çakmak, Refet Bele, İsmail Canpolat and Cafer Tayyar, with whom he had fought on the front, intensified his work and constantly exchanged views. He said about his decision to start the National Struggle and his departure to Samsun for this purpose and his wish to move to Anatolia: ‘I did not tell anyone about a secret that I kept very carefully inside me until the time came. As if I had not made such a decision, I continued my contacts. One day I asked my confidant İsmet Bey, which would be the most suitable area and the easiest way to take me to that area in order to move to Anatolia without any title and authority and to awaken the nation there and to look for salvation remedies? It was for this reason that I stayed in Istanbul for 4-5 months during the armistice. I devoted some of this time to preparations: preparations of ideas, recruiting soldiers for mobilisation. In the preparation of ideas, it is necessary to work with humility, to erase oneself, and to inspire a sincere conviction in the other person.’ 

The ultimate goal in his mind was to realise the idea of taking Turkey's place among civilised countries. When Atatürk set out for Samsun for the path of national liberation, he had a two-legged goal that aimed to save the country from imperialist occupation and the nation from the palace/sultan. In his Nutuk, Atatürk said: ‘Trying to maintain the Ottoman dynasty was, of course, the greatest evil against the Turkish nation. Because even if the nation secured its independence by resorting to all kinds of self-sacrifice, if the sultanate continued, this independence could not be looked upon with confidence. How could it be considered appropriate to have a bunch of lunatics, who no longer had any ties of conscience and thought with the homeland and the nation, as the guardians of the independence and honour of the state and the nation? As for the status of the Caliph, was there anything left for him but to be considered a laughing stock in the world of real civilisation which science and technology had brought to light?’ Real liberation will only be possible by ensuring the full independence of the homeland and the unconditional sovereignty of the nation. If one of these is missing, it will not be possible to achieve real salvation in the country. 

He dedicated the ‘19 May Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day’ to the youth. 

Due to the importance of the date of 19 May 1919, when he set foot on Anatolian lands to start the National Struggle, he dedicated 19 May to the Turkish youth. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk expressed his confidence in the Turkish youth with the words ‘Young people! Young people who undertake to realise my future ambitions! I am very pleased and happy that one day I will leave this country to a youth like you who have understood me’. To the youth to whom he entrusted the Republic; ‘In his Address to Youth; ’O Turkish Youth, your first duty is to preserve and defend Turkish Independence and Turkish Republic forever. By force and fraud, the castles of the beloved homeland may have been captured, all shipyards may have been entered, all armies may have been disbanded and every corner of the country may have been occupied. More grievous and grave than all these circumstances, those who hold power within the country may be in a state of ignorance, misguidance and even treachery. The nation may be devastated and exhausted in poverty. O son of the Turkish future, even in these circumstances, your duty is to save the Turkish Independence and Republic. The power you need is in the noble blood in your veins.’

He wanted the youth to embrace the spirit of the National Struggle. The ‘Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day’, which he dedicated to young people, was celebrated for the first time in Samsun in 1926 under the name of ‘Gazi Day’. On 24 May 1935, it became official under the name of ‘Atatürk Day’. 19 May was celebrated as ‘Youth and Sports Day’ for the first time on 20 June 1938. 

The Turkish nation has always kept in mind the difficulties experienced in the establishment of the Republic of Turkey and fought shoulder to shoulder in unity and solidarity against the enemies of the Republic. Atatürk; ‘The moral value of a nation ensures the rise of that nation. A nation is measured not by its wealth but by its moral values.’ On 19 May, Atatürk's legacy was and will continue to be celebrated with the spirit of the National Struggle. 

We are celebrating the 105th anniversary of the ‘Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day’, always keeping in mind the difficulties experienced in the establishment of the Republic of Turkey from occupation to liberation, and we are very proud as a nation. 19 May will be celebrated by the youth with the spirit of the National Struggle and the Republic of Turkey will live forever as long as the world exists. The Turkish nation will fight shoulder to shoulder in unity and solidarity against the enemies of the Republic. ‘Seeing me does not necessarily mean seeing my face. It is enough if you understand and feel my ideas and my feelings.’ It is possible to know and understand him by knowing his experiences and ideas. Throughout history, the Turkish nation has fought for full independence, homeland, flag, honour, dignity and honour by risking death.