Kemaliye, previously Eğin, is a city within the japanese Anatolian area of Erzincan, the one Turkish metropolis named after the founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the daddy of the nation, which holds particular significance on the one centesimal anniversary of the nation.
Standing on the foot of the cliff overlooking Kemaliye, the golden statue of Atatürk evokes the fantastic previous of this small city.
Nestled between the mountains and the sources of the Euphrates, Atatürk rewarded the loyalty of the city by giving it his identify forward of making the Republic of Türkiye out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire 100 years in the past.
“The whole country would have wanted to bear his name, but he would never have accepted!” stated retired hotelier Hacı Ömer Yalçınkayalar, referring to the modest nature of Atatürk, who will probably be celebrated on the nation’s anniversary on Oct. 29.
Gen. Mustafa Kemal, the hero of the Gallipoli (Gelibolu) marketing campaign towards the Allies, in 1919 started the War of Independence confronting the invading Westerners who occupied the dismembered empire to seek out the impartial nation he longed for.
His forces discovered themselves nearing catastrophe on the gates of Ankara in 1921 when he obtained a telegram from Eğin, a buying and selling city on the crossroads of Anatolia and the Caucasus.
The telegram learn: “Dear Pasha, we have 500 horsemen ready to leave at your command,” recounted Yalçınkayalar. Situated on the caravan routes heading towards Baghdad, Iran and Georgia, the city was affluent. This is evidenced by the persisting stone and picket homes that had been constructed alongside the steep slopes of the mountainside, which city authorities requested to be categorised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The total district had round 20,000 inhabitants, together with some 6,000 in Kemaliye itself, in Atatürk’s time, in contrast with 1,500 residents at this time. “In the end, they didn’t have to do it,” Yalçınkayalar stated of the provide to ship horsemen.
But Atatürk didn’t neglect the gesture and, a yr later, he wrote to the Eğin municipal council to supply his identify.
“It was given to us as a gift,” stated the 73-year-old who has devoted his retirement to his city’s historical past. “It honors us: with the republic, we joined the civilized world.”
At the foot of the statue, an indication reads: “To thank the district for the support it gave for national independence, its name is changed from Eğin to Kemaliye.”
Kemaliye has been residence to many celebrations together with live shows, soccer tournaments and banquets each Oct. 29 for the reason that delivery of the republic in 1923.
In Güzide Tüfekçi’s household, the story is handed down with enthusiasm: The 60-year-old former literature professor recalled what Turkish ladies owe to Atatürk and the republic. “He opened the way for enlightened Turkish women, intellectuals, to have access to education, to have a profession. We’re proud of him,” she stated.
Facing a small practice station that has served Kemaliye since 1938, a modest cafe is embellished like a museum. Erdal Ertürk, 59, has hung portraits of Atatürk on all of the partitions – in black and white colour, in a soldier’s uniform, in a tuxedo or carrying his Karakul (Astrakhan) hat and hung an enormous purple flag bearing his picture above the doorway.
After vigorously cleansing the mud off one of many frames, which he kissed earlier than hanging, Ertürk spoke of “the very special love of the town for Atatürk.”
“He is our protector. He founded our country, our republic. All these portraits that you see here, are just talking about them, it moves me,” he stated.
Yet, the city itself refrains from displaying its historical past as its streets are barely embellished and just a few home windows reveal the portrait of the celebrated man.
Şevket Gültekin, 62, a taxi driver and singer, holds the important thing to a small museum that’s the most embellished.
Tourists who go to the area primarily come to admire the “Dark Canyon,” one of many 5 deepest on the earth, in accordance with UNESCO. It is usually solely upon arriving in Kemaliye that they uncover its previous.
“When our guide taught us, it made us happy,” stated Haluk Mutluay, 58, from the coastal metropolis of Mersin, in southern Türkiye.
“Atatürk means a lot to us, he’s our father.”
Source: www.dailysabah.com