Original subtitles

i'm walter cronkite this is the story of

mustapha came out a turk the strong man

who in a little more than a decade led

turkey out of the middle ages and into

the 20th century the story the

incredible turk as the prudential

insurance company of america presents

the 20th century

in the middle east today chaotic

vulnerable to soviet expansion turkey

modern powerful and a rarity in this

area pro-western is prepared to defend

herself against any aggressor

this is the border between russia and

turkey guarded day and night the red

century does not know he is being

photographed from across this border he

feels that he is being watched he is

also suspiciously watchful

today turkish cavalry defends the broken

desolate terrain at the edge of asia

minor

these cavalry squadrons are part of the

strongest fighting force in the middle

east the army of turkey a

democratic-minded member of nato

military partner of the united states

modern turkey strong and stable was

created out of a dying oriental

despotism by one man unique in history

mustapha kamal called ataturk father of

the turks in a moment this story the

incredible turk

by 1900 the ottoman empire land of many

races and religions has lost her ancient

tolerances and her world position is

reduced from medieval splendor to

medieval squalor ruled by inept

autocrats ruined by foreign wars and

exploited by foreigners the people are

sunk in poverty lost in lethargy mostly

illiterate the turkish empire continues

to exist only because the european

nations cannot agree among themselves to

dismember her

world war one germany has plans to

embrace turkey as an ally then to

subjugate her as a satellite to visit

the sick man of europe as turkey is

called comes the german emperor himself

kaiser wilhelm ii

he is received with more than ceremony

his glowing promises such as the berlin

to baghdad railroad are believed by the

sultan and his government and even by

the nationalist-minded young turks when

war comes turkey will waver between her

old friend britain allied with her

hereditary enemy russia and her new

friend germany

on october 29 1914

turkey takes into war on the kaiser side

her obsolescent army

february 1915 the british plan to force

the dardanelles past gallipoli take

constantinople and free russian shipping

in one naval campaign

mustafa kimal is an unknown officer

commanding a feeble turkish division at

gallipoli his brilliant strategy and

ferocious personal leadership changed

the course of the battle the campaign

and the war

after ten months the british signal

defeat and steam away leaving on the

historic shore of the hellespont a new

hero in turkey

one victory one great military commander

are not enough the defeat of the central

powers by the allies brings the end of

the old ottoman empire it is carved away

leaving only turkey proper a much

smaller and more homogeneous land which

with leadership may become a nation

november 1918 the ships of the victors

crowd the harbor at constantinople after

world war one from the palace of a weak

and corrupt sultan there comes no

opposition

turks bowing to mecca accept their fate

from france and from great britain

occupation troops disembarked to take

over the ancient capital

sure that the allied armies in

constantinople will do nothing to

prevent it greece is preparing for an

invasion of turkey

on may 15 1919 the greeks land their

troops

in ankara in the heart of turkey mustafa

kemal organizes the turkish liberation

movement takes command of the free

turkish army

from far off constantinople the sultan

repudiates him but mustafa grimly swears

that he will gain turkey's freedom or

die

no other general equals this man and the

turkish soldiers need only to be led to

fight

they are traditionally warriors

quickly mustafakimal gathers the forces

of an occupied turkey under his almost

unchallenged domination his hastily

recruited bodyguards stand ready to

defend him with their lives

mustafa kamal fits his cold

inexhaustible toughness his unyielding

determination his knowledge that the

people are with him against the

continued fanatic opposition of the

sultan's government ammunition must be

made by hand by old men and hungry

workmen boys and children

mustafakimal's turkey is going into

battle with the greeks

the war with the greeks last three years

from 1919 to 1922

the turkish people know it is a war of

extermination atrocious no quarter given

or asked heroically led the turks

advance against the invaders

the women leave their endangered homes

to carry shells to the army

september 1922 the greeks are driven

back to the aegean sea

offshore allied rescue ships stand by

into the seaport of smyrna called is

near by the turks poor thousands of

greeks joined by sympathetic christian

minorities fleeing before the armies of

the man whom the british called the most

terrible of all the terrible turks

from the ships bread comes to the docks

for the desperate refugees bred so that

they may live another day

september 9 1922 the turks enter smyrna

last stronghold of the invaders they

take vengeance against the greeks for

whole turkish villages wiped out for

their kinsmen massacred the burning of

smyrna the final atrocity that both the

greeks and the turks disavow

ends a war that has become an

unendurable nightmare for both sides its

polyglot population takes to the sea as

the flames destroy the great homeric

city

star and crescent fly over liberated

turkey mustafa akimal pasha married to a

woman of smyrna who personifies his

ideal of western freedom for all turkish

women is chief of state and supreme

commander of the army

with the winning of the war he removes

his uniform

never to wear it again he is now granted

dictatorial powers by the elected

national assembly

in constantinople to be officially

renamed istanbul the foreign occupation

troops are evacuated in the fall of 1922

sultan mohammed sixth whose family is

reigned for seven centuries fears for

his life and goes into exile as crowds

cheer his going

mustafa kimau's victorious army enters

istanbul

first president of the first turkish

republic mustafa akimal during the 1920s

keeps his limitless wartime powers and

his command of the army makes the hard

dry town of ankara his capital his

fantastic dream is not of empire or

conquest but of creating a democratic

turkey a new kind of turk in his

lifetime

the ottoman sultans also had been

caliphs secular and religious rulers

turkey's new government separates church

and state instead of friday a sacred

islam when muslims everywhere ritually

cleanse themselves the western sunday is

proclaimed the official day of rest

although mustafa kemal insists on

personal religious freedom it is known

that he personally detests the gesture

of a basement prescribed for worship

when muslims touch their foreheads to

the floor in their brimless headgear

took him all this headgear the fez

symbolizes turkey's oriental fatalism

and ignorance he will abolish it

so

wearing the fez becomes an act of

treason european hat makers unload in

turkey but woe betide the foreigner who

dares laugh at a turk in his new hat

more than 90 percent of turkey's 13

millions are illiterate mustafa warned

in school his second name kemal meaning

excellent himself takes charge of

replacing the difficult obsolete arabic

script

a new latin alphabet a revised and

standardized turkish language are

prepared by experts bullied into haste

by kemal

to make a modern nation capable of

government by the people all turkey must

be sent to school

islamic traditions are shattered a man's

image most of our kimals is displayed in

public he also orders all turks to adopt

western style family names and is

himself christened at a turk meaning

father of the turks

the faces of turkish girls and women are

hidden and they live in virtual slavery

until ataturk unveils them by decree

now divorced from his wife he takes

pleasure in the company of emancipated

women and insists that all turkish women

adopt western clothes gives them equal

rights under the law after abolishing

polygamy and opens to women all the

trades and all the professions

had a turk who has eaten the black bread

of poverty and lived in the front lines

of war acquires the trappings of power

his proud fiercely disciplined bearing

which annoyed his superior officers

years before does not change now that he

acknowledges no superiors

the men around him treat him as emperors

and primitive chieftains and modern

dictators are treated flatter and yes

him seek the smallest of privileges such

as lighting his cigarette

man in a hurry he has no time for

opposition or for modifying his programs

is too concentrated to pay the slightest

attention to the awkward and harassed

civil servant who is about to drip peach

juice on his shoulder or to the waiter

who will wipe it off

although gossip is ripe of his spare

time affairs with women of private

drunken orgies by which ataturk relieves

long periods of relentless labor this

monarch in mufti never loses his public

dignity even at play

he is adored also respected also hated

and feared and ruthless in dealing with

those who oppose him

now he goes into the countryside to

remote villages to archaic farms to

rouse the lethargic and primitive

peasants his credo

turk be proud work be confident

there are two ways of conquering says

ataturk by the sword or by the plow

to show us plagmatic peasants what he

wants he buys land demonstrates the

advantages of tractors

ataturk son of a civil servant military

careerist now all-powerful dictator

becomes a model sunday farmer

the world is anxious to restore good

diplomatic relations with turkey from

the united states comes ambassador

joseph clark grew

for this revolution and high

accomplishment

one man is primarily responsible

the name of ghazi mustafa kemal

will forever be associated

with the development

founding of the turkish the new modern

turkish state

and will forever be inscribed indelibly

upon the roles of history

the turkish nation is democratic by

nature

i have no doubt that the american nation

which has gone so far in this ideal is

turkey's friend in her aims

this will not be all perhaps it can lead

to a world of love with all old

prejudices erased with all nations

coexisting in peace and prosperity

when the great world depression of the

1930s slows down economic reconstruction

in the country turkish people by the

thousands wait for ataturk to bring him

their troubles and their problems to the

man in the street ataturk is his

personal boss and his personal friend

willing to listen wanting to help

all over the country ataturk preaches

the ways of the west scolds and harry's

workmen to carry out his forcible plan

for industrializing the turkish republic

turkey begins to move into the 20th

century builds dams mills factories the

temple is fantastic industrial

production under ataturk increases

tenfold

still there are growing pains a poorly

designed and poorly run heavy industry

operating at a loss profitable light

industry deliberately run at an

excessive profit to cover the deficit

turkey's textile mills being a notable

example

the european nations compete briskly for

turkish trade for her surpluses her

chrome and her tobacco in exchange for

the manufactured goods machinery and

arms she imports

turkey's foreign relations are excellent

but war is in the offing

ataturk hopes turkey can remain neutral

as indeed she will do during most of

world war ii but meantime he must mend

his defenses and re-equip his neglected

army a bayonet army from an earlier era

of belligerence

turkey's dictator has said hitler will

lead a dynamic nation to destruction by

whipping its passions and mussolini will

play caesar

time is proving him right

aging now ataturk gives his personal

fortune to the nation lives quietly

spends time teaching the youngest of his

six adopted daughters the alphabet he

made all turkey learn

watching his young nation father ataturk

believes in her democratic future and

has preserved for her under his

autocratic rule the republican

constitution of the secret ballot which

will elect his successors

his severest western critic grudgingly

admits ataturk is dictator so that

turkey may never again have a dictator

the shah of iran is among the

neighboring rulers who come to admire

ataturk's prospering progressive nation

the emir of transjordan comes the arab

world is impressed by turkey but later

when nationalism develops throughout

islam none of its leaders will have

ataturk's genius or his convictions

an ailing attitude spends much time

aboard the yacht presented to him for

his help by the turkish people

long ago he has said i will lead my

people by the hand along the road until

their feet are sure and they know the

way

then my work will be done

on november 10 1938 ataturk dies at the

age of 58.

13 years of his life he spent an active

warfare fighting for turkey

for 15 years until his death he was her

first president and absolute ruler his

last command is that his successor be

one who will follow his course ismet

inanu is that man

today this mausoleum is a shrine for his

people who well and truly mourned for

ataturk

marching past in fighting trim the

soldiers of turkey are the sons of the

ragged forces who followed him to fight

for turkish independence 40 years ago

modern turkey is a vigorous ally of the

west she welcomes not only foreign

products but the foreign bases and

manhunter soil to help defend her way of

life and her nato alliance

not all of her problems have been solved

however her economy is heavily bolstered

by some say virtually dependent on

western aid her democracy is still far

from perfect and historians still argue

about ataturk the man who in less than

two decades made turkey over his methods

his tyrannies his personal habits

yet none denies the staggering

achievements of the incredible turk

these our allies guarding the gates to

the east are the inheritors the children

of mustafa kemah

the story of next week's episode in a

moment and now a message from your host

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america

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