Tag: Turks

Turks reveal xenophobic, conservative attitudes in poll

Robert Tait in Istanbul

The Guardian, Monday 23 February 2009

Turks are xenophobic, socially conservative people who rarely read books, relegate women to second-class status and harbour ambivalent views about democracy, contentious new research has revealed.

The unflattering picture has emerged from a survey by one of Turkey’s most respected polling organisations, Konda, which interviewed 6,482 people.

Some 73% opposed allowing foreigners to own Turkish land or property, while nine out of 10 said they had never taken a holiday abroad. Just under 70% said they never read books, and 72% said they never or rarely bought new hi-tech products as soon they appeared on the market. Many also expressed fears that Turkey’s neighbours planned to carve up the country.

Nearly 70% said wives needed their husband’s permission to work while 57% believed that a female should never leave home wearing a sleeveless top. More than half – 53% – favoured allowing women judges, prosecutors, teachers and other public servants to wear the Islamic headscarf on duty, something Turkey’s secular constitution forbids.

While 88% agreed that Turkey should be governed by democracy “under each and every condition”, this was undermined by the significant proportion – 48% – who said the military should intervene “when necessary”. The powerful armed forces have toppled four elected governments in coups in the past 50 years.

The survey, entitled Who Are We?, was conducted on behalf of Hurriyet, one of Turkey’s biggest selling newspapers, renowned for its secularist outlook.

Tarhan Erdem, senior analyst with Konda, said the research was aimed at understanding ongoing social transformation and seeing whether Turkey was the country many of its people thought they knew. The high support for military intervention showed Turks had reservations about democracy, he said, while attitudes towards women exposed a lack of gender equality. “The data shows that women aren’t free in their private lives,” Erdem said.

Ahmet Insel, a columnist with Radikal newspaper, said opposition to foreign travel and property ownership stemmed from a preoccupation with the 1919-1923 war of independence that established modern Turkey.

“We think the war of independence is still under way, so it’s no surprise we are xenophobic. We’re still fighting foreigners,” he said.

via Turks reveal xenophobic, conservative attitudes in poll | World news | The Guardian.

February 16, 2013
Istanbul’s growth inspired career of new commissioner

By Dave Boyce

Almanac Staff Writer

Aydan Kutay brings an usual background to the Woodside Planning Commission, where she is the newest member. She grew up in Istanbul, and has a degree in urban planning from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara.

Urban planning was attractive as an undergraduate major, she says, because of major changes going on in her native country in the 1970s. Mechanized agriculture had driven rural migrants into squatter camps in and around the major Turkish cities, resulting in chaotic living conditions.

Ms. Kutay remembers how the city of her birth reacted to the squatters and the pressures of modernity: “with concrete blocks of high rises, international hotel chains, offices (and) condominium developments,” she says in an email

With no municipal codes and no general plan, Istanbul became a victim of uncontrolled development, she said.

Woodside

The Woodside Town Council appointed her to the Planning Commission in a unanimous vote Feb. 28. The commission advises the council on zoning issues and approves conditional use permits and variances.

Ms. Kutay lives on Hardwick Road in the Woodside Hills neighborhood with her two dogs, a German shepherd and a mixed breed; her two children are in graduate school and college, respectively, she said in an interview.

After she came to the United States in 1982, she obtained a master’s degree in public policy and a doctorate in economics and public policy analysis, both from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

As an economist and professor of economics and public policy, she has had teaching positions at Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of California at Berkeley, and the University of Southern California, according to the application she submitted for the commission seat. She came to California in 1992.

Ms. Kutay, 49, told the council that she taught as an adjunct professor at Stanford University, and that she is currently a consulting analyst with the Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco.

A long-distance runner, she said she has run three half-marathons in San Francisco and plans to run the full city marathon in July.

Among the civic-minded activities on her application are concerns for animals, the homeless and promotion of the fine arts.

In an email, she said she founded the ACE Project, a San Francisco-based nonprofit with a goal of “collecting and disseminating research information on integrating new technologies to the economic system” to promote economic growth not based on consumption, to educate the public about climate change, and to create electronic global communities with the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Her reasons for serving on the Planning Commission? “To be able to do civic service for Woodside and have a role in the future development of the town,” she wrote. “I find it very exciting and fulfilling to be able to interact with the residents of the town and with community leaders.”

Protecting Woodside’s rural character will be a priority, she told the council. That character prompted her to move to Woodside after six years in Menlo Park, where she had been a board member for a planned unit development, she wrote.

Her house is a work of sustainability in progress. While it now has lawns in front and back, she said she plans to dig up the grass and plant native drought-tolerant plants.

She also intends to apply for recognition of her property as a Backyard Habitat, a town initiative that recognizes properties welcoming to native animals and plants. “I want to set an example for the neighborhood,” she said.

Her own take

Asked if she had ever built a house from scratch, Ms. Kutay said she had not but that remodeling her 4,000-square-foot home did require a site development permit, indicating a major undertaking with Town Hall.

The outlook was grim, she said her neighbors told her. “Woodside is a very hard town to remodel and build in and I would have a lot of trouble trying to build what I want,” Ms. Kutay said she was told. “Actually it was a very positive and learning process that I went through,” she said. “A lot of people don’t see it that way. They see it as interference.”

Regulation is a dirty word in some circles. Asked about what makes a good regulation, Ms. Kutay replied: “Regulations are there so that we protect our environment, we don’t destroy our environment, we don’t build these eyesores on properties. In the short term, it may look like a pain in the neck, but in the long term, regulations are good. Public rights are just as important” as private rights, she said.

Ms. Kutay said she feels fortunate to be joining the Planning Commission at the same time that the town updated its general plan to include sustainable development as a priority.

via Almanac Online : Istanbul’s growth inspired career of new commissioner.

March 15, 2012
Thousands of Turks gather in Paris to protest genocide bill

PARIS – Anatolia News Agency

Thousands of people gathered in the French capital to protest a bill that penalizes rejection of Armenian genocide claims today.

Nearly 35,000 Turks living in France and other European countries gathered despite rain and cold weather to shun the bill .

The bill is seto to come to the French Senate floor Monday Jan. 23 when members of the Senate could vote to uphold a parliamentary committee decision against the proposed law and drop the bill without debate.

Protesters carried French, Turkish, Algerian and Azerbaijani flags and chanted slogans urging senator to act against the legislation.

“I have been living in France for fifty years and I haven’t seen so many Turks got together. Turks in Europe for the first time had the chance to raise a strong voice against an injustice done to them,” Demir Önger, head of a Paris-based Turkish culture association said.

A bill proposed by the ruling party penalizes the rejection of Armenian genocide claims in France with a 45,000 euro fine a and one year in jail.

A similar bill — proposed by the Socialist Party — was approved in 2006 by the lower house but the Senate rejected to debate the bill in May 2011.

January 21, 2012
The enigma of Italy’s ancient Etruscans is finally unravelled

The enigma of Italy’s ancient Etruscans is finally unravelled

DNA tests on their Italian descendants show the ‘tuscii’ came from Turkey

John Hooper in Rome

Ancient wonders … The Etruscans created great works of art including the Bride and Bridegroom, or the Married Couple. Photograph: Gianni Dagli Orti/Corbis

They gave us the word “person” and invented a symbol of iron rule later adopted by the fascists. Some even argue it was they who really moulded Roman civilisation.Yet the Etruscans, whose descendants today live in central Italy, have long been among the great enigmas of antiquity. Their language, which has never properly been deciphered, was unlike any other in classical Italy. Their origins have been hotly debated by scholars for centuries.

Genetic research made public at the weekend appears to put the matter beyond doubt, however. It shows the Etruscans came from the area which is now Turkey – and that the nearest genetic relatives of many of today’s Tuscans and Umbrians are to be found, not in Italy, but around Izmir.

The European Human Genetic Conference in Nice was told on Saturday the results of a study carried out in three parts of Tuscany: the Casentino valley, and two towns, Volterra and Murlo, where important finds have been made of Etruscan remains. In each area, researchers took DNA samples from men with surnames unique to the district and whose families had lived there for at least three generations.

They then compared their Y chromosomes, which are passed from father to son, with those of other groups in Italy, the Balkans, modern-day Turkey and the Greek island of Lemnos, which linguistic evidence suggests could have links to the Etruscans.

“The DNA samples from Murlo and Volterra are much more highly correlated to those of the eastern peoples than to those of the other inhabitants of [Italy],” said Alberto Piazza of the University of Turin, who presented the research. “One particular genetic variant, found in the samples from Murlo, was shared only with people from Turkey.”

This year, a similar but less conclusive study that tracked the DNA passed down from mothers to daughters, pointed to a direct genetic input from western Asia. In 2004, a team of researchers from Italy and Spain used samples taken from Etruscan burial chambers to establish that the Etruscans were more genetically akin to each other than to contemporary Italians.

The latest findings confirm what was said about the matter almost 2,500 years ago, by the Greek historian Herodotus. The first traces of Etruscan civilisation in Italy date from about 1200 BC.

About seven and a half centuries later, Herodotus wrote that after the Lydians had undergone a period of severe deprivation in western Anatolia, “their king divided the people into two groups, and made them draw lots, so that the one group should remain and the other leave the country; he himself was to be the head of those who drew the lot to remain there, and his son, whose name was Tyrrhenus, of those who departed”.

It was a Roman who muddied the waters. The historian Livy, writing in the first century BC, claimed the Etruscans were from northern Europe. A few years later, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a Greek writer living in Rome, came up with the theory that the Etruscans were, on the contrary, indigenous Italians who had always lived in Etruria.

The Lydian empire had by then long since passed into history. Its inhabitants were said by Herodotus to have been the first people to make use of gold and silver coins and the first to establish shops, rather stalls, from which to trade goods. They gave the world the saying “as rich as Croesus” – Croesus was their last king.

Herodotus’s story about the drawing of the lots may or may not be true, but the genetic research indicates that some Lydians did, as he wrote, leave their native land and travel, probably via Lemnos, to Italy.

There, they were called “tuscii” in Latin. The obvious explanation for this has always been their fondness for building tower-like, walled, hilltop towns like those still to be seen scattered across Umbria and Tuscany.

But the latest conclusions may add weight to a rival, apparently more fanciful, theory that links their name to Troy, the “city of towers” and a part of the Lydian empire. The most likely date for the fall of Troy, as described by Homer, is between 1250 and 1200 BC.

The Etruscans’ contribution to Roman civilisation is still debated. They provided Rome with some of its early kings, and maybe even its name.

The “fasces”, the bundle of whipping rods around a double-bladed axe that became an emblem of authority for the Romans, was almost certainly of Etruscan origin.

However, not many words in Latin are thought to derive from Etruscan. An exception is “persona” from “phersu”.

The Etruscans unquestionably created glorious art. Among their most celebrated works is the so-called Sarcophagus of the Bride and Bridegroom (or Married Couple), which is in a Rome museum. It shows two people with slightly tip-tilted noses and pixie-like features.

It is known the Etruscans tried to predict the future by reading the patterns of lightning. It is thought that they introduced the chariot to Italy. They almost certainly ate good meat. Tuscany is famed for its beef, particularly that from the Chiana valley, which has been celebrated since classical times.

Another recent genetic study, of “chianina” and three other Tuscan cattle strains, found they were unrelated to Italian breeds. Yet matches were found in Turkey and the Balkans, along the supposed route of some of ancient Italy’s most enigmatic immigrants.

Timeline

1200BC First traces of Etruscan civilisation

700BC Etruscans borrow alphabetic writing from Greeks, and become first people in Italy to write

616-579BC Rome ruled by its first, legendary Etruscan king, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus

550BC Etruscan power at zenith. Three confederations hold Po valley and coast south of Rome, heartland of southern Tuscany, and western Umbria. Allied with Carthaginians, Etruscans trade across the Mediterranean

535BC At Alalia, off Corsica, fleet of Carthaginians and Etruscans defeat Greek fleet. But Carthaginians, not Etruscans, assert control over seas

510BC Last Etruscan king, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, is expelled from Rome

474BC At Cumae, off Naples, Greek fleet defeats Etruscans, who start to lose grip on area south of Rome

396BC Romans capture Veii, an Etruscan settlement north of Rome; destruction of settlement marks start of long period in which Romans gradually annex towns of Etruscan heartland. By start of first century BC, all of Etruria has been absorbed by Rome republic

The Guardian, Monday 18 June 2007

August 25, 2011
Norwegian hitman was obsessed with Turkey

A fundamentalist Christian who massacred 76 people in Norway had strong feelings against Turkey and Turks. A book believed to have been written by Anders Behring Breivik, who admitted to having staged both the bombing of government buildings in Oslo on Friday and later killing dozens of teenagers at a Labor Party youth camp on the island of Utoya, has revealed that the terrorist was an ardent hater of Turkey.
In a 1,500-page manifesto titled “2083: A European Declaration of Independence,” Breivik made hundreds of references to the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, rambling on about hundreds of years of world history, reflecting a revisionist interpretation that sees history only as being a long-running conflict between Muslims and Christians. His manifesto, written in a fashion akin to a journal, also indicates that he has visited Turkey.
Norwegian police initially reported that the assailant killed 93 people but then it reduced the confirmed death toll on Monday to 76.
There are 237 references to Turks and Turkey in the manifesto, but this number does not take into account the many other references to Ottoman history (written mostly focusing on the state of religious minorities) and the Seljuk Empire. He accuses the Ottoman Turks of genocide of various minorities, including the Armenians, the Orthodox Greeks and the Assyrians.
There are lengthy analyses of the Ottoman Tanzimat (Reformation) era, the Declaration of Reforms (Islahat Fermanı) period, the period under Abdülhamid II and the Committee of Union and Process government and its ruling triumvirate — Enver, Talat and Cemal Paşa — as well as the early republican period. After a 40-page analysis of the Ottomans and the early republican era, on page 187, he concludes: “[Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan’s efforts to further re-Islamize Turkey are entirely consistent with a return to Turkey’s Ottoman past as the heartland of an empire established by jihad and governed by the Shariah. Indeed, both the current Erdoğan administration and the regime headed by the overtly pious Muslim [Necmettin] Erbakan a decade ago reflect the advanced state of Islam’s ‘sociopolitical reawakening’ in Turkey since 1950-1960, when the Menderes government, pandering to Muslim religious sentiments for electoral support, re-established the dervish orders and undertook an extensive campaign of mosque construction. Despite Frank Gaffney’s apparent failure to understand this continuum of related historical phenomena, I share his acute concerns. And ultimately, we agree that Turkey’s bid to join the EU should be rejected.”
Sèvres for Turkey
Starting on page 235, Breivik presents a history of the Battle of Vienna from a Christian perspective and again accuses Turks of Islamizing Bosnia and Kosovo. Starting on page 313, he expresses his hostility toward many international organizations, including the EU and the UN. On page 314, Breivik wrote: “The EU is deliberately destroying the cultural traditions of member states by flooding them with immigrants and eradicating native traditions. This is a gross violation of the rights of the indigenous peoples across an entire continent. Europe has some of the richest cultural traditions on the planet. To replace this with Shariah barbarism is a crime against humanity. The European Union is currently the principal (though not the only) motor behind the Islamization of Europe, perhaps the greatest betrayal in this civilization’s history. Appeasement of Islam and Muslims is so deeply immersed into the structural DNA of the EU that the only way to stop the Islamization of the continent is to get rid of the EU. All of it.”
The ‘Atatürk approach’ has already failed
Breivik says on page 723 that the “Atatürk approach” failed to modernize Muslims. “Many moderate cultural conservatives have suggested that banning the Shariah will solve all our problems and force the Muslims to integrate. Unfortunately, Islam is a lot more resilient than most people can comprehend. Any ‘Atatürk approach’ will not solve anything but only delay the inevitable. Turkey became secular after Mustafa Atatürk, by military force, implemented his harsh reforms 90 years ago. The result? The Shariah lay dormant for 70-80 years. As soon as it was practically possible (Turkey had to implement more human rights to appease the EU) the former ‘dormant’ devout Muslims resurfaced and the Islamist alliance won the last election. … The reason why Atatürk failed is because Islam is extremely resilient, in fact more resilient than most people can comprehend.”
Breivik also asserted that the Treaty of Sèvres should be applied to Turkey and equates supporting Turkey’s membership in the EU as supporting a global jihad. He also says Turkey and Albania should be kicked out of NATO. On top of that, he states that Europe should wage war on Turkey to re-Christianize Eastern and Western Anatolia and the northern part of Cyprus.

Today’s Zaman

July 26, 2011
Happy Republic Day Turkish-Americans!

Today, October 29, 2010, Turkish Americans and Turks around the world proudly celebrate the 87th anniversary of the establishment of the Republic of Turkey. The great visionary leader, Ataturk, felt in 1923, that it was not enough to only survive a war of independence but also to excel in all aspects of modern life by rising to the top in science, technology, education, medicines, energy, economy, tourism, sports, trade, defense, and others. Today, an emerging regional power and a new global player, Turkey, stands as a monument to Ataturk’s dreams. Turkish Americans salute the great Ataturk, his magnificent creation Turkey and the Turkish nation, as well as the global Turkish-Turkic realm, standing tall and strong in the face of many challenges and threats.

Below, please find the congratulatory messages of Obama, via Secretary Clinton, the Turkish Ambassador, and the president of ATAA, all located in Washington DC.

***

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
October 28, 2010

ON BEHALF OF PRESIDENT OBAMA AND THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES,

I congratulate the people of Turkey on the anniversary of your founding this October 29.

In the 87 years since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk set out a new vision for the Turkish people, Turkey has risen to become a leading economic power and an important presence on the world stage. The opportunities for Turkey to lead in the 21st century are even greater.

The relationship between Turkey and the United States is broader and more dynamic today than ever before. Both President Obama and I made visiting Turkey a priority last year because we recognize the importance of a strong partnership between our nations – a partnership based on mutual respect, mutual interests, and mutual responsibility. The Framework for Strategic Economic and Commercial Cooperation to boost trade and investment is just one example of how we are strengthening ties between our counties. As NATO allies, we also stand shoulder to shoulder to help create a safer and more secure environment for future generations, in Afghanistan and around the world.

I wish the people of Turkey a safe and happy holiday as you celebrate this special anniversary and all you have accomplished. We look forward to continuing to work closely with Turkey toward our shared goals and aspirations.

***
Türkiye Cumhuriyeti VaŞngton Büyükelçisi Namık Tan’ın Cumhuriyet Bayramı Mesajı

Amerika BirleŞk Devletleri’nde yaŞayan Türk Toplumunun değerli üyeleri,

Cumhuriyetimizin kuruluŞunun 87. yıldönümünü büyük bir gurur, mutluluk ve coŞkuyla kutluyoruz.

CUMHURIYET BAYRAMIMIZ KUTLU OLSUN !

Ulu Önder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’ün liderlik ettiği efsanevi bir bağımsızlık mücadelesinin ardından aziz ulusumuz tarafından kurulan Cumhuriyetimiz en değerli varlığımızdır. Bu anlamlı günde, baŞta yüce Atatürk olmak üzere, Cumhuriyetimizin kuruluŞunda emeği geçenleri ve Cumhuriyetimiz ile Vatanımızın ilelebet varlığını sürdürmesi için canlarını veren aziz Şehitlerimizi, kanlarını döken gazilerimizi saygıyla anıyorum.

Köklü tarihinden, zengin kültüründen ve her Şeyden önemlisi, aziz milletimizden güç alan Cumhuriyetimiz, geride kalan 87 yılda, Atatürk’ün ifadeleriyle, “mesut, muvaffak ve muzaffer” olmuŞtur. KuruluŞundan bu yana Atatürk’ün belirlediği çağdaŞ uygarlığa ulaŞma hedefi doğrultusunda hızla ilerleyen Cumhuriyetimiz emsalsiz bir baŞarı hikayesidir. Demokratik ve laik yapısı, liberal ekonomisi, zengin sosyo-kültürel kimliğiyle, bölgesinde ve ötesinde barıŞ ve istikrarın tesisinde katkıları aranan bir ülke haline gelen Türkiye’yi daha parlak bir gelecek beklemektedir.

Bugün ülkemizin katettiği ve hepimize haklı bir gurur veren mesafe, etkisini uluslararası alanda açık Şekilde göstermektedir. Ülkemizin son dönemde BM Güvenlik Konseyi geçici üyeliğinin yanısıra, İslam Konferansı TeŞkilatı, Avrupa Konseyi Parlamenter Meclisi ve Kimyasal Silahların Önlenmesi Örgütü BaŞkanlıkları ile NATO Genel Sekreter Yardımcılığı gibi önemli görevleri üstlenmesi, Avrupa’nın 6., dünyanın 16. büyük ekonomisi haline gelmesi, küresel ekonomik sorunlara çözüm bulunması amacıyla tesis edilen G-20 oluŞumunun en aktif üyelerinden biri olması bu baŞarı tablosunun somut yansımalarıdır.

Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’ndeki Türk Toplumunun değerli üyeleri,

ABD’deki Türk toplumunun, gerek ülkemizin tanıtımı, gerek davalarımızın anlatılması yönünde sürdüregeldiği çalıŞmalar memnuniyet vericidir. Önceki ve halihazır görevlerim çerçevesinde geliŞimine bizzat tanıklık ettiğim Türk-Amerikan Toplumunun ulaŞtığı seviye bizleri gururlandırmaktadır. Derneklerimizin ABD’nin dört bir yanında düzenlediği etkinliklerin baŞarısı hepimizi mutlu etmektedir. Evvelce de vurgulamıŞ olduğum üzere, yapılanların yeterli görülmeyerek, toplumumuzun daha mükemmele doğru her alanda aktif olmaya devam etmesi fevkalade önem taŞımaktadır. Türk-Amerikan toplumunun bu çerçevede yürüttüğü çalıŞmaları önümüzdeki dönemde artarak sürdüreceğine inanıyorum.

Her vesileyle dile getirdiğim gibi, gücünü Türk halkının geleneksel değerlerinden, birlik ve dayanıŞma duygusundan alan geniŞ bir ailenin birbirine sıcak duygularla bağlı fertleri olarak hep birlikte el ele verdiğimizde, aŞılamayacak hiçbir engel yoktur. Omuz omuza ilerleyeceğimiz bu yolda sizlere güveniyorum.

Ülkümüz, gönlümüz ve ufkumuz birdir. Bu birliğin kaynağı 87. yaŞını kutladığımız Cumhuriyetimiz ve eŞsiz vatanımız Türkiyemizdir.

Cumhuriyetimiz gücünü dünyanın dört köŞesine yayılmıŞ tüm Türklerin aklından, yüreğinden ve vatan sevgisinden almaktadır.

Bu duygu ve düŞüncelerle 29 Ekim Cumhuriyet Bayramınızı en içten iyi dileklerimle kutluyor, selam, sevgi ve saygılarımı sunuyorum.

Namık TAN
T.C. VaŞington Büyükelçisi

***

CUMHURIYETIMIZIN 87. YILI KUTLU OLSUN!

Türk-Amerikan Toplumunun Değerli Üyeleri,

Bugün Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nin kuruluŞunun 87. yılını hep beraber coşkuyla kutluyoruz.

Ulusal kurtuluŞ mücadelemizde elde edilen askeri zaferin ardından büyük özverilerle yola devam eden Mustafa Kemal ve Türk toplumu bağımsız yeni Türk devletinin egemenlik hakkının yalnızca halka ait olduğunu ilan etmiŞler ve 1 Kasım 1922’de çıkardıkları kararname ile “İstanbul’daki Şekl-i hükümetin 16 Mart 1920’de tarihe intikal ettiğini” belirtmiŞlerdir. Modern çağın getirdiği laiklik, demokrasi, kadın-erkek eŞitliği, ulusal vatandaŞlık, sosyal hukuk devleti gibi vazgeçilmez ilkelerin ancak Cumhuriyet rejimi içerisinde uygulanabileceğini öngören Atatürk önderliğindeki birinci meclis 29 Ekim 1923’de Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nin kurulduğunu tüm dünyaya ilan etmiŞtir.

87 yıllık süre içerisinde geldiğimiz noktaya bakıldığında Cumhuriyetimizin ve Atatürk devrimlerinin Türk aydınlanma tarihinde ne kadar büyük bir öneme sahip olduğu daha iyi anlaŞılacaktır. Bu vesileyle sizleri Cumhuriyetimizin kazanımlarını bir kez daha hatırlamaya ve sahip çıkmaya davet ediyoruz. Bugün, Türkiye dünya’nın 16’ıncı ve Avrupa’nın 6’ıncı en büyük ekonomisine sahiptir. Bugün, Türkiye dünya’nın 7’inci en çok turist ağırlayan ülkesidir. Bugün, Türkiye, diplomatlarıyla, ordusuyla, giriŞimcileriyle, ve sivil toplum örgütleriyle, Avrupa ve Afrika’dan, Kafkas ve Orta Asya’ya kadar bölgesel lider konumuna gelmektedir.

Bu önemli günde baŞta Cumhuriyetimizin kurucusu Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’ü, kahraman ordu arkadaŞlarını, aziz Şehitlerimizi minnet, Şükran ve rahmetle anıyoruz, ve Türk toplumunun iradesini ve azmini kutluyoruz.

Cumhuriyetimizin 87. Yılı Kutlu Olsun!

Saygılarımızla,

Günay Evinch (Övünç) Kürşad Doğru
ATAA BaŞkanı ATAA Mütevelli Heyeti BaŞkanı

***

Dear Members of the Turkish American Community and Friends of Türkiye,

Today we celebrate the 87th Anniversary of the Turkish Republic.

Following the Turkish War of Independence, which ended in a decisive Turkish victory for the Turkish people in August 1922, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk embarked on intensive and comprehensive reforms, as the Turkish people transitioned from Empire to Republic, autocracy to democracy, theocracy to secularity, and a society based on equality, plurality, and national citizenship.

October 29, 1923 marked the end not of only the Ottoman Empire which spanned from 1299 to 1919, but also a brutal occupation by foreign powers between 1919 and 1922.

On this important day, the Assembly of Turkish American Associations once again invites you to commemorate Atatürk’s legacy and achievements, remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can live and live freely. The Assembly of Turkish Americans celebrates the birth of the Turkish Republic as well as the determination and passion of the Turkish people for a better life, better country, and a better world.

Günay Evinch (Övünç) Kürşad Doğru
President, ATAA Chairman, ATAA Board of Trustees

***

October 30, 2010