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doğmunun 125. yılında mustafa kemal atatürk - Atatürk Araştırma ...

doğmunun 125. yılında mustafa kemal atatürk - Atatürk Araştırma ...

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532<br />

M. NAEEM QURESHİ<br />

ring circus’. 41 Amanullah was showered with honours and praises.<br />

At Oxford, he was even awarded a doctorate honoris causa and<br />

was made an honorary member of the Royal Geographical Society.<br />

The climax of his tour, however, was his ‘pilgrimage’ to Mustafa<br />

Kemal’s secular Turkey and a visit to Reza Shah’s westernized<br />

Iran. According to Dr Abdul Ghani, who knew the Afghan king<br />

well, Amanullah had ‘a special chamber in his heart [for Mustafa<br />

Kemal], and looked upon him as a model hero. It was his ambition<br />

to be like him, and to succeed like him’. 42 On his arrival in Ankara<br />

on 20 May 1928, Amanullah was received with unusual cordiality.<br />

At the railway station, Mustafa Kemal kissed him on both cheeks<br />

and escorted him to the venue of the talks where they discussed<br />

for over an hour how best they could bind their people in cultural<br />

reforms. 43 In the evening, the Turkish president arranged a grand<br />

banquet at the Palace Hotel where he showered praise on his guest’s<br />

fierce spirit of independence. He also spoke of the historic bonds of<br />

friendly relations between the two countries and the common goals<br />

that they had sworn to follow. 44 Amanullah, in his speech, expressed<br />

admiration for Mustafa Kemal’s work and referred to the Turks as<br />

his elder brothers and guides. 45 Amanullah remained in Ankara for a<br />

week where his knowledge of Turkish language helped him to bond<br />

easily with the Turks. Apart from other activities, he watched the<br />

proceedings of the assembly while it adopted the bill substituting<br />

Europeanized Arab numerals for old Arabic ciphers. 46 From Ankara,<br />

Amanullah was taken to Istanbul where he attended a grand military<br />

41 Louis Dupree, Afghanistan, 3 rd edn. (Princeton, 1980), 450.<br />

42 Abdul Ghani, A Brief Political History of Afghanistan, 673.<br />

43 Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore), 24 May 1928.<br />

44 Pioneer (Lucknow), 24 May 1928; and Gregorian, The Emergence of<br />

Modern Afghanistan, 256-8.Mustafa Kemal’s favourite metaphors that he<br />

used at the reception were: ‘The sun which is dawning on the high horizon of<br />

the future is the talisman of the nations who have suffered for centuries. This<br />

talisman’s never again being [sic] enveloped in dark clouds is dependent upon<br />

the scrupulous solicitude and self sacrifice of those nations and their leaders’.<br />

See Volkan and Itzkowitz, The Immortal <strong>Atatürk</strong>, citing Utkan Kocatürk,<br />

<strong>Atatürk</strong> ve Türk devrimi Kronolojisi (Ankara, 1973), 323.<br />

45 Gregorian, The Emergence of Modern Afghanistan, 256-8.<br />

46 Civil & Military Gazette, 24 May 1928.

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