Mustafa Kemal Pasha: Through the Eyes of Three Ministers of the Atatürk Era

Abstract

This article is about a feuilleton which were written by Arif Oruc in Vakit Newspaper with the title "How do you get to know Ghazi Pasha?" In this series Arif Oruc made three interviews with Tevfik Rüştü Aras, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Şükrü Kaya, the Minister of Internal Affairs and Mustafa Necati, the Minister of Education. The correspondent asked the ministers to answer how to define Mustafa Kemal as an administrator, politician, commander, orator, author and a revolutionist. Besides these questions, the reporter asked them how they got acquainted with Pasha and with whom they could compare him in the history. All three respondents sincerely answered the reporter's inquiries in an intimate and warm environment. By using these interviews, this paper aims to give us some clues about the life and personal qualifications of the founder of modern Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. New information from these interviews will provide significant contributions to Atatürk, Aras, Kaya and Necati's biographies to be written in the future.