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Atatürk's Address To The Youth of Turkey (Turkish: Atatürk'ün Türk Gençliğine Hitabesi) is a famous speech by the Republic of Turkey's first president, founding father, and national hero, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, spoken as the concluding statements to his 36-hour 20 October 1927 address to the Parliament, wherein he laid out, in a sweeping and thoroughly-detailed retrospective, the history and intellectual foundations of the Turkish War of Independence and the fight for modernity, liberty and democracy that fueled the Turkish Revolution, and ultimately led to the October 29, 1923 establishment of the Republic of Turkey.
Background (Calligraphy): حاكميت ملتكدر Hakimiyet Milletindir means "Sovereignty Belongs to the Nation”
The speech is a direct address to the present and future younger generations of the country, and functions as a call to vigilance in the face of difficulties that may face the nation, as well as a reminder of the civic and patriotic duty of each citizen to protect their freedoms in the face of internal and external adversaries.
A framed version of the speech typically occupies the wall above the blackboard in the classrooms of Turkish schools, accompanied by a Turkish flag, a photograph of the country's founding father Atatürk, and a copy of the national anthem.
Atatürk's Address To Turkish Youth
editO Turkish Youth!
Your first mission is to forever safeguard and to defend Turkish independence and the Turkish Republic.
This is the foundation of your existence and your future. This foundation is your most valuable treasure. Even in the future, there will be domestic and foreign evils who desire to deprive you of this treasure. One day, if you are obliged to defend the independence and the Republic, you will not worry about the means and condition of the circumstances you are in. These means and condition may appear in an unfavourable nature. The enemies who threaten your independence and your Republic might be the representatives of an unprecedented victory before the world. By force and trickery; all the strongholds of the holy motherland may have been captured, all of its dockyards may have been occupied, all of its armies may have been disbanded, and every corner of the country may have been literally invaded. Even more severe and horrible than all these circumstances, those who have the power within the state may act with blindness and heresy, and even with treachery. These rulers may consolidate their personal interests with the political goals of the invaders as well. The nation may be devastated and exhausted in misery and destitution.
O the child of the Turkish future! Here it is, even in these circumstances and conditions, your mission is to save the Turkish independence and the Turkish Republic. The might you need exists in the noble blood in your veins!
Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, 27 October 1927.