Atatürk Corner

Atatürk’s Address to Youth

O Turkish Youth!

Your first duty is to preserve and defend Turkish Independence and Turkish Republic forever.

This is the sole foundation of your existence and future. This foundation is your most precious treasure. Even in the future, there will be internal and external enemies who will want to deprive you of this treasure. If one day you are forced to defend Independence and the Republic, you will not think about the possibilities and circumstances of the situation you will be in in order to take up the task! These possibilities and circumstances may turn out to be of a very unfavourable nature. The enemies who will attempt your Independence and Republic may be the representatives of a victory unprecedented in the whole world. By force and fraud, all the castles of the beloved homeland may have been captured, all its shipyards may have been entered, all its armies may have been disbanded and every corner of the country may have been occupied. More grievous and grave than all these circumstances, those who hold power within the country may be in heedlessness, misguidance and even treachery. Moreover, these power holders may even align their personal interests with the political ambitions of the invaders. The nation may fall into poverty and destitution.

O son of the Turkish future! Even in these circumstances and conditions, your duty is to save Turkish Independence and Republic! The strength you need is in the noble blood in your veins!

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
20 October 1927