The Nov. 10 anniversary of the death of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the Turkish republic’s founder, is marked with nationwide ceremonies in Turkey. This year’s commemorations included a religious memorial service for Ataturk at Istanbul’s Eminonu mosque. A politician in attendance made headlines for a comment made while exiting the mosque: “If it weren’t for Ataturk, you would have been called Dimitri or Yorgo today,” Muharrem Ince, a parliamentary whip of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), told reporters.
Ince’s remarks would hardly make sense to those unfamiliar with Turkey’s history and its social and ethnic fabric. When decoded, the comment reveals strong racist and discriminatory connotations. Ince was referring to Ataturk’s role as chief commander of the 1919-1922 Liberation War, suggesting that without him the Turks would have lost the war, and the Greeks would have retained Anatolia, in which case today’s Turks would have had Greek fathers and Greek names.