Two mistakes on Atatürk

Submitted by Kerem K2 (Turkey), Oct 3, 2014 at 10:20

Dear Mr. Pipes,

Your article makes two mistakes about Atatürk.

First, he did not "rename himself" Atatürk. The surname was given to him by the Grand National Assembly.

Second, he did not "despise Islam", as his critics would like everyone to believe. He despised Islamists, those who would use the religion as a tool to further their own agendas and hunger for power. Read many anecdotes from his life and it will become clear that he was religious in his way and had respect for Islam and other religions. He simply did not make a publicized show of it, like Erdoğan and most of AKP usually do.

Sincerely,

Kerem

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