Humm... mea culpa
Good. Took you three posts, but better late than never :-)
Sure sounded like it to me given your vigorous denunciation of a commonly held fact that Mustafa and his followers created a cult of personality around him.
Maybe you should define what a "cult of personality" is so I may comment on whether or not that applies to Ataturk's situation.
Turks love the guy because he was the leader who organized them and fought against the multi-faceted occupation of the Ottoman Empire after WWI. Contrary to what you might believe, he did not seek to be a dictator but installed democracy in Turkey after he won, meanwhile changing a lot of the traditions of the Ottoman Empire, granting rights to women, etc.
Is that love a bit excessive? Yes, I think so. Is it a justified love albeit bordering on adoration? Yes, I think so. Is it out place to criticize? Not really.
You compare it to American's love for Washington. You forget that Turks situation after WWI was far more difficult and the modernization Ataturk brought was more drastic. Not to mention that Turks are a different breed than Americans and they do tend to take such matters seriously. I believe there is still a law whereby one can be taken to court for insulting Ataturk. I can feel your comment coming - that this shows Ataturk was a dictator or that there is a "cult" around him :-) Not really, it's just that Turks are an obsessive lot - what they love and feel loyal to, they tend to protect to some strange extremes.
Would you care to elaborate exactly what your feelings are about Mustafa so I can properly ascertain whether an apology is required?
I don't have any "feelings" for Ataturk. What are you talking about?
I was talking about facts and how Turks adore him. If you thought I had any "feelings" on the subject, that is perhaps one point where this conversation went astray.
Oh and by the way, weren't you supposed to prove my "exhuberant apparent deification of Kemal"?
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And lighten up a bit... You're internalizing too much of this... :0)
I am not "internalizing" anything. Your errors don't bother me so much but the completely incorrect personal commentary does.
By the way, if I had a bit more time, I would take you up on some of the other factual mistakes in those posts, including the fictitious date of Turkey's entrance into WWII - the real date is about two years later, in 1945:
It was only in February, 1943 that Turkey actually declared war on Germany
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