ÇEVRE HIGHLIGHTS - 27. SAYI

45 OCAK 2025 22st Book Festival: SinanMeydan Interview Interviewed By: Begüm Renda, Kemal Ege Sucu, Elif Kaçmaz and Ece Yılmaz Welcome to our school! First of all, thank you for accepting our interview request and for giving us the opportunity to get to know Atatürk more closely. We’d like to start by getting to know you a bit. When and how did your writing journey begin? It’s a great honour for me to be here with you. I say this inspired by Atatürk, as this philosophy is the cornerstone of my life. I highly value being with young people and sharing my experiences with them. My writing journey goes back to my childhood. That motivation, which started during my middle and high school years, continued through university with constant research. As someone who conducts research about Atatürk, which of his qualities has influenced you the most? There are many aspects of Atatürk that have influenced me, but two stand out in particular. One is his commitment to reading under all circumstances. For instance, during World War I, while serving in Muş and Bitlis in 1916, he recorded reading five books in a single day. He also read novels during the Gallipoli Campaign. This is truly remarkable; he never gave up reading, even under the most difficult conditions. For Atatürk, reading wasn’t a pastime—it was an integral part of his life. If you ask what made Mustafa Kemal become Atatürk, he undoubtedly had natural brilliance, but brilliance alone isn’t enough—it needs to be sharpened. He achieved this through reading. The second quality that inspires me is his unwavering optimism, even in the darkest times. Despite losing World War I and witnessing the Ottoman Empire’s collapse, he wrote under a photograph he signed for a friend, “We are undoubtedly walking toward a light.” When Istanbul was occupied, he famously said, “They will leave as they came.” His resilience during the most challenging times profoundly affected me. Who are some lesser-known heroes in Turkish history that deserve more attention? Atatürk always had a dedicated team supporting him. His success came from working with the right people, whether during the War of Independence or while implementing reforms. We need to get to know these individuals to truly understand Atatürk’s methods for success. Names such as Mustafa Necati, Reşit Galip, Hasan Ali Yücel, İsmail Hakkı Tonguç, Celal Bayar, Afet İnan, and Refik Saydam stand out. Without understanding these people, it’s hard to fully grasp the reforms. Atatürk often entrusted critical matters to the initiatives of trusted individuals, emphasizing the importance of working with the right team. What is your process like when writing your books? How do you find your sources, and how do you evaluate them? The process used to be much more challenging. With the advancement of technology, it has become easier. For example, my book on the Treaty of Lausanne took ten years of research to complete. First, you review the literature, identify the gaps, and then develop your thesis based on the documents and information you gather. When conducting historical research like this, our own archives aren’t sufficient. For my latest book, I examined British, French, and American archives, along with global press coverage. These are demanding and long-term endeavours. Does narrating history through storytelling carry the risk of distorting facts? What are your thoughts on this? It always carries that risk. Reading historical novels can be stimulating and enlightening, but they are novels, not history. I’ve written two novels myself, and while I tried to remain true to the facts, you can’t adhere to them completely, or it wouldn’t be a novel. Once fiction is introduced, it ceases to be history. When recounting history, one must not assume it’s absolute truth. We can draw inspiration from it, but what is conveyed isn’t pure history. Which book posed the greatest challenge during the writing process, and what did you learn from it? My most recent book on the Treaty of Lausanne took ten years to complete and was particularly challenging. It’s a contemporary and often debated topic. Filtering through all the information, finding the truth, and examining current debates was quite demanding. Which poets have influenced you the most, and which contemporary poets or writers do you follow today? Like everyone, I have poets who have greatly influenced me, foremost among them Nazım Hikmet. His Epic of the Independence War, which describes the hardships faced during the struggle for independence, has had a profound impact on me. In contemporary literature, I enjoy crime fiction, particularly works that connect with history. Ahmet Ümit is an author I read with pleasure. I also read works by Tuna Kiremitçi, who is a close friend of mine. Additionally, I frequently revisit literary classics. For historians like us, classic novels are essential as they vividly depict the atmosphere of their respective eras.