Ataturk Was No Autocrat

To the editor: I strongly take issue with the recent article titled "Stiff Upper Lip," in which the founding father of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, is lumped with the likes of Hitler and Stalin. Ataturk’s achievements and the democratic legacy he left behind make him one of the great visionary leaders of the last ...

To the editor:

To the editor:

I strongly take issue with the recent article titled "Stiff Upper Lip," in which the founding father of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, is lumped with the likes of Hitler and Stalin.

Ataturk’s achievements and the democratic legacy he left behind make him one of the great visionary leaders of the last century. It is thanks to Ataturk that Turkey now has a unique position in the Muslim world, with a vibrant, secular democracy and burgeoning economy. Particularly at a time when Turkey is being cited as a source of inspiration in the face of the dramatically changed Middle East, it is most unfortunate, outrageous and insulting to characterize Ataturk as an autocrat.

By the same token, taking whiskers as a light-hearted parameter to put an historical figure among irrelevant others is no less an offense to the credibility of Foreign Policy as a venue of learned debate and a source of reference.

No doubt, the people of the United States would have the same reaction if their great founders and contemporary leaders were placed among similar company based on their physical appearance.

This post is a grave injustice to Ataturk, to the well-earned reputation of Foreign Policy, and to the general public who could have benefited from a journalism of higher caliber. 

Sincerely,

Namik Tan

Ambassador, Republic of Turkey

Washington, D.C.

Charles Homans is a special correspondent for the New Republic and the former features editor of Foreign Policy.

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