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if the shoe fits...
not my concern, really, i just express my opinions.
i dont find anything extraordinary in the quote of ataturk.
An American friend of mine says he has difficulty following English language conversations when he goes to Britain or even the US. Since he has been living here for more than 20 years, he has a problem with catching the context. People talk about somethings which are only meaningful to those who know the background of the thing being talked about.
Similarly, we should take into account the context in which Ataturk said that sentence. It is probably one sentence that sums it all for the new Turkish republic which was built from the ashes of the former Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire was a religious nation. It assumed the duty of protecting and spreading Islam. Its sultan was a caliph who was like the pope of the Islamic (sunnite) nations almost all of which had already been united under a single flag.
The Ottomans deliberately put the emphasis on religion. We had Greek, Italian, Armenian and Jewish pashas, rulers and religious leaders who according to the millet system were given virtual autonomy in internal affairs. Each religion group were governed by their own religious leaders according to their own laws regarding affairs concerning their own communities.
As it is understood, the Ottoman version of the slogan would be "Ne mutlu müslümanım diyene" or "Hristiyanım diyene" etc. Ataturk changed this and launched a national government. At that time there was no money, lots of deaths and lots of poverty. Ataturk used the only bond available to him, it was the Turkish identity which had long been forgotten.
It was an era marked by the rise of nationalism. All of The Ottoman territory had been lost to nationalist rebellions. As a matter of fact, this nationalist movement has not stopped yet. Almost all of the wars that have happened in Europe can be directly linked with nationalism.
Nevertheless, what made Ataturk´s phrase meaningful was not the excessive nationalistic tone in it. On the contrary, he separated race from nationality. Turk is the name given to people living in and working for this country. He spent 15 years of his life for the purpose of creating an educated, dynamic and hardworking society. "Ne mutlu Türküm diyene" might actually be pointing out to the confidence he has in his people about the realization of his ideals.
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