Sunday, June 03, 2007

Birthday of Ataturk


Everybody in Turkey knows Ataturk. His work, his life (although his marriage is still a no-talking issue) his vision, his life style. But if you look for his birthday, it always: Ataturk born in 1881, in Salonika, Greece. Without a day.

But it was fun to read an article by Turkish-Dutch student, who 'discovered' that Ataturk was born on the 17th of May 1881. For astrology freaks: the same birthday as Khomeini, Qaddafi, Enya, Stevie Wonder, and me...Will they threat me now with more respect in Turkey?...

4 comments:

super hero said...

i know that his birthday was not known. this is a quite common situation. there are still many people who dont know their exact birthdays in turkey. sometimes the year might even be controversional. most of the id cards these people have write Jan 1 for their days of birth.

and i remember an anectode, when Atatutk was asked when his birthday was, he replied as "Why not May 19" which doesnt suggest he was born in that day but he would prefer to celebrate it with the same date he reached Samsun which is accepted as the start of the Turkish Independence War.

Alp ve Ege'nin Annesi said...

this is the big honour to have same birthday with Ataturk, you are very lucky person!

B5 said...

Happy birthday :)
Mine was 27th.

Unknown said...

Thanks b5..))