December 5th, 1919. I was alone, in my home. It was a cold winter day. I lit the stove and burnt the wood I chopped the other day. While the hour hand past midnight, I was thinking about a thing and one thing only, December 27th. Mustafa Kemal was on his way to Ankara. Everyone was in a great hurry to look peerless in front of our leader. Even at the midnight, I could see people carrying some stuff around as if it was daytime in the neighbourhood. I eventually slept.
It was December 6th. We were one day closer to meeting Mustafa Kemal. I was on my way to my bakery. It was unexpectedly crowded. I told myself that it had been a long day. Eventually, we passed the halfway mark of December. I had reached a decision about not working that day, so I went to a café. The only thing I heard was Mustafa Kemal. I met with a few of my friends so it was a decent day, until the evening. My beloved father just got killed. It was the second saddest thing that happened to me (First is when Mustafa Kemal died). I didn’t believe in the ones that said if you lose your father, you lose yourself too, I was proven wrong.
December 20th, 1919. I was again, alone in my home looking at my dad’s picture. It had basically become a routine for me. I could hear the children playing football, I could hear the ladies talking about the new carpenter. I could even hear the tinkling from the teaspoon of men’s tea hitting the glass. I wished I was a part of them, but I was in pain. It was only one week before Mustafa Kemal’s Ankara trip and I was experiencing a mental breakdown while I should be happy.
Finally, the day came. I was in my room when I heard the loudest chanting in my life. I understood that our beloved leader was here. I suddenly realised that I should be there. Just when I arrived, it was December 27th, 1919… I saw Atatürk, he was there greeting people with his deep blue eyes. I was delighted to have made that decision to go out.
After his remarkable speech. I heard the loudest clapping ever. You know how people say sometimes you feel like you are in a dream when you are in a loud environment, turns out it is true. And that is how I saw Atatürk for the first time, how I saw the love and belief in his eyes, how I realised what he really did to this country and how I realised I owed him a lot.