Lesson No. 15 Mustafa Kamal (Question Answers, & MCQs)
Solution of Exercise
Q1: What the attitude of the Turkish government towards the allies after World War-I?
Ans: The war was over. Throughout the entire near and Middle East the armies of the democracies had been hailed not so much as conquerors, but as deliverers. The Turks themselves were only too glad to be able to lay down arms after almost continuous fighting since 1911. A government formed from the old Liberals was in power in Istanbul, its members and the Padishah himself alike eager to collaborate with the Allies; their conception of the best interests of the nation was that of loyalty to the Armistice and co-operation with the occupying forces of the conquerors.
Q2: Why was Mustafa Kamal sent to Anatolia?
Ans: The war was over, but in Eastern Anatolia revolts started against the foreign invasion and occupation. The fight increased day by day. Mustafa Kamal was sent there to put down these revolts.
Q3: What was the reaction of the Turkish patriots to the intention of the allies to partition the Ottoman Empire?
Ans: To all Turkish patriots these events meant that there was only one policy to be pursued. Even those most friendly to the Allies were infuriated by this foreign occupation of the richest and most essentially Turkish of their provinces- Turkish patriotism was no longer vague and undecided, it was a flame burning in the health of men and women of all classes – a flame of indignation not of hatred. Even during cruel wars the Turks and the Greeks never hated each other, and among the Greeks there was little enthusiasm for the Anatolian adventure.
Q4: Write a note on Mustafa Kamal’s activities in Anatolia.
Ans: Mustafa Kamal set out to tour the villages, preaching resistance and in every place appointing representatives to form centers of patriotic revolt. Yet even the energy and personality of Mustafa Kamal would not have been so effective had not news arrived that the Greeks were advancing. Everywhere the local Turks vowed that death was preferable to rule by Greeks.
Q5: Why did Mehmet order Mustafa Kamal to return to Constantinople?
Ans: As soon as Mehmet heard of these activities he ordered Mustafa Kamal to “”return. The patriot’s reply was a long personal telegram to the Padishah urging him, as leader of his people, to come over to Anatolia and himself take the lead against the Greeks and all the foreign enemies-it would be Mehmet’s last chance to save himself, the Throne of his fore- fathers and the Turkish nation. But Mehmet’s conception of the best interests of Turkey was co-operation with the powerful conquerors. In these circumstances the only imaginable reply to Mustafa Kamal’s invitation was a peremptory command: the rebel must report himself immediately to Istanbul. Back along the wire went the most momentous telegram in the history of the Ottoman Empire: “I shall stay in Anatolia until the nation has won its Independence.”
Q6: What was Mustafa Kamal’s reply?
Ans: As soon as Mehmet heard of these activities he ordered Mustafa Kamal to return. The patriot’s reply was a long personal telegram to the Padishah urging him, as leader of his people, to come over to Anatolia and himself take the lead against the Greeks and all the foreign enemies-it would be Mehmet’s last chance to save himself, the Throne of his fore- fathers and the Turkish nation. But Mehmet’s conception of the best interests of Turkey was co-operation with the powerful conquerors. In these circumstances the only imaginable reply to Mustafa Kamal’s invitation was a peremptory command: the rebel must report himself immediately to Istanbul. Back along the wire went the most momentous telegram in the history of the Ottoman Empire: nation has won its I shall stay in Anatolia until the Independence.
Q7: How did Mehmet try to regain Anatolia for himself?
Ans: He said that the nationalists can come to Istanbul from Anatolia and form a government of their own. He also said that the delegates in Anatolia can shift their activities to Istanbul and put Mustafa Kamal’s ideas in practice. This was just a trick to shift nationalists to Istanbul. Mehmet was not sincere in doing SO.
Q8: Why did his plan fail?
Ans: The plan was failed because Mustafa Kamal saw through the intention of Mehmet IV. He refused to go back and said that the government should sit in the upland town of Ankara.
Q9: What were the terms offered to Turkey by the Allies?
Ans: All the Arab provinces were to become Mandated Territories; the whole of Eastern Anatolia was to be added to the state of Armenia; around Izmir was to be a large Greek district; Cicilia was to go to the French; the Ottoman capital itself was to be an international centre under the control of Britain, France and Italy. Only the immediate hinterland of Istanbul was to remain of the once extensive “Turkey in Europe.”
Q10: Give an account of the Greek attack and its defeat.
Ans: On the 21st August, 1921, the Greeks attacked. In the mountain country above the Sakarya river, some fifty kilo- metres west of Ankara the two valiant people fought almost man to man for fourteen days under the burning heat of the sun, the Greeks attacking with reckless abandon, the Turks hanging grimly on the heights, Mustafa Kamal now their Commander-in-Chief. By the 4th of September the critical moment had come: the Greeks were at the end of their strength. On the 12th they crossed the Sakarya and began to retire steadily, but there was no question of the Turks immediately following up their advantage. It was not till the end of August, 1922 that Mustafa Kamal was able to sound his famous battle-call: “Soldiers: Your goal is the Mediterranean.
Q11: Give an account of the departure of Mehmet from Istanbul.
Ans: It was the 17th of November, 1922. A British motor ambulance drew up at a side-door of the palace where Mehmet was staying. Some baggage was brought out of the palace and placed in the car. An elderly man followed. A British Officer took the old gentleman’s umbrella as he entered the vehicle. The door was closed and the ambulance drove away. The last of the Sultans was on his way to exile.
Q12: Describe the reforms introduced by Mustafa Kamal with reference to
(1) The position of women
(2) Removal of illiteracy
(3) Change in dresses (4) Adoption of the roman script and
(5) The industrial and economic development. Ans: 1. The position of women: He abolished veil and addressed the men on the subject of women right. He urged women to get higher education and said that they should be instructed in every field of life.
- Removal of Illiteracy: He was determined to break down
this barrier, Mustafa Kamal declared the old script to be
abolished and replaced by the Roman script. Thereupon he set
out on a series of tours round the country to demonstrate, chalk
in hand, how the new script should be used. The whole
population went back to school. Nor was Mustafa Kamal a
lenient master. He tested people on the most unexpected
occasions, naming a day, not far ahead, by which everyone
was to have learned the new script. - Change in Dresses: No less revolutionary was the abolition in 1925 of the national head-dress, called the Fez. The Fez was in origin Greek, but it had come to be associated closely with Turkish life. When the wearing of hats was made compulsory there were barely enough to go round, so that the houses of the foreigners were ransacked and men even went about in Paris models. It was reported from Izmir that in a village nearby, the peasants unable to obtain bowlers, or caps, discovered in the closed shop of a departed Armenian
- haberdasher a stock of ladies’ summer hats, and seizing the entire selection, wore them, ribbons, feathers and all.
- Adoption of the Roman Script: Removal of Illiteracy: He was determined to break down this barrier, Mustafa Kamal declared the old script to be abolished and replaced by the Roman script. Thereupon he set out on a series of tours round the country to demonstrate, chalk in hand, how the new script should be used. The whole population went back to school. Nor was Mustafa Kamal a lenient master. He tested people on the most unexpected occasions, naming a day, not far ahead, by which everyone was to have learned the new script.
- The Industrial and Economic Development: No less great was the economic advance. In 1919, there was only one railway in Turkey, and judged by modern standards no roads at all. Mustafa Kamal inaugurated great development and construction schemes both for railways and motor roads. In 1919, there were 150 factories in Turkey, in 1933, 2000, while the Turkish Five-Year Plan, inaugurated in 1934, encouraged heavy industry still further. The banking system was organized and the Ottoman public debt (taken over from the Sultanate by the new Republic) was reduced to one-tenth of its former size. All this was achieved without further borrowing.
Q13: Sum up in a few sentences the work of Mustafa Kamal as a great leader nation-builder.- Ans: The changes in all branches of Turkish life have been stupendous. It would be no exaggeration to say that at the time that Mustafa Kamal set to work, the mental and political development of the masses in Turkey was on a level with that of the people of Western Europe in the mid-eighteenth century. The Turks have now traversed in a few years the road which the people of Western Europe took 150 years to travel. The thorough democratization of the nation and the awakening of the people and the unchaining of their powers has been the work of Mustafa Kamal.
Multiple Choice Questions
- What was the reaction of Turkish at the end of the war?
A. They welcomed the conquerors✅
B. They resisted
C. They had no choice
D. None of these - A general massacre of the American is expected. The underlined word means
A. Appreciation
B. Killing✅
C. Welcome
D. Arrival - The houses of the foreigners were ransacked. underlined word means
The
A. Destroyed
B. Built
C. Attacked
D. Searched - Choose the correct spelling.
A. Peremptory✅
B. Premptory
C. Permptory
D. Paremptory - This is the house where we live. The underlined part is a/an
A. Phrase
B. Clause✅
C. Predicate
D. Complement - May you live long! Is a/an
A. Assertive sentence
C. Imperative sentence
B. Exclamatory sentence✅
D. Interrogative sentence - Night came on rain fall heavily.The underlined part is a/an
A. Coordinate clause✅
B. Subordinate clause
C. Phrase
D. Complement
