Organisation is what is missing

On February 4, 1919, Refii Cevat (Ulunay), one of the writers of Alemdar newspaper, had a meeting with Mustafa Kemal Pasha at his house in Şişli.

Refii Cevat narrates this meeting as follows:

When I finished my questions and stood up to say goodbye, he said:

“Please sit a little longer.”

I sat down. We had a conversation like this:

“Have you run out of questions?”

“It’s over, Pasha.”

“I would expect you to ask a question: “How can this country be saved from this disaster it has fallen into and regain its independence?”

“Forgive me, Your Excellency Pasha, I did not ask such a question because I did not see it possible, even in the remotest possibility, for this country to be saved from the conditions we are in today.”

“You still asked such a question, I will give you my answer, but on the condition that I do not write it down.”

“I am listening to your Excellency Pasha.”

“Look, Mr. Cevat, there are ways of salvation that you find impossible. If any organizer goes to Anatolia today and prepares the nation for an armed resistance, this country can be saved. I was excited. We had exhausted our strength so much during the First World War that we had nothing left. Those who survived the wars were in no condition to survive.”

“How is it, my Pasha?” I jumped up.

Pasha was calm:

“I guess what’s on your mind,” he said, “it’s true. The outlook is completely against us. But these great powers, which are our enemies, also have an inner side.”

“How is it, Pasha?”

“Let me explain. Do you think that by winning the war, the allies have solved all the problems between them? The real competition between them will begin now.

The danger of a common enemy united the French and the British, who had been struggling with each other for centuries. Now that old rivalry will start again from where they left off. Italy is also in trouble. They may also experience internal turmoil at any time.

After all, none of them are in a position to fight a national resistance that will start in Anatolia. “This is the right time for such a struggle.”
“Pasha, national resistance… Good, but with what? With which soldiers, with which weapons, with what money? Unfortunately, my Pasha, this beautiful homeland of ours has become no different from a dry desert.”

“It seems so, Mr. Refii Cevat. But it is necessary to bring life out of the desert. There is a hidden and strong life in this world that is thought to be a desert. That is the Turkish nation. What is missing is the organization. If this organization can be organized, both the homeland and the nation will be saved.”
I said goodbye to Mustafa Kemal; I came to the printing house. I had neither my head nor my logic. More precisely, what he said seemed like crazy nonsense to me.
Friends at the printing house were telling me to explain; What did he say?

I explained: At this time, they would go to Anatolia, an organization would be established there, the country would gain its independence, and the nation would gain its freedom. Do you understand, friends?

He wasn’t crazy, he was crazy. In those days, under those conditions, everyone thought the same as me against those who talked about joining the War of Independence and saving Türkiye. He was the only man who thought so in those days; one man!

Source: Atatürk’s Life in Istanbul, Sadi Borak, Kuleli Magazine, 1996/1, Page: 1-2