The Greek newspaper Ta Nea has stirred up controversy over a series of Speeches That Changed The World by including Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the modern Republic of Turkey and commander of Turkish forces during a genocide against Greeks, as well as the massacre in Smyrna and the fall of the city in 1922.
Several Turkish dailies have made reference to the series that includes speeches by Ataturk. Following covers will feature speeches belonging to John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill, Fidel Castro and Martin Luther King.
The first book of the series presents the marathon speech of Atatürk as well as the speech of the then-Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos outside the Greek Parliament concerning the Greek-Τurkish rapprochement that led to a population exchange in which Greece lost its holdings in Asia Minor.
Supporters of the project claimed that the series would give Greek readers the opportunity to read the leaders’ speeches, make their own interpretations and draw their own conclusions. Critics of the initiative, however, said the idea of distributing Atatürk’s speech as the anniversary of the Sept. 13, 1922 burning of Nea Smyrna approached would just provoke resentment.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
