Little Mustafa

Ataturk's Childhood Years

Little Mustafa: Prof. Dr. Mine Erol

Cover and Illustrations: Hakan Aydın

Design and Editing: Yahya Türkeli

E-ISBN : 978-625-6020-48-1

Özlem Yayınevi

Marka Tescil: 2012 / 35576

Yayıncı Sertifikası: 53253

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Little Mustafa

“Children are the assurance of our future and our joy of living…”

M. Kemal ATATÜRK

Dear Children; There is no one among us who does not know the childhood of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the Savior of our Country and the Founder of our Republic. When you read the story of Little Mustafa in the pen of historian Prof. Dr. Mine Erol, you will learn a lot of unknown information beyond what you already know.

Little Mustafa

In the year 1881, a baby boy was born in a two-story wooden house in Thessaloniki. They named him Mustafa.

Everyone was filled with joy. Unaware of the happiness of his parents and relatives, he was sleeping soundly in his bed.

Who could have known that this blue-eyed, blonde-haired child would one day grow up to be a great man who would change the destiny of the Turkish nation? He was just like any other child. He was sleeping, unaware of everything...

Months and years passed. When this little boy, whose eyes sparkled with intelligence, reached school age, his mother Zübeyde Hanım, like any mother, was happy to see her son grown up.

Stroking her son's blonde hair, she said to him:

-Mustafa, my dear son, you will start school tomorrow. I am filled with joy to see you grown up. My only son, you will go to school and learn to read and write. I am so happy that you can't imagine. Are you happy too, my son?

-Of course, I am happy, but...

-Yes, my child, finish your sentence, why are you silent, Mustafa? I see you very upset. Do you have a problem? You don't seem happy at all.

-I am happy, mother. But please, let my father take me to school. I don't want to go to the neighborhood school, being paraded through the streets with prayers. Please, mother, send me to the school my father wants.

-But my son, look, baklavas and sherbets have been prepared, guests have been invited. Then your friends will come and take you with prayers. How can I give this up? What's done is done. If I had known you would be so upset, I wouldn't have done this. Like any mother, I have desired to see this day for years. If I had known it would upset my little Mustafa, I wouldn't have done it.

At that moment, Mustafa's father enters.

-Where is my beautiful son, my golden-haired child? Look what I bought you. A beautiful school bag. It has books and notebooks in it. Come on, let my Mustafa go to school and learn to read and write, I will buy him more things. But you haven't looked at your bag, look how beautifully it's embroidered, or don't you like it?

-Thank you, father, I like it very much.

-But why didn't you pick it up and look at it? If you don't like it, I'll buy another one.

His mother interrupts:

-Mustafa is very upset, he doesn't want to go to the neighborhood school with prayers. He wants his father to take him to school, and he wants to go to the school you desire, but I...

-My dear son, is this what you were upset about? Don't be upset, go to the neighborhood school with prayers tomorrow, to please your mother. She wants you to start school with a ceremony. Let her have her wish too. She is a mother, she has her own desires. Besides, I promise you, I will take you out of that school in a few days and send you to Şemsi Efendi's school, believe me, my son.

-My dear father, my dear father, I will study, I will become a great man, I promise you too...

A while later, his father keeps his promise and takes little Mustafa out of the neighborhood school and sends him to Şemsi Efendi's school.

When Mustafa enters the second grade, his father gets sick and passes away. The family begins to have financial