Journal of Ego-Document Studies

Abstract

The letters, which reflect the relations of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who had been separated from his mother Zübeyde Hanım and sister Makbule Hanım since his early youth, with his family and the fact that his care and protection were never withheld from them, reflect sincere feelings and thoughts far from the formal structure of official documents in family correspondence, and carry elements of original self-narrative. At the same time, the fact that Mustafa Kemal Pasha cared for orphaned children who had a promising future through his family, which was an unknown aspect of Mustafa Kemal Pasha, is also understood between the lines in the letters.
The letters constitute examples of texts that touch upon the humanitarian aspect as well as the statesmanship of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, whose family relations and humanitarian aspect we witnessed despite all the preoccupations of the young Republic of Turkey, where he led the nation in the most difficult years of the empire and assumed the founding Presidency.
In addition to these intra-family letters, the letter of Ali Emiri Efendi, the founder of the Millet Library and one of the most important cultural bridge figures of the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic, in which he describes the adventure of the establishment of the Millet Library in a letter of concession and request, is a remarkable example both in terms of our cultural history and in terms of the self-narrative elements it contains.