Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s Address to Youth

O Turkish youth! Your first duty is to preserve and defend Turkish Independence and the Turkish Republic forever.

This is the very foundation of your existence and your future. This foundation is your most precious treasure. In the future, too, there will be malevolent people, both within and outside the country, who will wish to deprive you of this treasure. If one day you are compelled to defend your independence and the Republic, you shall not pause to consider the conditions and circumstances in which you find yourself before leaping to your duty! These conditions and circumstances may manifest themselves in the most unfavorable manner. The enemies who conspire against your independence and your Republic may represent an unprecedented victory throughout the entire world. By force and by trickery, all the fortresses of your beloved homeland may have been captured, all its shipyards occupied, all its armies dispersed, and every corner of the country may have been physically invaded. Even more grievous and more dire than all these conditions, those who hold power within the country may have fallen into error, folly, and even treason. They may even have aligned their personal interests with the political ambitions of the invaders. The nation may have fallen into utter destitution and ruin.

O child of Turkey’s future! Even under such conditions and circumstances, your duty is to save Turkish Independence and the Republic! The strength you need already flows in the noble blood within your veins!

Gazi Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK