Ne mutlu Türküm diyene

Ne mutlu Türküm diyene (English: How happy is the one who says "I am Turk") is a guiding principle of the Kemalist education system of the Republic of Turkey. Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) used this phrase in his speech delivered for the 10th Anniversary of the Republic of Turkey, on October 29, 1933 (Republic Day) for the first time. In 1972, the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Turkey introduced this phrace to the "Student Oath" (or "Student Pledge", Turkish: Öğrenci Andı). Today the entire text is used, among other things, in primary schools in Turkey. After the regular morning singing the national anthem İstiklâl Marşı before class as this text oath of a boy and a girl auditioned and repeated by all other students.

History of the Student Oath

1933

Children's Day

According to Afet İnan's book, Reşit Galip who was the Minister of National Education at the time, composed the text of the "Student Oath" (or "Student Pledge", Turkish: Öğrenci Andı) and gave the Turkish children as a present, on April 23, 1933 (Children's Day)^[1] The Board of Education and Edification of the Ministry of National Education introduced this text as the "Student Oath", with the direction number 101 and dated May 10, 1933. In accordance with the direction of the Board of Education and Edification, the Ministry of National Education issued the circular number 1749/42 and dated May 18, 1933 about the "Student Pledge" that would be repeated by students everyday.

Reşit Galip's original text

Turkish:

Türküm, doğruyum, çalışkanım. Yasam, küçüklerimi korumak, büyüklerimi saymak, yurdumu, budunumu özümden çok sevmektir. Ülküm, yükselmek, ileri gitmektir. Varlığım Türk varlığına armağan olsun.

English:

I am a Turk, honest and hardworking. My principle is to protect the younger to respect the elder, to love my homeland and my nation more than myself. My ideal is to rise, to progress. My existence shall be dedicated to the Turkish existence.

10th Anniversary of the Republic

Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) used the phrase "Ne mutlu Türküm diyene" (How happy is the one who says "I am a Turk") in his speech delivered for the 10th Anniversary of the Republic of Turkey, on October 29, 1933 (Republic Day)^[2]

1972

50th Anniversary of the Battle of Dumlupınar

To the purpose of usage for the 50th Anniversary of the victory over Greek forces at Dumlupınar in 1922 (Victory Day), with the article No. 78 of the regulation about elementary schools, published in the Resmî Gazete No. 14291 dated August 29, 1972, last phrases including "Ne mutlu Türküm diyene" (How happy is the one who says "I am a Turk") were added to the existing "Student Oath".

Text of 1972 edition

Turkish:

Türküm, doğruyum, çalışkanım. Yasam, küçüklerimi korumak, büyüklerimi saymak, yurdumu, milletimi özümden çok sevmektir. Ülküm yükselmek, ileri gitmektir. Varlığım Türk varlığına armağan olsun.

Ey bu günümüzü sağlayan, Ulu Atatürk; açtığın yolda, kurduğun ülküde, gösterdiğin amaçta hiç durmadan yürüyeceğime ant içerim.

Ne mutlu Türküm diyene.

English:

I am a Turk, honest and hardworking. My principle is to protect the younger to respect the elder, to love my homeland and my nation more than myself. My ideal is to rise, to progress. My existence shall be dedicated to the Turkish existence.

Oh Great Atatürk, who had created our life of today; on the path that you have paved, in the country that you established, I swear to walk incessantly with the purposes that you have set.

How happy is the one who says "I am a Turk."

1997

Text of 1997 edition

Turkish:

Türküm, doğruyum, çalışkanım. İlkem, küçüklerimi korumak, büyüklerimi saymak, yurdumu, milletimi, özümden çok sevmektir. Ülküm, yükselmek, ileri gitmektir.

Ey büyük Atatürk! Açtığın yolda, gösterdiğin hedefe durmadan yürüyeceğime ant içerim.

Varlığım Türk varlığına armağan olsun. Ne mutlu Türküm diyene !

English :

I am a Turk, honest and hardworking. My principle is to protect the younger to respect the elder, to love my homeland and my nation more than myself. My ideal is to rise, to progress.

Oh Great Atatürk ! On the path that you have paved, I swear to walk incessantly toward the aims that you have set.

My existence shall be dedicated to the Turkish existence. How happy is the one who says "I am a Turk !".

Translations and interpretations

The official interpretation of the sentence refers only to the citizenship. Happy is he who calls himself a Turk, and not who is a Turk. This should include citizens with different backgrounds. However, Turkish nationalism was an ideology that denied the existence of Kurds throughout the 20th Century, in some cases referring to them as "Mountain Turks".^[3]

See also

• Republic Day (Turkey)
• Pledge of Allegiance USA

References

1. ^ A. Afer İnan, Atatürk Hakkında Hâtiralar ve Belgeler, Ajans-Türk Matbaacılık Sanayii, 1968, p. 209. (Turkish)
2. ^ Onuncu Yıl Söylevi (Onuncu Yıl Nutuk), Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha's speech on the 10th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey, on October 29, 1933, Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Başkanlığı. (Turkish)
3. ^ Ali Kemal Özcan, Turkey's Kurds: A Theoretical Analysis of the PKK and Abdullah Öcalan, Routledge, New York, 2006, ISBN 9780415366878, p. 82.

External links

• Onuncu Yıl Nutuk (Onuncu Yıl Söylevi) in Google Videos. (Turkish)
• Talip Kurşun, 'Andımız' tartışılamaz mı? (Is 'our oath' indisputable ?), Radikal, September 29, 2005. (Turkish)