KEMAL'S LOVE LIFE

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 126, 23 December 1938, Page 4

KEMAL'S LOVE LIFE

TWO WOMM STAND OUT , FIKRIYE AND LATIFA ■ DOMESTIC EXPERIMENTS Essentially. tiio man of action, horn with a restless ambition, an irrepressible genius for leadership, tint life of Turkey’s late dictator is of necessity a story that is concerned with the affairs pi tfio male tvdiidU 1 . In his life there were, apart from his mother, only two women that made mote than a hooting impression upon Kernel Ataturk, the Kernel Pasha of the OJalliuoli campaign:

Not one* oi ''the writers wig) Jiave ■studied this forceful and extraordinary character.-is able to discover more than two women whey ever figured m his love life and who were above' the level of the courtesan class.

One reason for this appears to have boon the complete- absence in Kemal’s make-up of the instincts of domesticity. While lie wits waiting at Angora in lf)gl, trying to patch up an army that had been wasted by the ineptitude and corruption oi the g Con lin I (»'■:> «v'rnmo.it, the •first of only such domestic experiments was |begun and ended.

Kernel was very ill. A devoted distant kinswoman named Kikriyo made her way from,£tamlimit to enlisting'~'as .an army nurse,Jin ordoi'p to he near him. . - She saved Kemal from a serious breakdown. At her suggestion he took her tni live with him in his,,house at ( ban Kaya, a village sitiu(ie(L on up ridge a- few miles out of Aitpyum Before her coming His house fjhnd ikM.>iT.' chaotically conducted and jwdpyg the barest) suggestion or comfort. Sin h surroundings were anything hut desirable for this soldier, vylio, in addition to ill-health, was svlffering the, strain of a ceaseless campaign to free' Turkov from the (frocks ami tin* (lovw' eminent at Constantinople IT'oni its lethargy. A Delicate Girl. ,

Kikriyoi was a deiicate girl. She had not only to put Kemal’s haehelor house in erflor, Inil to wean him away iiom the constant drinking which was chin actcristic of him at this, as at many another period, of his life. ■

She luu.i .Deaiifv and youthful charm. •To these lveinai was susccjiliblc. Otherwise- she would scarcely have succeeded. Succeed 1 , until lie wearied el her. Kikriye certainly did. She transI’ornied the interier furnishings of the house, saw Unit good lood was piovichd, and tnill the atmosphere war as rest lul as the very restlessness ol Kmnal himself would permit.

While Kenutl was still under the influence of her gentle ways and i)-i' melting brown eyes, she bad terraced gardens made and trees planted! In tlie centre of the garden she-ordered the erection ol a kiosk. Mere ojt the hottest (.f'oa.vs she adid Kemal would sit while "lie brooded over the lems 'of Turkey and planned liii own i.ai i in their solution.

ft would he impossible either to assess. or to Ignore The part played by Kikiiye in the junk.ing 'ol- this most successful dictator. At tins stage Kemal was inquiring knowledge which raised Ins outlook, above tlie merely military. While lie was still lesponsivo to the ponce she bad brought .him, he road deeply in the study l'V.kriye had fttrnisiied. • Me -•Audit d Mohammedan eocleshrstionl history ami the works of economists such as devour, Adam Smith, Karl .Maix, and ("ole.

A Bc;ci! Dictatar. Kikiiye was to Kemal everything an Oriuital woman could possibly be to a man she worshipped—-nurse, lover and abjr.-h slave. All she asked was that Kemal would remain loyal to her. .•he inked' toe- much ol' the Mall v.'lin was to In rune Kemal Ataturk. Me was- incapable any pei maneiu alliance wilti a wc-man. ..(• .rst lie had he-n attracted to kikiiye, laid not. me.i without a ppreein lie., of at! aim was doing lor him. He. atfitm.e changed as rest i ess lie::; which har- : ic t | and i( : Lined him ad I hi; Inc. I'ikrivc now Ik.-red him ntu My. Me lagan studiously to avoid her-. She lamented her laic, ami with ca ll son aim d:oro him ini lTh 1 • away. for an interval she must have disr,;i; ear:’l < ve:i Irom K('.mil’s memoay tor now had- c< me t lie- time Ity m:ti t:ir,v action on Ibe grand a| ::h.' In loved. At llm battle of the Slkkaria lie fraced the Greeks out of A:i-

atolia—theis iotmrt •■eovenng pdfne.'St 200 miles, in l;ss than a IVrtiii.-*!.t’! With. Anatolia lice- of tlie enemy, Ki'ma!’s — preeA-eii|Jiriiou.s were oi n. political ami military_jiiiitiire. lie j\ Us ‘ not to lie wornoy fr! - . I'iki-.iye, pii^>x- , f I * £ > f*' • -Kct-ing ami -now. _:Kjnr ul p . jn Iqueru.i<uis. woman, v l

'She impoi timed soj.it her' Ur IDirope. .Nl'ontns Inter s(jo returned a brokcnmeartcd woman, im :>;itil.t ej living jAvitnoui Kemal Pasha. lug t>. ienlal Par<l, II ,' spurned, lu*r. She .-Ik, it liejLsqir.. And even the fear nl Atat nrle. il as ' said, has been insmneient V/i pi cyyiait" her jiitiahle siory lioni joining *tifc: 1 (,ilfc-lore <p I arkey. Young Snd beautiful. v •- ? Not. sc. tragic; 'a figure was the only other decent woman wlm \,n.i hriel reeiiguilion of. Kemal AtaturU. She was, however, the only woman who ever swept Imn awn,,'. l.atda llanum was a new type < i Turku.,i gill. She was not only young and vciy Inauiilul. hut she aiiiveU Iri'.sli iTO'iu an e.nieation in t ranee, ness;:., with ail til.; ( b gam e e. Ino .1.1,1. I’ai isian women. .M.oreover, .‘lie was supremely intelligent, quite e.s quick-minded ami strong in character as Kemal Pashahiiiiscd'. At. her neople’s line house 1 n the hills beyond Aymrua lie pressed Jiis (laims. Latna insisted LI ml: lie ma try her, and in iiiu end, wli. 11 uc lound that she was distracting him tioin auati's oi State and his plans lot seizing' lull powi r in lurkey. J:e dashed one da\ lo her and iimistt.l 1; at Limy he married. tor a I)t ic f wliiie It:’ delighted m •[ids lie: h, he:: - I{'ilu!. and highly intelligent ..'ell \.,... ...11l th. 1 two strung \, ill; clashed. Neither would give way. They quarrelled vulenlly si; that, tin ir iu.'.is; was literally in an uproar. On: 1 day. when Kemal Prill:’. had I loro-: ue mar Diet;.tar ol Tin key, he bruited a::d sigm-.i a message divorcing la r. This Im sent 11 i,al..a it :r----s; If. C'Dp les v.'cic despatched- to the Ttu !•:isJl Assembly, to tho nt wspupera, r.ud the lereign Embassies.