SJS3- "A Turkish Republic for the Civilized World"

Source: Kevin Reilly. "A Turkish Republic for the Civilized World."  World of History Vol. 2: 4th ed. 2010. Pg. 889-895.

Author Credentials:  Kevin Reilly is an acclaimed academic author and professor at universities such as Princeton, Columbia, and Rutgers. He co-founded and was the first president of the World History Association  as well as authoring and editing a significant number of reference books on world history for major organizations such as the AHA. Within the American Historical Association, he was on the Governing Council and currently specializes in immigration and how perception of race affected the trajectory of history.

Summary:  Kevin Reilly briefly summarizes the history of the Ottoman/ Turkish and explains that the  speaker, Mustafa Kemel Ataturk lead the political movement for radically changing the culture of Turkey by banning certain sects, religious headwears and clothing, all the while advocating for following the Western way of life. In the first excerpt, he briefly describes the dire state of the Ottoman Empire at the end of the first World War and the limited options they had while still maintaining their roots and how his way was the only way that made sense. In the next two, he in essence claims that the older, more traditional style of Turkish life is detrimental to the appearance of a reborn, modern state.

Analysis:  The retrospective commentary from Kevin Reilly documents the history and context of the speeches, giving some authority to the success of Kemel's plan. I think that Ataturk provides a strong argument  for his perspective, but with some obvious bias as he is pitching his idea to the lawmakers. However, Reilly gives the historical perspective, with less apparent bias. In my opinion, Reilly is a credible source while Kemel offers a passionate, but flawed argument.