History

Mustafa Kemal, called Atatürk

With Turkey knocking on the door of the European Union (where 3 million Turkish people already live), and the issue of the westernization of Muslim countries more timely than ever after the September 11 attacks and the war in Iraq, we wanted to understand what led Turkey to become the modern, secular State it is today. To do this, we had to go back in time to Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic. Put together chronologically, the film alternates between archive footage and interviews with both French and Turkish historians. Asked to consider the significance of the Ataturk myth, the historians analyze key points in his life, the foundations of his character, the role he played both in Turkish public opinion and within the political parties that still lay claim to him today. A sober narrative then recounts the important historical stages and brings the Turkish issue back into focus.