Atatürk’s Love of Destiny; Myth
Atatürk’s Love of Destiny; Myth
After the 33-year rule of the last General Secretary and President of the Bulgarian Communist Party, Todor Jivkov, ended on November 10, 1989, I went to watch the parliamentary elections on October 13, 1991 to observe the country’s search for democracy.
I set off from Kardzhali by taxi.
I am chatting with the driver on the way.
Known ‘taxi drivers and barbers’ are serious sources.
In between words he said,
-You know, Atatürk had a Bulgarian girlfriend.
It was the first time I had heard of such information. I have never come across it being discussed or discussed in Turkey. It is not described in the history books. The information I heard from the taxi driver that night on the road to Cebel remained in the back of my mind for years.
When I went to Bulgaria to watch political events, the President, Prime Minister or ministers from Turkey, I always had the question of who Atatürk’s Bulgarian lover was.
Bulgarian writer Liliana Serafimova, who I learned that the girl is a member of the Kovachev family and that she took her memories and photographs of what happened, wrote a book called “Atatürk’s Destiny Love”.
He also sought to suppress it in Turkey.
When he received this information, he immediately went to Sofia and agreed to give me the photographs in return for his book to be published in Turkish.
The photograph of the young girl whom the great savior addressed as “Myth” was published in the Hürriyet Newspaper on October 21, 1988, with the headline “Here is Atatürk’s Bulgarian Lover”.
7 years after my learning, I reached that photo, she.
Describing the events in her book, Serafimova wrote that the story began after Atatürk won the ball at the Military Club on the night of May 24, 1914, while he was serving as Military Attaché in Sofia.
That night, when he danced with Dimitrina Kovacheva, the beautiful daughter of Bulgarian Defense Minister General Stilyan Kovacev, in the hall after the first place, the first knot of emotional bond was tied between them.
After the talks and speeches, Staff Major Mustafa Kemal left Sofia when he was appointed as the Commander of the 19th Division due to the start of the Dardanelles War.
Miti appeared before Atatürk again, by writing a letter to Atatürk three months before his death, beginning with the words “His Excellency the Chief of the Republic” and asking for the pardon of a friend who was imprisoned in Turkey.
While chatting with his friends in the Çankaya Mansion, Atatürk became sad and said, “I loved a girl, when I was an attaché, they did not give it to me. My heart remained in Sofia.’
Nahide Alideniz, who worked as a journalist for many years in Sofia and recently served as the Turkey Representative of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency, called a year ago and said that she would shoot a documentary about Atatürk’s days in Sofia. That’s when my memories came back to life.
I was excited when I received an invitation from Turkey’s Ambassador to Sofia, Aylin Eightkök, for the first screening of the documentary film “Mustafa Kemal’s Sofia Days”.
The screening is at the Sofia Military Clubhouse, where she met Miti, danced, and won the first prize at the dress ball.
In the documentary, the President of the Bulgarian Academy of Historical Sciences described the great love as “I believe that the period was lived according to the general moral rules.”
It is revealed by the documents that Staff Major Mustafa Kemal, fulfilling the responsibilities of his main duty, sent dozens of reports containing the military situation of the country where he served and other neighboring countries to the Ministry of War.
We also understand that he closely follows the political developments through the Turkish deputies in the Bulgarian Parliament.
On the 103rd anniversary of the start of the War of Independence, the Ballroom of the Sofia Military Club smelled of Atatürk…
While I am pleased to see that our journalism is roasted with our history, we have shown the whole world that even after 100 years, journalists can find something new in the old.
Lütfi Karakas