To The Turkish Youth
Turkish Youth, Your first duty is to preserve and to defend Turkish Independence and the Turkish Republic forever.
This is the very foundation of your existence and your future. This foundation is your most precious treasure. In the future, too, there may be malevolent people at home and abroad, who will wish to deprive you of this treasure. If some day you are compelled to defend your independence and your Republic, you must not hesitate to weigh the possibilities and circumstances of the situation before doing your duty.
These possibilities and circumstances may turn out to be extremely unfavourable. The enemies conspiring against your independence and your Republic may have behind them a victory unprecedented in the annals of the world. It may be that, by violence and trickery, all the fortresses of your beloved fatherland may be captured, all its shipyards occupied, all its armies dispersed and every corner of the country invaded. And sadder and graver than all these circumstances, those who hold power within the country may be in error, misguided and may even be traitors. Furthermore, they may identify personal interests with the political designs of the invaders. The country may be impoverished, ruined and exhausted.
Youth of Turkey’s future, even in such circumstances it is your duty to save Turkish Independence and the Republic. You will find the strength you need in your noble blood.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Turkish Youth’s Response to Atatürk…
Great Atatürk!
We are the eternal guardians of Turkish Independence and the Turkish Republic, the most sacred foundation of our existence. This decision is the unchanging expression of our unshakable will.
In the future, no force will be able to turn us from our path.
We take all our speed from you, from our national history, and from the inextinguishable human fire in our soul. Every step we take on the foundations you have established is solid, and every move we make is conscious.
Turkish Independence and the Republic, which is your most precious trust, will live forever in the hands of unbending heads, unbending arms, invincible Turkish children, and will be handed down from generation to generation as the basis of our existence.
All internal and external encroachments on this sacred trust will be shattered by hitting our chest full of faith.
Even if the enemies of our Independence and Republic attack us with the most powerful armies equipped with the most modern weapons, they will not be able to shake even a particle of our national consciousness and invincible Turkish power.
Because those who attack our Independence and Republic will find against them the indomitable sons of five thousand years of honorable Turkish history, and the faithful and loyal youth of the Republic and its revolutions.
O GREAT FATHER OF TURKS!
Should the necessity arise to protect the future and the Republic, we are determined to overcome all obstacles and defeat all difficulties, whatever the circumstances and conditions in which we may find ourselves, drawing our strength and courage from the noble blood in our veins.
The pledge of the Turkish Youth
As Turkish youth, we are the indomitable guardians of freedom, independence, sovereignty, the Republic, and its revolutions.
We pledge that we will always, everywhere, and in every situation, abide by Atatürk’s principles and overcome all difficulties in order to move towards modern civilization, and we dedicate ourselves to the great Turkish Nation.
Noble Turkish Youth