Greg’s Blog

January 8, 1938
Dear Greg,
Our great leader, Kemal Ataturk, has just died. My life has changed so much over the past 15 years because of all the things he did for Turkey.

We even look different than we did 15 years ago. Kemal Ataturk banned the fez because he wanted to have a secular government and women aren’t allowed to wear veils anymore. Now, we look more modern in our European hats. When he was trying to make our government secular, he took away our Islamic laws. More tourists come to our country now because they think all religions are welcome here.
Ataturk gave us all freedom and equal rights like your country. Back in the Ottoman times, peasants were mistreated and today noone has special privileges. Women have equal rights now too. In Turkey today all men and women are equal before the law.
Ataturk led Turkey to full independence and ended the Ottoman dynasty. We have a republican form of government and a mixed economy. Ataturk wanted our country to be able to take care of itself financially so he did lots of expansion in agriculture, industries, and technology. He advanced transportation, banking, housing, energy, exports, and social services.
He changed our alphabet so that more countries would understand us. We used to write in Arabic, but now we use the Latin alphabet. The kids in Turkey are better readers and writers now because Ataturk thought that education was one of the most important duties of government. Kids also know more about ancient and modern cultures because Ataturk thought it was very important.
These are the amazing things Ataturk did for our country. It is exciting to live with all the new changes which make our country more like yours. I’ve put some Turkish delight in this envelope for you!
Your friend,
Glegorly

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