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AAKM-UNIVERSALITY-OF-ATATURKS-PHILOSOPHY

Reproduced by Australian Atatürk Cultural Centre Inc. 5 The Thoughts of Atatürk - Some Selections Man ascended from creatures, which swarmed and romped about in water to emerge in his present form. It took millions and millions of generations for man to achieve his present high level of intelligence, intellect and capability. Man now looks upon the fate of his own species with an ever growing and assertive consciousness. As human societies grew to form states, the responsibilities of the individual also grew. The powers of the person in charge of the state were regarded as unlimited, boundless, unconditional, and absolute. There were no civil rights. The rights of the individual were over-ridden by divine right and this was the prerogative of the sovereign. Relying on this right, the sovereign could abuse the freedom of his subject. This was not regarded as a violation of the rights of the individual. As people developed mentally, they had more lucid thoughts about their own origin, and gradually became capable of understanding and appreciating better the grandeur of that origin. As it became clearer that nature was bigger than everything else and that, indeed, it comprised everything there was, man as the very child of nature, began to perceive his own dignity and respectability. It was after attaining this level of perception that people realised the need to make use of and to develop their liberties, utilising all the talents nature had endowed them with. They came to the conclusion that this need was something natural, and that, in fact, it signified a right, which was itself one of nature’s gifts. From then on emerged the question of rights and the related duel between the individual on the one side and the sovereign and the state on the other. This is reflected on the history of the internal development of all states. With members of the Government and delegation from Azerbaijan and the Soviet Union.

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