A new exhibition titled “Books Believed to Have Been Annotated or Marked by Atatürk: Atatürk’s World of Books” opened at the Presidential Nation’s Library on the 87th anniversary of the passing of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Türkiye.
The exhibition presents works identified through research in the Atatürk Museum Pavilion, the Anıtkabir Atatürk and the War of Independence Museum, Istanbul University’s Rare Works Library and the Samsun Gazi Museum. Visitors can view books believed to have been read by Atatürk, along with his voice recordings, speeches and photographs from various periods.
Visitors have the opportunity to closely examine books that Atatürk read and annotated.
Ayhan Tuğlu, head of the Presidential Libraries Department, said the exhibition was the result of nearly two years of work by an eight-member team.
“Here we have opened a distinguished exhibition of more than 30 books, magazines and documents. In our Cihannüma Hall, models of 491 books are displayed, and their full-text versions are now accessible worldwide through our website,” Tuğlu said.
Drawing attention to one of the books in the collection, Tuğlu noted, “When Atatürk visited Samsun for the fourth time in 1930, he asked Afet İnan to bring him several books. One of them was titled Beautiful Women in History. After reading it, Atatürk made notes in blue pencil and told the library director, Şefik Bey, that the sections he marked should definitely be read to the public. These notes included statements about freedom by Madame Roland. Şefik Bey then added Atatürk’s note to the first page of the book.”
Tuğlu added that public interest in the exhibition has been strong. “Our founding leader, the architect of the Republic, is loved by everyone. We believe we are honoring his legacy not just with remembrance, but through exhibitions, books and our website. We hope researchers will also benefit from this collection,” he said.
The exhibition will remain open to visitors for two weeks. Also, the books in the exhibition can be seen online via the website mk.gov.tr.
