Nutuk

Atatürk designated these concepts as the 'most precious treasures' of Turkish people, the 'foundations' of their new state, and the preconditions of their future 'existence' in his speech.

Vahdeddin, the one carrying the titles of Sultan and Caliph, degenerated; only dreaming of the ways to save his thrown [sic].

The government under the grand vizirate of Damat Ferit Paşa, without honor, frightened and incompetent, under the command of the sultan and in the same boat as him, ready to accept anything for the sake of their lives."

At last, on the 15th of May, that is to say, four days before the following account of the event begins, the Greek Army, with the consent of the Entente Powers, had landed at İzmir.

"[7] He asserts that Turkey can only be respected by other powers if it achieves independence and sovereignty on the basis of Turkish nationhood, not members of the House of Osman as individuals, and threatens Ottoman restorationists: "I took my turn to speak and I declared loudly: Gentleman, power and sovereignty are not given from one person to another by scholarly debates or polemics.

"[8] Criticizing certain predominant ideas among the Ottoman populace regarding the continued existence of the Ottoman state, particularly about favoring being either an American or British protectorate, he explains his rejection to such ideas and puts forward his reasoning for the founding of a Turkish state: "Now, Gentlemen, I will ask you what decision could have been arrived at under such circumstances for salvation?

The originators of these two proposals had as their aim the preservation of the Ottoman Empire in its complete integrity and preferred to place it as a whole under the protection of a single Power, rather than allow it to be divided among several States.

According to Turkish historian Hakan Uzun, Nutuk is an embodiment of the core values of the nation that Atatürk has embraced.

The National Movement, with the goal of achieving independence and unity through the pursue of sovereignty, has done so with a defensive position rather than an aggressive one via a lawful foundation.

Göçek stated that, because the law criminalizes insulting Atatürk, Turkish historians have been unable to analyze the speech critically.

She said: "It is evident that the text commences the birth of the Turkish nation with 1919, removing in the process the demise of the Armenians in 1915 through state violence to the realm of Republican prehistory.

Historian Marc David Baer wrote: The main themes of the speech—and of the official discourse on the Armenian genocide—are silence, denial of the genocide, general amnesia about past violence (unless presenting Turks as the real victims), identifying with the perpetrators, never questioning the great prophetic and infallible leader (Atatürk), and promoting the racial purification of the land in the face of a life-or-death Darwinian struggle with minorities.

[15]British historian Perry Anderson states that, "The speech he gave in 1927 that became the official creed of the nation dwarfed any address by Khrushchev or Castro.

Extolling his own achievements, it went on for 36 hours, delivered over six days, eventually composing a tome of 600 pages: a record in the annals of autocracy.