Mustafa Kemal Atatürk speaks fluent French with the then-US Ambassador to Ankara



https://v.redd.it/exy9dh3lr8be1

by turkish__cowboy

16 comments

  1. Why do we use english in the EU when there isn’t a single english speaking country in the EU anymore?

    Revive esperantism or just switch to french or german idc, but a unified mandatory second language would do much good for the european identity!

  2. Should that be impressive? Woow. It’s not like he’s speaking fluent mandarin

  3. Où sont passés tous les arméniens, monsieur Atatürk ? J’espère qu’il ne leur est rien arrivé de mal.

  4. Back when statesmen actually spoke at least three languages fluently, often more.

  5. While our current president probably don’t know even his mother language(either Georgian or Pontic Greek)

  6. The video itself is a beautiful historical archive of recorded history of a post wwi setting. That being said Ataturk was a polyglot (well educated for his time but partially self taught, an avid reader) statesman who dedicated latter half of his life to peace and dialogue between nations, and this is a rare recorded document of a diplomatic context representing the rejuvenated Turkish republic – very different in style obviously than powers that be of the present day…

  7. Back then, the international language was French.

    Contrary to what Hollywood would make us believe, when people from different countries got together in the 19th and early-20th centuries, they’d speak in French.

  8. why is that worth mentioning? did he have some impediment that stoped him from speaking a foreign language?

  9. He was part of the last generation of the Ottoman army which was revamped and modernized with the help of military consultants brought from France. From the late 19th century onwards you had to speak French fluently to be taken seriously and climb the ranks of state offices in the Ottomans. Fluency in French was also seen as a symbol of status and therefore common amongst the Istanbul elite as well.

  11. Ataturk was a piece of shit that killed a quarter million Armenians, who cares

  12. That’s hell of excellent French ! Ataturk sounded more confident and fluent than the US ambassador

  14. He is a bit hesitant and has a slight accent but still sounds better than the American am ambassador. French was widely spoken in higher spheres of the late Ottoman Empire. As a well educated man it is totally normal for him to be fluent in French

  16. Bit off topic, thought was interesting.

    Wellington NZ is a memorial for Mustafa Kemel and the Turkish troops who fought at ANZAC Cove, After Türkiye made the memorial for the ANZAC’s the other memorial is in Canberra.

Comments are closed.