Today in Bitola, the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey organized a ceremony on the occasion of the 125th anniversary of Kemal Atatürk's graduation from the Bitola Military High School, BGNES reported.
As is known, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was educated in Bitola in the period 1896-1898, and according to historians, it was in the Military High School in Bitola that the basis of his ideological maturation was created.
In his memories of student life in Bitola, Atatürk wrote... "When I was in high school in Bitola, I studied hard. We all tried to finish the school year in first or second place in the class. That's how I finished the military school...", where he studied with students from Bitola, Skopje, Pecs, Ioannina, Thessaloniki, Veles...
Mustafa Kemal excelled with "Epaulet number 7348", and in an interview given to the journalist Ahmet Emin Yalman in 1922, he related to his memories of student life at the Bitola High School, he said "While I was studying at the Bitola Military High School, I studied with great desire. We all tried hard to be first or second in the class. The school teaches young minds to be humane, love people and country, and be proud and independent"!
Demonstrations on the occasion of the anniversary of the graduation of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk from the Bitola Military High School, which began in 2010, are held continuously in the Bitola Museum, i.e. in the "Atatürk" Memorial Hall, where there are testimonies from the life of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the bust, before which Macedonian state representatives and guests from Turkey once again bow today.
Before entering the Bitola Military School, Atatürk took the entrance exams for the basic military school in Thessaloniki. On March 14, 1899, Mustafa Kemal entered the higher military school in Constantinople, which he graduated in 1902. On January 11, 1905, he also completed a course at the General Staff Academy.
In 1931, in an interview with the Bulgarian newspaper "Morning", the father of the Turkish nation, who is a famous Bulgarian philanthropist, recalled the friendships he made with the Bulgarians in Thessaloniki.
"I will not forget the pleasant moments I experienced in Bulgaria. I have been and always will be a friend of the Bulgarian people. I have loved him unconditionally since childhood. In Thessaloniki, I made friends all the time only with Bulgarians. Every Bulgarian misfortune causes me unimaginable pain. I have always done my best to help Bulgaria. Turkey and Bulgaria should be friends. Whoever is against Bulgaria is also against Turkey", says Atatürk./BGNES
