Atatürk's banquet during Turkish liberation war and Republican era

At his banquet in Salonika, Atatürk clearly stated that Ottoman Empirewould dissolve and the Turks would lose Asia Minor in this dissolution. As asolution to this predicament, he decided to establish the Turkish state withinthe national borders, determined the borders of this future state so as to formthe principles of Misak-ı Milli (the National Pact of 1920) and explained hisdecision in detail to his friends. At this particular banquet, he also revealedthe state positions to which he would appoint his friends; and gaveexpression to the revolutions he aimed at in order to enable the Turkishnation to reach the level of civilized nations after the establishment of theTurkish state. All these revelations at his banquet testify to the fact that hehad a clear plan of his future acts in mind when he was in Salonika.At his Istanbul and Anatolian banquets where regional freedomsolutions were sought for and mandate was considered; and where hisleadership was not favoured, Atatürk dealt only with the phenomenaconcerning the liberation of the country and focused on what to do to achievethe desired end.In order to put the first of his two aims into practice that he revealed athis Salonika banquet, that is to establish the Turkish state, Atatürk employedhis later banquets as an arena to give expression to the problems and theways leading to their solutions; and to explain his struggle to reach thesesolutions in detail. After the establishment of the Republic, he used hisbanquet more intensely as the headquarters to realize his second aim oftransforming the Turkish nation into a modern nation.In this period, he chose to employ his banquet as a forum to discussand explore his road map for revolutions in the fields of language and history;internal and external affairs; and other contemporary significant events. Hemade the necessary arrangements to initiate the Liberal Republican Party athis banquet. Again, he chose his banquet as the arena to explore the Hatayissue thoroughly; to form a public opinion on the issue within the country; andto give the world the message that he takes the issue in question veryseriously.Inviting the specialists in the relevant fields, and making the writingmaterials and library accessible, Atatürk prepared the necessary ground fordiscussions. He reached his own views and decisions after a process ofanalysis and synthesis of the points discussed at the banquet, and gavethese points the nature of a common decision involving the participants intothe process of decision making. Due to his particular practice, banquet actedas a school for the other participants, and, for him, worked as process ofbrainstorming conducted by a committee of consultants. Although stateaffairs were discussed, these banquets were not the organs of executiondespite the claims.At the banquets which were open to everyone or which were given inthe full view of community, entertainment was kept within reasonable limitsand was never the absolute aim. Not being keen on eating and, in fact,leaving the banquet table hungry, Atatürk never aimed to satisfy his hungeror to enjoy himself; his sole purpose was to explore the issues thoroughly inthese occasions. In such a context it would not be wrong to claim that theacts of eating and entertaining themselves became the breaks during hisbanquet, which gradually acquired the nature of a school for its participants.