Turkish Youth!
Your first duty is to preserve and defend Turkish independence and the Turkish Republic forever.
This is the foundation of your existence and your future. This foundation is your most precious treasure. In the future, too, there will be malevolent people at home and abroad who will want to deprive you of this treasure. If someday you are compelled to defend your independence and your republic, you will not think about the circumstances and conditions of the situation before taking up your duty. These circumstances and conditions might be extremely unfavorable.
The enemies conspiring against your independence and your republic may have behind them a victory unprecedented in the annals of the world. By force and by trickery, all the fortresses of your beloved homeland may have been captured, all its shipyards occupied, all its armies dispersed, and every part of the country invaded. Graver and more important than all these circumstances, those who hold power within the country may be in error, misguided, and may even be traitors. Furthermore, they may identify personal interests with the political ambitions of the invaders.
Oh Turkish Youth! Your primary duty is to preserve and defend Turkish Independence and the Turkish Republic. The power you need is in the noble blood in your veins!
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
