I

ATATÜRK AND THE BOOK OF GEOMETRY

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Atatürk, the geometry book written by Atatürk, came to Sivas High School, where the Sivas Congress was held, and the High School Principal and Mathematics teacher Ömer Beygo and his Assistant Philosophy teacher Faik Dranaz and other interested persons came to the Congress hall. Here, he first visited the Congress hall and private room where the historical congress was held on September 4, 1919, and told his memories of that day in this room and hall, whose decor of that day was preserved exactly. Then, as a group, he entered Hendese (Geometry) course in the 9/A class of the High School. In this lesson, he put a female student at the blackboard. The student had difficulty in saying the Arabic names of the angles formed by the intersection of two parallel lines drawn on the board and made mistakes. Impressed by this situation, Atatürk responded by saying, “Students cannot be informed in these incomprehensible Arabic terms. Courses, Turkish, should be described in new terms.” he said, taking the chalk in his hand and using new Turkish terms such as “angle” for “zaviye”, “edge” for “dili”, and “triangle” for “müselles”, with drawings on the board, he covered some Geometry subjects and this Meanwhile, he explained the Pythagoras theorem.

While explaining the origin of the term "parallel", which he used to replace the word "parallel", which is equivalent to "parallel" in our language, Atatürk explained that the Turks in Central Asia called the stance of the two wheels of their carts connected to an axle as "para". In this course, Atatürk also ordered that the textbooks be printed in Turkish terms within a few months and delivered to all schools.                         

Source:  “A Historical Memoir”, Ömer L. Örnekol, Bilim ve Teknik, Tübitak Publication, November 1981, No: 180, Volume: 15, Page: 16

ATATÜRK WROTE THE BOOK OF GEOMETRY:                                                   

Agop Dilacar Tells:

Atatürk wrote the Geometry book with his own hand, one and a half years before his death, in the winter months of 1936-1937, right after the Third Turkish Language Congress (August 24-31, 1936).

One day in the autumn of 1936, Atatürk sent me to Haşet Kitabevi in ​​Beyoğlu with his Chief of Staff, Süreyya Anderiman, and had one of the French Geometry books taken out, which we deemed appropriate. After these were reviewed together with Atatürk, the general design of the Geometry book to be written was drawn. After a while, I left and Atatürk worked on this work during the winter months. The geometry book is the product of this labor.                          

Source:  Agop.Dilâçar, “Foreword” of the book “Geometry”, Turkish Language Institution Publication, 1981, p. V)

This work of Atatürk, which he wrote between January 10 and March 9, 1937, was published by the Ministry of National Education at the State Printing House in 1937. In this book called “Geometry”, the following entry is written just below this title: “For those who teach geometry and those who will write books on this subject It has been published by the Ministry of Culture as a guide”.

ARIKAN'S ORDER ABOUT THE BOOK OF GEOMETRY

The Minister of Culture (National Education) Saffet Arıkan gave the following written order on 15 October 1937 regarding the Hendese (Geometry) and Calculation (Mathematics) books to be taught in the fourth and fifth grades of primary schools in the 1937-1938 academic year:

“To be read from any book (Account+Hendese) that fits it, including the original work written by Atatürk.”

                                                                          15.X.1937

                                                                           S. Arikan 

ORDER ABOUT THE BOOK OF GEOMETRY:

Asim Us explains:

“Atatürk stopped by Sivas during his (Elaziz) trip. While he was examining a student at a school (Sivas High School), he saw that the terms Hendese (Geometry) still continued as before. Letters such as gamma and delta are placed on the pictures. He's bored of it. Immediately, Celal Bayar, who was with Atatürk, sent a telegram to the Minister of National Education Saffet Arıkan to remove these books from schools. It turns out that, according to a decision made before, the books had to be published in the old style, but the new terms had to be added to the book in the form of a list. Since the State Printing Office could not produce this supplement, it could not be sent to schools. When Prime Minister Celal Bayar notified the Minister of National Education that this Hendese book should be abolished, Saffet Arıkan's response was: “I am the recipient of your first guidance.”

Source:  Us Asım, Memoirs of Asım Us, 1966, page: 232-234

II

THE BOOK OF GEOMETRY TERMS PREPARED BY ATATÜRK

Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Geometry, Atatürk High Council of Culture, Language and History Turkish Language Institution Publications: 905, Atatürk Series: 4, Ankara, 2008, VIII+47 pages.

In the last part of the Speech, which was written by Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk himself, “Dear Sirs, my long and detailed speech that occupied you for days is the story of an era that has finally become a thing of the past. If I have been able to point out some points in this that may provide attention and vigilance for my nation and our future children, I will consider myself lucky. Gentlemen, with this speech, I tried to explain how a great nation, whose national existence was deemed to have come to an end, gained its independence and established a national and modern state based on the latest principles of science and technology. The result we have reached today is the result of the vigilance created by the national disasters suffered for centuries and the price of the blood that has irrigated every corner of this holy homeland” ¹ while both summarizing the past and making important signs to the future.

The result and example of a great determination, faith, enthusiasm, intelligence, consciousness, the seventieth anniversary of the death of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, the eightieth anniversary of the letter revolution (November 3, 1928), and the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Language Day, the Geometry book written by Atatürk. We congratulate the Turkish Language Association for delivering the new edition to its readers.

On the outer cover of the first edition of the work, made by the State Printing House in Istanbul in 1937; There is the statement “It has been published by the Ministry of Culture as a guide for those who learn geometry and those who will write books on this subject” ² and the purpose of this book prepared by Atatürk is also stated.

An index of the terms Atatürk used and defined in his Geometry book was added to the end of the interior pages, which were redesigned with colorful drawings added to the last edition of the book, which was made on glossy paper seventy years after the first edition. On the outer cover of the book, which is prepared in color and hardcover, there is a black-and-white photograph showing a work of Atatürk on a notebook and the cover of the first edition of the book.

The President of the Turkish Language Association, Prof. Dr. Haluk Akalin; He states that the Turkish terms derived by Atatürk, who thought of the development, enrichment and purification of Turkish as a scientific language, not only guide those who work on this subject, but also show his love for Turkish. It is also seen that this interest of Mustafa Kemal dates back to his youth, when he told the Bulgarian Turkologist Mon'lof in Thessaloniki in 1905 that it should be transferred to the Latin-based alphabet.' ³ There is a wide study in the presentation part of the book about Atatürk's studies on the Turkish language and the developments from the preparation to the completion of the work.

The foreword written by Agop Dilâçar, the Chief Specialist of the Turkish Language Institution in 1971, has also been added to the work. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's Geometry book, with the words of A. Dilaçar; about a year and a half before his death. He wrote with his own hand in the Dolmabahçe Palace in the winter months of 1936-1937 right after the Turkish Language Congress, that Atatürk always welcomed criticism, that he gave the right to try new words and terms, that his aim was to always move towards the more appropriate and when he saw the proposed changes as justified, he immediately states its adoption. Just as the political events made him a great statesman, the cultural problems of the country made him a great educator. defines personality.⁴

The work is under the title of "Starting Recipes"; It begins with the explanation of the three dimensions that exist in objects. Then the volume is explained. After specifying the difference between the volume and the surface, the line is defined. Explain how geometry is a science. The work consists of three parts.

In the first part; After the explanation of various lines, the definition of circle, arc, degree is given with examples under the title of circle, and the meanings of the words diameter, radius, beam, arrow, clod, and touch are explained. After the explanation of the word parallel, angle definition is made and various angles are explained with examples. Afterwards, the various situations of the straight line are discussed and straight, oblique, horizontal lines are explained with examples, the definition of angles formed from these lines and their calculations in degrees are explained with an example. Polygons defined as part of a level fenced by multiple sides; After explaining the triangles, quadrilaterals, pentagons, hexagons, heptagons and octagons, the types of triangles and their angle values ​​are also explained with examples under the name of parallelogram, vertical quadrilateral, rhombus, square and trapezoidal quadrilaterals.

Second Part; dedicated to the measurement of levels. In the first part, how to calculate the area of ​​​​the geometric shapes defined is expressed in writing, and this expression is exemplified by mathematical operations. Different solutions are also shown in the operations of area calculations of some levels and an example of this is also included in the work. In addition, the ratio calculations between the perimeters and areas of symbolic figures are shown with examples.

Part Three; and under the title of solids; In addition to the explanations of cylinder, roughness, cone, pyramid and heart, how to do area and volume operations is expressed with examples given.

An index is given under the heading 'Atatürk's terms used and defined in his geometry book' in the last part of the work. It has been stated that the number of terms used and defined by Atatürk is one hundred and twenty-nine, these terms are given in alphabetical order, and the definitions of the terms are made as faithful as possible to Atatürk's style and writing. However, it was stated that only minor changes were made in the syntax so that some definitions could be given in the dictionary order.

Of course, the Turkish Language Institution was born out of a need. The rate of Arabic, Persian and French words that entered our language as a result of the disrespectful and dishonest behavior of Turkish intellectuals towards this need is almost 70%. On the opposite side of this ugly picture, an orphaned Turkish lived first in the village and then in the towns and settlements far from the center.

Atatürk took a great stride by first making the letter revolution and then the movement to return to his own sources in the Turkish language. However, when he saw that there was a mess in science and natural sciences and health science, Prof. Dr. He prepared the geometry terms booklet by presenting a work that can be understood as “the necessity of being a political genius” with Sadık TURAL's interview.

Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, a great soldier, statesman, leader, and educational genius, stated in his Speech “... How a great nation, whose national existence has come to an end, gained its independence, and created a national and modern state based on the latest principles of science and technique. The best example of how he built it…” is the Geometry book he wrote in the last year of his life. I would like to thank those who contributed to the preparation of the work for publication and wish them success in their work.

1 Speech, ready for publication. prof. Dr. Zeynep KORKMAZ, Ankara, 2007, p.607.

2 Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK, Geometry, Istanbul, 1937.

3 Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK, Geometry, Ankara, 2008, sv

4 A.g.e., S.XVII.

Clever Wish

Source:  ATATÜRK RESEARCH CENTER JOURNAL, Issue 63, Volume: XXI, November 2005