Today in History – 31 December

“Others will decide how successful I was”

The interview Hüsamettin Çelebi and Örsan Öymen conducted with İsmet İnönü in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Grand National Assembly’s founding contained interesting remarks about İsmet Pasha’s perspective on history, not only as a parliamentarian of 50 years who experienced every stage of Turkish politics, but, more importantly, as one of the saviors of this country. İnönü gave the following answer to the question on what incident affected him most in his life:

Which one of the things I lived through had the most profound impact on me? This is a general issue of interest. I do not carry such sentiments… I have this character trait. As far as I’m concerned, the last situation I am in, the last issue is always the most important one. Which past incident or issue has affected me most, what resentment or other sentiment I harbor for things I did or did not do in any given situation in the past? It is not in my nature to answer these questions.

Yes, we witnessed the official fall of an empire in 1920… We took responsibility at a time when the empire, did in fact, collapse in 1920. At the time, we were preoccupied with one thought only: how to work with the knowledge that the task we have undertaken is of vital importance, how to attain the best possible results for our nation. We could not think of anything else in our endeavors under the circumstances…

With a sense of mission, we strived to do the best we could. How successful or unsuccessful was I then and in the times thereafter? I was never concerned with finding an answer to that question. The answer is beyond me and falls upon the shoulders of our nation’s children to study and judge.