“I WISH A BRAVE MAN WOULD COME AND TELL THE OCCUPIERS TO GO AWAY”: MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATÜRK IN THE FOCUS OF CINEMA
Études balkaniques (Sofia) 2025, N 2, pp. 505 – 524
DOI: https://doi.org/10.62761/645.EB.LXI2.07
Gergana DONCHEVA 
Institute of Balkan Studies & Centre of Thracology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria
Abstract: This article summarizes the accumulated knowledge about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk with a focus on Turkish cinema. Divided into two main parts, the study firstly discusses how the new medium – cinema – was deliberately used by the Kemalist regime a Turkish nation to be imagined, and a new corpus of representations appeared in order to replace the negative image associated with the former Ottoman Empire. Secondly, based on a variety of findings and observations, the text traces how the national mythology, in which the first Turkish President plays a central role, was reproduced and maintained thanks to the films. After analyzing the films that portray Atatürk within the strict requirements of the official ideology, the study puts special emphasis on examples such as „The Ottoman Republic” and „Mustafa”, which successfully provoked the national fantasy and, above all, the well-established stereotypes. This is absolutely true in the case of Can Dündar’s „Mustafa”, whose interpretation provoked harsh criticism and disapproval in Turkey.
Keywords: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Turkish cinema