Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in The Serbian Historiography

The personality and achievements of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, first president of the Republic of Turkiye, as well as his cordial friendship with Yugoslav King Alexander I (1921-1934), has not been properly treated in the Serbian as well as Yugoslav historiography. There is no single book written by Yugoslav historians dedicated to this subject, and there is no biography of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in Serbian language (even the translations from other languages to Serbian are rare). The only monograph treating at least partially this subject is monograph under the title “Kemal Ataturk in the eyes of the Yugoslav public”, written by Mirjana Teodosijevic, who is prominent professor of Turkish language, but not historian. The situation remains similar for the later periods, although is well known fact that the relations between two countries strongly developed during the twenties of the 20^th century, until the assassination of the king Alexander I of Yugoslavia in Marseilles in 1934. Although the King Alexander and Mustafa Kemal Ataturk had good political and even friendly relations, this was not treated properly by Serbian and Yugoslav historiography. It is our strongest believe that the years to come will bring changes in that direction and that some of Serbian historians of the younger generation will dedicate their research to those important subjects. 

Quite opposite to the historiography, the Serbian press had followed the events in Türkiye and informed the Serbian public about them. Some of the most distinguished newspapers and magazines published in Belgrade between the two world wars had covered the events in Türkiye, stressing the importance of the Ataturk`s reforms and paying great attention to the King Alexander`s visit to Ankara in 1933.