In the summer of 2013 the Turkish “Radical” daily started a discussion about the family origins of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, based on the book “From Mustafa to Kemal Ataturk’s Big Secret” by Fatin Bayhan. The book reported that Ataturk was not born in Thessaloniki as popularly believed, but in Malatya. Ataturk’s family emigrated from Malatya. His mother Zubeida Hanim was, in fact, his aunt. He was sent to Thessaloniki when his father died and he was adopted by Zubeide when his mother died. The author pointed out that Malatya was a province which was heavily populated by Armenians. Although this is more than a flimsy evidence that Ataturk was Armenian, Ankara is extremely sensitive about the Armenian origins of famous Turks. A major reason Hrant Dink was assassinated was because he revealed that Sabiha Gokcen, the adopted daughter of Ataturk, was Armenian.

In the summer of 2013 the Turkish “Radical” daily started a discussion about the family origins of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, based on the book “From Mustafa to Kemal Ataturk’s Big Secret” by Fatin Bayhan. The book reported that Ataturk was not born in Thessaloniki as popularly believed, but in Malatya. Ataturk’s family emigrated from Malatya. His mother Zubeida Hanim was, in fact, his aunt. He was sent to Thessaloniki when his father died and he was adopted by Zubeide when his mother died. The author pointed out that Malatya was a province which was heavily populated by Armenians. Although this is more than a flimsy evidence that Ataturk was Armenian, Ankara is extremely sensitive about the Armenian origins of famous Turks. A major reason Hrant Dink was assassinated was because he revealed that Sabiha Gokcen, the adopted daughter of Ataturk, was Armenian.