Photo alleged to be Atatürk’s childhood created controversy

ISTANBUL

Historians have slammed allegations about an old photo circulating on social media that the boy seen crossing his legs is Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Türkiye.

“This is a very serious claim on an important subject. It must be proven by academic discipline. So far, we have not seen such evidence,” said Mehmet Emin Elmacı, a historian said.

It is claimed that the photograph is dated 1885 and that one of the people behind this is Atatürk’s teacher, Mustafa Sabri, who will name the boy “Kemal” some seven years later.

“There is a time mismatch here. Also, the calpack on the child’s head was not used at that time,” Elmacı added.

Suat Akgül, a retired colonel and a military history specialist, believes the photograph has nothing to do with Atatürk.

“It is not physically similar, and the clothes are not from that period. No need to go into too much detail. The criteria and evidence required for the verification of this photo are not available.”

Akgül also highlighted that the mentioned teacher Mustafa Sabri Efendi is an officer who graduated from the military academy.

“In that photograph, Mustafa Sabri Bey must be a 23 or 24-year-old young officer. There is no such young person among the people there,” he noted.

Researcher Sinan Meydan also underlined that the claim is false.

“It is not possible to find a calpack in a photograph taken in the 1880s. Because the calpack became widespread after 1908,” he said and added: “The T-shirt worn by the boy in the photo reads ‘Kayı’ in Gokturk alphabet. Was there a printed T-shirt back then?”