It was the year 1990..

While I was preparing for my doctoral thesis in the journalism department of Istanbul University’s Faculty of Communication, my advisor professor gave me the task of preparing the biography of Ali Kemal as a subject.

Ali Kemal is the great-grandfather of a famous British politician who served as Prime Minister of England in recent years. I will talk about who he is in the following lines. Now let me continue telling you about those early moments.

My only knowledge of Ali Kemal was that he was a figure who opposed the Turkish War of Independence (1919-1922. He was accused of treason in the official history of the country because he was known to be an Anglophile. He was a famous journalist who was the editor-in-chief of the country’s best-selling newspapers in the last quarter century of the Ottoman Empire. He had written many books.

He was a fierce opponent of the Ottoman government that was in power at the time. He had fled the country several times for reasons of safety and had lived in exile. He had served as Minister of Education and then Minister of the Interior in Ottoman governments. His writings received serious response from both his admirers and his haters in society. When the Turkish War of Independence was successfully concluded, he was taken to Ankara to stand trial and was lynched to death on the road on September 10, 1922. When the professor brought the subject to me, these were the thoughts that immediately went through my mind.

The professor looked into my eyes and said; What do you say, can you do this subject? Of course I said. But he had a confused expression on his face. He looked hopeless. He continued; There were four or five academics who had previously started working on this subject. However, since Ali Kemal was known as a fierce opponent of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey, they were not able to complete this work out of fear. The fear of not being able to advance in their academic careers and not being able to find a job caused them to give up, he said.

After the foundation of the Republic, Atatürk changed the Turkish alphabet (1927). The new generation could not read the writings in the old letters. Since Ali Kemal wrote all his writings in the period when the old letters were used, someone who would study him had to know how to read and write in the old alphabet. This was one of the reasons why the professor suggested this subject to me.

During my five-year study, I encountered many obstacles. However, I managed to complete my thesis. When the university appointed a jury of five people to accept my thesis, two professors who saw that it was about Ali Kemal withdrew from the jury out of fear. They were afraid of losing their jobs or reputations. New names were assigned. The jury considered the words I used for Ali Kemal, “an Ottoman intellectual,” as a problem that would cause them trouble. They were afraid of even using the word “intellectual” for someone who had written numerous books and written articles in newspapers for 30 years, simply because the official history was against Ali Kemal. In the end, I was rewarded for my courage and determination to study the subject. My thesis was later published as a book. I added the word “intellectual” back during the printing of my book.

In the early 2000s, the Turkish Journalists Association held a competition on JOURNALISTS KILLED IN THE LAST CENTURY. I applied there with a very detailed study on Ali Kemal. One of the jury members later told me that mine was the best study, but the other jury members backed out at the last minute because they thought giving an award to a study on Ali Kemal would get a reaction in the media.

I would like to emphasize this point in particular; when science is under the pressure of politics, it is difficult to reach the truth. The wider the gap between the official history presented to the public by countries and what really happened, the more distorted information we are faced with. Politicians may be inclined to cover up the truth. What scientists need to do is to pursue the truth with courage. Because truths hurt less than lies.

Now, let’s talk about who Ali Kemal is related to. Ali Kemal is the great-grandfather of Boris Johnson, who recently served as Prime Minister of England (2019-2022). I presented him with a 20-page English summary of the book I wrote about his great-grandfather in recent years. I also explained the difficulties experienced by those who do academic studies on Ali Kemal. It is not hard to guess that many academics and journalists who come from countries that lack freedom of thought experience similar difficulties. Because all dictatorships are similar to each other.

Written by Prof. Dr. Osman OZSOY