.jpeg "Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad pays his respects to the founding father of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, at the Anitkabir mausoleum in Ankara July 25, 2019. u00e2u20acu2022 Bernama pic")
ANKARA, July 25 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad visited Anitkabir, the mausoleum of modern Turkey founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, this morning.
With great ceremony, the prime minister laid a wreath at the mausoleum in a show of respect. The Turkish national anthem was played after the act.
The wreath in red and white, the Turkish national colours, had the words “Malezya Basbakani”, referring to the “Malaysian prime minister”.
Dr Mahathir approached the mausoleum led by two military personnel who later placed the wreath on the symbolic sarcophagus, followed by the prime minister laying his hands on the wreath.
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The Malaysian delegation also included Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah, and the Malaysian ambassador to Turkey Datuk Abd Razak Abdul Wahab.
Ataturk led the Turkish War of Independence and signed the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, which made Turkey a republic. Yesterday was the 96th anniversary of the treaty.
He was elected its first president and secularised Turkey.
In Malaysia however, some Muslims fault him for ostensibly causing the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the mightiest and last of the caliphate.
Several books published in Malaysia portray Ataturk negatively, often as a betrayer to the Islamic faith who did not die honourably.
Anitkabir was built in 1944, six years after the death of Ataturk. It was completed nine years later.
