Ercüment Kılıç
Atatürk was the founding father of the new Republic of Turkey after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, and Meiji was the 122nd Emperor of Japan, who established a new system of government in Japan following the departure of the last shogun. This historic novel is about two of the most inspiring leaders of all time, Atatürk and Emperor Meiji of Japan, and the destinies of the countries they changed. In various imaginary settings in Heaven, two men discuss the importance of secularism and their identical reforms in Turkey and Japan, and how the Islamist and the believers of shariah, caused Turkey to fall so far behind since the 1950s, and more specifically, during the last 20 years the Erdoğan regime. The events take place in Heaven, under the Tuba Tree, which according to Atatürk’s belief, is a place where all worldly past experiences can be re-lived and new ones can be created. The author goes into a detailed description of the gates of Heaven, and the first meeting of Atatürk and Emperor Meiji there. Each man takes the other to his native land and presents him with experiences, which he had not had the opportunity to live in his past worldly life. They will race horses under the unending streches of the Tuba Tree, they will take a train ride from Istanbul to Edirne, the home of ancient Turkish oil wrestling festival; they will engage in a funny horse shoe game, they will exchange amusing stories of their past lives on Earth. Equally importantly, I will also talk about the Turkish and Japanese cultures, and the curiously intertwined and the never-before-told stories of the common histories of Turkey and Japan, which go back 749 years, dating back to the invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281 by Kublai Khan’s Mongolian armies, 70% of which were made up of Christian Turks,and were led by mostly the Turkish generals. Two reasons to write this book: The teach about Atatürk and Meiji, and the dangers of political Islamism...
