The copy of the negatives of the photo Mustafa Kemal Atatürk signed as a gift and taken 70 years before its original is going to be minting to NFT
The background information of the signed photo
The hero of Ariburnu and Anafartalar (Gallipoli campaign in the First World War), Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, just returned from his Germany trip he accompanied to Sultan Vahideddin, the crown prince. On this trip to Germany; when the Turkish delegation was introduced to the German Emperor Wilhelm II and it was Pasha’s turn, he revealed that he already knew Mustafa Kemal Pasha saying "16th Corps, Anafartalar" due to his success in Çanakkale.
Journalist Ruşen Eşref (Ünaydın) realized that the journalists in Europe broadcasted on the commanders of the great wars, so that people knew about the successful soldiers; however, none of the journalists in İstanbul did it. Immediately after meeting Mustafa Kemal Pasha, he wanted to have an interview on his achievements in Anafartalar well known in military circles.
Returning from Germany, Mustafa Kemal Pasha invited journalist Ruşen Eşref to his home in Beşiktaş. Ruşen Eşref was very excited. It was the first time that he would do such an interview with a heroic commander. The interviews made in Beşiktaş (Akaretler) during 24-28 March 1918 were published in Çanakkale Special Issue of “Yeni Mecmua”. This was the first time that Mustafa Kemal's thoughts and successes in military service were widely known.
Two months after the interview started on, May 24 1918, and the day before leaving Istanbul for treatment of his kidney disease in Vienna, Mustafa Kemal Pasha sent Ruşen Eşref (Ünaydın) his photo as a gift. After signing the photo, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk visited Ruşen Eşref Ünaydın with İsmet İnönü at his home. Ruşen Eşref Ünaydın, who said that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was affected when he saw the photograph and he read what he wrote to İsmet İnönü, added that Atatürk said "I had written well ... Publish it in Hakimiyet-i Milliye the next day, please!". Ruşen Eşref Ünaydın, who wrote in his work "Missing Atatürk" that the photograph was included in an exhibition in Dolmabahçe Palace by the "Turkish History Research Institute" in 1937, said that he took this photo to Tirana, Athens, Budapest, Rome and London when he was ambassador.
May 24 1918
In spite of the challenges, we are advancing towards the glory. I owe this determination not only the commitment I feel for my country, but also the youth dedicated to our nation both fighting against immorality and empiricism and searching.
Dear Ruşen Eşref, I regard you as a natural member of them and I appreciate your crucial contributions day by day. I’m grateful to meet you as a candidate of future executers.
M. Kemal
The Story of the Negative Photo
Ruşen Eşref Ünaydın, who served as secretary general of presidency, ambassador, and deputy of Afyonkarahisar in TBMM, retired.
Poet, writer, and Afyonkarahisar Deputy Osman Atilla, whose articles and poems started to be published in Afyon High School student magazine and in the magazine Taşpınar of Afyon Halkevi since 1933, continued to publish on 4 Eylül magazine in Sivas, Kızılırmak Newspaper and Yücel and Ülkü magazines in Ankara, after the re-publication of Taşpınar magazine which was closed once. After he published his studies on Atatürk on Ülkü magazine, he met Ruşen Eşref Ünaydın when he published his poetry books between 1950-1956.
Ünaydın, who did not want to refuse Osman Atilla asking for a copy of the photograph Atatürk signed, took a copy of the photograph in the mid-1950s.
The negative sent by Ruşen Eşref Ünaydın to Osman Atilla was published in some local publications in Afyonkarahisar. The negative given as a present by a retired journalist to a young colleague 14 years ago has been converted to NFT.
Negatives might be distorted in time and the photo may be deleted; however, it is possible to keep these negatives forever thanks to NFT. Moreover, the only original copy will be NFT when the negative image disappeared.
What is NFT?
NFT, a.k.a. Non-Fungible Token; can be defined as unique digital asset that contains evidence of a picture, sound file, video or digital equivalent of a physical asset.