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Ataturk left his heart in Bulgaria
In 1913 Ataturk was appointed to Sofia as the military attaché. During his assignment in Sofia he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel. His duty as the military attaché ended in January 1915. During his stay in Sofia the First World War had started and Ottoman Empire had become obliged to enter in this war. Mustafa Kemal was appointed to Tekirdag to organize the 19 Division.
Mustafa Kemal clad in the uniform with which he was dressed at the ball of his meeting with Dimintrina (picured right)
Mavi Boncuk
All Is Love
Ataturk left his heart in Bulgaria. The founding father of modern Turkey asked for the hand of Dimitrina Kovacheva twice
Everything in modern Turkey is connected with the name of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938) - the founder of the Turkish Republic and its first president. There's hardly a place in the country without a monument to this remarkable historical figure whose name actually means "the father of the nation", because he is the one who shows his country the way out of the darkness of feudalism and religious fanaticism and turns it into a modern state.
A new documentary - a co-production of International Film Service (Sofia) and TRT Turkish National TV - tells the story of Ataturk's love for Bulgaria and a Bulgarian girl whose name was Dimitrina Kovacheva.
On a foggy November day in 1913, Mustafa Kemal arrived in Bulgaria in his capacity of a military attache. He was a tall, handsome and communicative man with European manners. French magazines used to describe him as one of the most charming and stylish men in the world of diplomacy. Mustafa Kemal was fascinated by the cultural life in Bulgaria.
Once, in a Sofia casino, he met a beautiful Bulgarian girl, Dimitrina Kovacheva, the second daughter of General Stilian Kovachev, former Defense Minister of Bulgaria. She had just returned from Switzerland where she had studied literature and music. The girl often gave charity concerts and Kemal Mustafa used to attend them with the greatest pleasure. At a New Year's ball he invited her to dance and everybody admired the wonderful couple. This was the beginning of a romantic love story.
Feeling sure that Dimitrina is the love of his life, Kemal Mustafa was well aware of the obstacles before a possible marriage: he was 11 years older than her and had many enemies among the Young Turks in his native country, who would have embittered their family life.
Nevertheless Mustafa Kemal decided to ask General Stilyan Kovachev for his daughter's hand. Dimitrina's father was sure that she would not accept the dogmas of a different religion. Mustafa Kemal was deeply embittered, but went on meeting secretly with the girl.
Different political events separated them for a while, but in 1915 Ataturk proposed to his beloved for a second time and received a second denial from her father. This time General Kovachev hurried to marry Dimitrina to an engineer from the town of Rousse. Hearing the news she fainted, then returned the man he loved the wedding ring he had given her. She obeyed her father's will and separated with Kemal whom she never forgot.
Lyudmila Parvanova
See Also (In Bulgarian) "Obrechenata lyubov na Atatyurk" ("Ataturk's Doomed Love") by L. Serafimova, Makedoniya Pres, Sofia, 2002. A documentary novel about Mustafa Kemal Ataturk when he was Turkish military attache in Sofia and fell in love with General Stilian Kovachev s'daughter. Lilyana Serafimova is an eminent Bulgarian journalist, who has been (for an extended period of time) a deputy director of the Sofia Press news agency and publishing house.
posted by M.A.M at 1:17 AM
Ataturk left his heart in Bulgaria | 2
Here is a follow up on some of the characters of this love story. With help from Bulgarian_Studies Scholarly List for the Discusion of Bulgarian History, Economics, Politics, & Culture
Mavi Boncuk
Dimitrina (Miti) Kovacheva, Ataturk's Bulgarian friend, succumbed to stomach cancer in her mid-70's in 1966 in Sofia. She had spent the last 20 years of her life living in miserable conditions due to the fact that her husband (Deyan Deyanov, prominent jurist and a pre-1944 MP, whom she had married in 1922) had been on the list of "undesirable elements" put together by the Bulgarian communist secret police, the (K)DS. Deyan Deyanov died in 1960. Their children Ana, Stiliyan, and Olga were still alive in the early 1970's. Dimitrina's niece currently lives in Sofia
General Stilian Kovachev (1860 - 1939)
As for Miti Kovacheva's father, General Stiliyan Georgiev Kovachev (February 26, 1860, Yambol -- July 11,1939, Sofia), there are numerous references about him in monographs and articles dedicated to the military history of Bulgaria. He has been a gifted troop leader who had distinguished himself fighting the Serbs and the Turks in the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885 and the Balkan Wars of 1912-13. During WW I, Gen. Kovachev has been in charge of the Logistics Directorate of Bulgaria's military machine.
"Komandvaneto na Bulgarskata voyska prez voynite za natsionalno obedinenie" ("The Leadership of the Bulgarian Army during the Wars of National Unification") by Svetlozar Nedev, Voenno izdatelstvo "Sveti Georgi Pobedonosets", Sofia, 1993.
"Bulgarski visshi voenachalnitsi prez Balkanskata i Purvata svetovna voyna" ("High-ranking Bulgarian Troop Leaders during the Balkan War and World War I") by Dimitur Azmanov, Voenno izdatelstvo, Sofiya, 2000.
An entry under "Kovachev, Stiliyan" in "Bulgarski entsiklopedichen rechnik" ("Bulgarian Encyclopedic Dictionary"), Ivan Gaberov, Editor, Gaberoff Press, Veliko Turnovo, 1999.
During the Balkan Wars The Bulgarian army targeted battle actions against the central Turkish forces in Edirne, Thrace. On the 16th-20th of October Third Bulgarian Army, commanded by Radko Dimitriev, conquered Luleburgaz and Pinarhisar. After that it advanced towards Catalca (on 40 km. from Istanbul). The Rhodop detachment, commanded by Stilian Kovachev, crushed the forces of Yaver Pasha. The Haskovo detachment took part of the Rhodope Mountains. On the 5th or 8th of October it tool Kircali and on the 8th of November – Darudere (present day Zlatograd). 7th infantry Rilan division advanced along the valley of the river Struma and together with the Serbian army liberated Macedonia. On the 5th of October it advanced towards Kochani, Tsarsko Selo (present day Delchevo) and Gorna Dzhumaia (present day Blagoevgrad). It succeeded in repelling the Turkish forces to the south of the Kresna and Rupel gorges. On the 27th of October 1912 it reached Solun.
posted by M.A.M at 1:17 PM
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