1938: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, president and founder of modern Turkey, dies at Istanbul’s white-domed Dolma-baghche Palace (once the home of sultans and caliphs). Ataturk, a soldier, a Europhile, an ardent secularist and an even more ardent guzzler of raki, the anise-flavored and potently-proof drink, died of cirrhosis of the liver. He was 58. The National Assembly’s 338 delegates unanimously elected Gen. Ismet Inonu president. (At 9:05 the morning of every November 10 in Istanbul, ships in the sea sound their horns and the city comes to a haltto salute Ataturk's memory.)
- Turkey: Country Profile
- Leila Sahin Takes on Ataturk’s Legacy
- Turkey At Loggerheads With Itself Over Veil Ban
1975: In one of its lesser moments, the United Nations, by a vote of 72-35, adopts Resolution 3379, equating Zionism with racism. The resolution was advanced by the Soviet Union to curry favor with Arab nations, which supported it. The resolution was repealed in December 1991.
- How a UN Resolution Linked Zionism and Racism in 1975
- Full Text and Roll Call of UN Resolution 3379 Equating Zionism with Racism
1983: Syria’s occupation force in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley fires anti-aircraft guns at four U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat fighter jets flying a reconnaissance mission over Lebanon. U.S. jets had been flying over Syrian positions since September, but the Nov. 10 incident marks the first time that Syrian guns have opened fire, raising tensions since the Oct. 23 suicide bombing of U.S. and French barracks in Beirut.
2001: Speaking to the General Assembly of the United Nations of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, President Bush says, “Civilization, itself, the civilization we share, is threatened. History will record our response, and judge or justify every nation in this hall.” Bush’s approval rating was near 90 percent at the time. By 2008 on the same date, his approval rating, in part affected by the judgment on his response to the events of 2001, had dwindled to 22 percent.
2002: Groundbreaking for construction of Afghanistan’s 600-mile Highway 1 linking Kabul, Kandahar and Heart. The 36-month project has a projected cost of $250 million, $180 million of which is pledged from the United States, Japan and Saudi Arabia. By 2007 the highway had been rebuilt, but The New York Times reports that “Highway 1 remains bedeviled by danger, extortion and treachery. Police corruption and insurgent attacks sow fear and make traveling many sections of the road a lottery. The risks limit its contribution to the economy and underscore the government’s weakness beyond Kabul.”
2004: As Yasser Arafat lay dying in a Paris hospital, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon approves Palestinian plans to have Arafat buried in Ramallah, the West Bank city and headquarters of Arafat’s Palestinian Authority. Arafat dies on Nov. 11.
2008: Three simultaneous suicide bombs in the northern Baghdad neighborhood al Kasra, a mixed Sunni and Shiite area, kill 28 people. It’s the deadliest attack in Baghdad since a June 17, 2008 car bomb kills 51.
