Author: H. C. Armstrong

Publisher: Kitabıstan

Harold Courtenay Armstrong was a British army officer fighting against the Ottomans during the First World War. In 1916, during the siege of Kut-ul-Amara, he was captured by the Ottomans and sent to Afyonkarahisar prison camp. He tried to escape several times and was caught.

H.C.Armstrong managed to escape before the end of the war. Since he knew Turkey well, he was sent to Istanbul again during the ceasefire years. At that time, Istanbul was under the control of the British and the French. Until 1923, he held various positions in the allied armies.

After leaving Turkey, based on his observations, he wrote the book "The Grey Wolf" about Atatürk. The book was first published in Great Britain in 1932. "The Grey Wolf" is the first biography of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and is still considered the most reliable biography written about him.

The book was banned in Turkey because it includes not only M.K.Atatürk's state and military affairs but also his personal life and relationships with his friends. However, the book also covers his activities during the First World War, his actions against the monarchy, his relationships with Enver Pasha and other high-ranking Ottoman officers, winning the Turkish War of Independence, abolishing the sultanate, proclaiming the republic, his presidency, and the reforms he implemented. These topics are given ample space in the book despite the ban.

"The Grey Wolf" was published in Turkey for the first time in 1955 under censorship. In Azerbaijan, in 2017, it was published for the first time by Kitabistan and without censorship.