RELEASE ON RECEIPT

WHAT DO ATATURK AND JEFFERSON HAVE IN COMMON?
GOVERNMENT OF TURKEY COMMISSIONS A VIRGINIA-BASED 
STUDY TO FIND OUT

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Nov. 11 -- The Turkish government has
turned to a Virginia political scientist to write a book comparing the
democratic ideas of Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, with
those of Thomas Jefferson.
	The government of the Middle Eastern republic is arranging for
the speeches and papers of Ataturk to be translated into English so
that Garrett W. Sheldon, a Jefferson scholar and the John Morton Beaty
Professor of Political and Social Sciences at the University of
Virginia's Clinch Valley College, can write a comparative study of the
political philosophies of the two founders.
	"It's a great honor to be asked to undertake this important
study," Sheldon said. "Ataturk remains an intensely revered figure in
Turkey."
	Like Jefferson, America's third president and author of the
Declaration of Independence, Ataturk favored freedom of religion,
freedom of the press and a public education system. Leading Turkey
from 1923 until his death in 1938, Ataturk is credited with the
wide-ranging Westernization of the staunchly Islamic country.
	Ataturk's achievement in establishing a secular government
earlier in the century has been called into question in recent years
as Islamic militants in Turkey -- along with those in Algeria, Egypt,
and other predominantly Moslem countries in Northern Africa and the
Middle East -- have fought to return their countries to rule by
Koranic law.
	"Ataturk's views on the Turkish Republic remain a focal point
for the debate over democracy in traditionally Islamic countries,"
Sheldon said.
	Sheldon first traveled to Turkey in the fall of 1995 with
Clinch Valley College Provost George Culbertson. While in Turkey he
read an English biography of Ataturk and became interested in one of
the country's most important historical figures. Sheldon got the nod
to write the Ataturk book primarily because of his Jefferson expertise
and his comparative studies of religion and politics in Christian and
Islamic countries. 
	Sheldon expects to travel to Turkey several times over the
next few years to conduct research. In May, he met with several
governmental, academic and religious leaders in Turkey to discuss the
project.
	Sheldon is the author of "The Political Philosophy of Thomas
Jefferson," which is among the first scholarly works in English on
Jefferson to be translated into Russian.
	Sheldon has served on the political science faculty of U.Va.'s
Clinch Valley College in southwestern Virginia since 1982. He holds
master's and doctoral degrees from Rutgers University. A past
recipient of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia's
Outstanding Faculty in Virginia award, Sheldon was a guest lecturer on
Jefferson at Oxford University in 1992.
	Sheldon can be reached at (540) 328-0274.
									November
10, 1997