Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk^[a] (1881^[b] – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish marshal and statesman who was the first President of Turkey from 1923 to his death in 1938.

Halâskâr Gazi[1] Mareşal Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Atatürk in the 1930s
1st President of Turkey
In office 29 October 1923 – 10 November 1938
Prime Minister	İsmet İnönü Fethi Okyar Celâl Bayar
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	İsmet İnönü
1st Prime Minister of the Government of the Grand National Assembly
In office 3 May 1920 – 24 January 1921
Deputy	Fevzi Çakmak
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Fevzi Çakmak
1st Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey
In office 24 April 1920 – 29 October 1923
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Fethi Okyar
1st Leader of the Republican People's Party
In office 9 September 1923 – 10 November 1938
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	İsmet İnönü
Personal details
Born	Ali Rıza oğlu Mustafa (Mustafa son of Ali Rıza) circa 1881 Salonica, Ottoman Empire (now Thessaloniki, Greece)
Died	10 November 1938(1938-11-10) (aged 57) Dolmabahçe Palace, Istanbul, Turkey
Resting place	Ethnography Museum, Ankara (21 November 1938 – 10 November 1953) Anıtkabir, Ankara (since 10 November 1953)
Nationality	Turkish
Political party	Republican People's Party
Other political affiliations	Motherland and Liberty Committee of Union and Progress (1907–1918) Association for the Defence of the Rights of Anatolia and Rumelia (until 1923)
Spouse(s)	Latife Uşaklıgil (1923–25)
Parents	Ali Rıza Efendi Zübeyde Hanım
Relatives	3, include Makbule Atadan
Awards	List (24 medals)
Signature
Military service
Allegiance	Ottoman Empire (1893–1919) Ankara Government (1921–1923) Turkey (1923–1927)
Branch/service	Ottoman Army Army of the GNA Turkish Army
Rank	Major General (Ottoman Army) Marshal (Turkish Army)
Commands	19th Division 16th Corps 2nd Army 7th Army Yıldırım Army Group Army of Grand National Assembly
Battles/wars	List Italo-Turkish War Tobruk Derna Balkan Wars Bulair Adrianople II World War I Anzac Cove Baby 700 No.3 Post Nek Chunuk Bair Scimitar Hill Hill 60 Suvla Bay Sari Bair Bitlis Southern Palestine Transjordan III Nablus Megiddo Jisr ed Damieh Samakh Damascus Jisr Benat Yakub Kiswe Kaukab Pursuit to Haritan Khan Ayash Aleppo Charge at Haritan Greco-Turkish War Sakarya Great Offensive

He started changes that founded the Turkish nation state based on social and economic nationalism, which was modern and similar to Western civilization (such as the French model of secularism called laïcité).

Atatürk was born under the name Mustafa in 1881. His birthplace was in Salonika, Macedonia (now Thessaloniki, Greece). Salonika was then part of the Ottoman Empire. He took the name Kemal as a schoolboy and Atatürk (which means Father of the Turks) when he was president. His father was Ali Rıza Efendi (Efendi is a title of nobility). His mother was Zübeyde Hanım. He also had a sister, whose name was Makbule (Atadan). He joined the Ottoman army and became an army officer and the most successful general officer of the empire in World War I, fighting in Gallipoli where he successfully defended the peninsula against British and French attacks.

The Ottoman Empire was defeated by the Allied powers in World War I and the empire was divided by several major powers. Many territories of the Ottoman Empire including those in Anatolia were to be given to Britain, France, Italy, Greece and Armenia. While the Ottoman Empire was collapsing after the war, Atatürk quickly fled the capital Istanbul right before the Allied occupation of the city and went to Ankara where he organized a Turkish resistance army to fight against the invaders and kick them out of Anatolia. After defeating the armies which had invaded Anatolia and expelling them in September 1922, he marched into Istanbul as a liberator in January 1923 where he created a nationalist Turkish movement that created the new, secular Republic of Turkey. This meant that the country's government was no longer led by hereditary or religious leaders. Visitors to Turkey are often surprised by the importance given to Atatürk in Turkey.

Few countries have such a person in their history. He was a successful military commander, later established a unitary republic based on a constitution and put in place changes that set Turkey on the road to becoming a new and developing nation. He inspired many later leaders like Amānullāh Khān, Reza Shah Pahlavi, Adolf Hitler,^[2] Habib Bourguiba, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Sukarno, and John F. Kennedy.^[3]

Reza Shah Pahlavi and Atatürk in Ankara (1934)

His six principles still serve today as a sign post for establishing a democratic government:

1. Republicanism: Replacing the hereditary monarchy with an elected parliament.
2. Nationalism: Citizens working together with pride in a common interest.
3. Secularism: Separating religion from government and the guarantee of freedom of religion and conscience in society.
4. Populism: The equality of all citizens before the law.
5. Statism: An economic system combining private enterprise with government-funded monopolies of large industries.
6. Revolutionism: The basis of the other five principles. According to the needs of the society, innovations that are required by the age and science are made as soon as possible.

Notes

1. /ˈmʊstəfə kəˌmɑːl ˈætətɜːrk/ (listen); Turkish: [mustaˈfa ceˈmal aˈtatyɾc]
2. His birthday is unknown. However, 19 May, when he landed at Samsun in 1919 to start the nationalist resistance, is considered to be his symbolic birthday. It is also claimed that he was born in 1880.