Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
January 1, 1881 – November 10, 1938
Ottoman army officer who led the Turkish War of Independence and founded the Republic of Turkey. As its first president (1923-1938) he made the state secular and modern.
Biography
Mustafa Kemal was born in Salonica (now Thessaloniki) in the Ottoman Empire in 1881. He trained as an army officer and became a hero of the defence of Gallipoli against the Allied landings in 1915.
After the Ottoman defeat in 1918 he organised the nationalist resistance in Anatolia against the Allied occupation and the Treaty of Sèvres. His forces defeated the Greek army in 1922, and the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 recognised a new Turkish state. He proclaimed the Republic of Turkey that year and became its first president.
He abolished the sultanate and the caliphate and carried out sweeping reforms: secular law codes, the Latin alphabet, Western dress, surnames and votes for women. He ruled through a single party. In 1934 parliament gave him the surname Atatürk, "Father of the Turks". He died in 1938.
Offices held
Military service
Affiliations
Education
- Mar 13, 1899 – Jan 1, 1902 Turkish Military Academy
- Ottoman Military College
Party membership
- Jan 1, 1907 – Jan 1, 1918 Committee of Union and Progress
- Jan 1, 1923 – Jan 1, 1938 Republican People's Party
