Kemal AtatŸrk


Kemal AtatŸrk (March 12, 1881 - November 10, 1938), Turkish soldier and
statesman, was the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey.
Some consider him one of the most progressive reformist figures in Turkish
history, others, especially many conservative Muslims, remember him as a
traitor to the Islamic faith.

Born in Salonika (Thessaloniki) as Mustafa Kemal (later given the title
Pasha), he entered the military secondary school in Salonika in 1893 and the
military academy at Monastir (now Bitola in Vardar Macedonia) in 1895. After
playing a minor role in the Balkan Wars of 1912 - 1913, he gained a major
victory by repulsing the Allied invasion of Gallipoli in 1915.

Kemal organized the Turkish Nationalist Republican Party in 1919 from local
resistance groups. This group overthrew the incumbent Ottoman Sultan Mehmed
VI and the Allies in Anatolia, and he and his lieutenant Ismet Pasha (later
Ismet InšnŸ) presided over the defeat of the Greek invasion of 1920 - 1922.
They subsequently founded the Republic of Turkey on October 29, 1923.

He was elected Turkey's first president in 1923. The name "AtatŸrk", meaning
father of Turks was then bestowed on Kemal by the national parliament.

AtatŸrk began a variety of reforms by abolishing the Caliphate (March 1924).
The theological schools were closed, the Sharia law of Islam was replaced by
the Swiss Civil Code -- importantly for the politics of the region, this
officially separated the functions of Church and state in Turkey.

He was also responsible for the conversion of written Turkish from an Arabic
script to a modified Latin alphabet. This resulted in a long-term increase
in literacy. It also made it literally impossible for even educated modern
Turks to read any of the Ottoman history or manuscripts or literature,
except as translated by a tightly controlled academia and media.

AtatŸrk gave Turkey a new prestige in the international field by his
achievements in both military and political fields, crowned (July 1936) by
the restoration of Turkish sovereignty over the Straits under the Montreux
Convention. He died in 1938 of complications of cirrhosis.

The vast personality cult AtatŸrk established around himself during his rule
has remained influential in Turkey into the 21st century.

AtatŸrk has an international airport named after him, the Ataturk
International Airport in Istanbul.