Atatürk's Life/Atatürk'ün Hayatı
He
was born in 1881 (probably in the spring) in Salonica, then an Ottoman
city, now in Greece. His father Ali Riza, a customs official turned
lumber merchant, died when Mustafa was still a boy. His mother Zubeyde,
a devout and strong-willed woman, raised him and his sister. First
enrolled in a traditional religious school, he soon switched to a
modern school. In 1893, he entered a military high school where his
mathematics teacher gave him the second name Kemal (meaning perfection)
in recognition of young Mustafa's superior achievement. He was
thereafter known as Mustafa Kemal.
In 1905, Mustafa Kemal graduated
from the War Academy in Istanbul with the rank of Staff Captain. Posted
in Damascus, he started with several colleagues, a clandestine society
called "Homeland and Freedom" to fight against the Sultan's despotism.
In 1908 he helped the group of officers who toppled the Sultan. Mustafa
Kemal's career flourished as he won his heroism in the far corners of
the Ottoman Empire, including Albania and Tripoli. He also briefly
served as a staff officer in Salonica and Istanbul and as a military
attache in Sofia.
In 1915, when Dardanelles campaign was launched,
Colonel Mustafa Kemal became a national hero by winning successive
victories and finally repelling the invaders. Promoted to general in
1916, at age 35, he liberated two major provinces in eastern Turkey
that year. In the next two years, he served as commander of several
Ottoman armies in Palestine, Aleppo, and elsewhere, achieving another
major victory by stopping the enemy advance at Aleppo.
On May 19,
1919, Mustafa Kemal Pasha landed in the Black Sea port of Samsun to
start the War of Independence. In defiance of the Sultan's government,
he rallied a liberation army in Anatolia and convened the Congress of
Erzurum and Sivas which established the basis for the new national
effort under his leadership. On April 23, 1920, the Grand National
Assembly was inaugurated. Mustafa Kemal Pasha was elected to its
Presidency.
Fighting on many fronts, he led his forces to victory
against rebels and invading armies. Following the Turkish triumph at
the two major battles at Inonu in Western Turkey, the Grand National
Assembly conferred on Mustafa Kemal Pasha the title of
Commander-in-Chief with the rank of Marshal. At the end of August 1922,
the Turkish armies won their ultimate victory. Within a few weeks, the
Turkish mainland was completely liberated, the armistice signed, and
the rule of the Ottoman dynasty abolished.
In July 1923, the
national government signed the Lausanne Treaty with Great Britain,
France, Greece, Italy, and others. In mid-October, Ankara became the
capital of the new Turkish State. On October 29, the Republic was
proclaimed and Mustafa Kemal Pasha was unanimously elected President of
the Republic.
Atatürk married Latife Usakligil in early 1923. The marriage ended in divorce in 1925.
The
account of Atatürk's fifteen year Presidency is a saga of dramatic
modernization. With indefatigable determination, he created a new
political and legal system, abolished the Caliphate and made both
government and education secular, gave equal rights to women, changed
the alphabet and the attire, and advanced the arts and the sciences,
agriculture and industry.
In 1934, when the surname law was adopted, the national parliament gave him the name "Atatürk" (Father of the Turks).
On
November 10, 1938, following an illness of a few months, the national
liberator and the Father of modern Turkey died. But his legacy to his
people and to the world endures.
Anasayfa 
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