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There are
two Mustafa Kemals. One the flesh-and-blood Mustafa Kemal
who now stands before you and who will pass away. the other
is you, all of you here who will go to the far corners of
our land to spread the ideals which must be defended with
your lives if necessary. I stand for the nation's dreams,
and my life's work is to make them come true."
Atatürk stands as one of
the world's few historic figures who dedicated their lives
totally to their nations.
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.
Atatürk's body was re-interred in this splendid
mausoleum in 1953. |
LIFE