ATATRK, KEMAL

((Turkish: Kemal, Father of Turks), ) born 1881, Salonika [now Thessalonki], Greece died Nov. 10, 1938, Istanbul, Turkey original name Mustafa Kemal, also called Mustafa Kemal Pasa soldier, statesman, and reformer who was the founder and first president (192338) of the Republic of Turkey. He modernized the country's legal and educational systems and encouraged the adoption of a European way of life, with Turkish written in the Latin alphabet and with citizens adopting European-style names. One of the great figures of the 20th century, Atatrk rescued the surviving Turkish remnant of the defeated Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I. He galvanized his people against invading Greek forces who sought to impose the Allied will upon the war-weary Turks and repulsed aggression by British, French, and Italian troops. Through these struggles, he founded the modern Republic of Turkey, for which he is still revered by the Turks. He succeeded in restoring to his people pride in their Turkishness, coupled with a new sense of accomplishment as their backward nation was brought into the modern world. Over the next two decades, Atatrk created a modern state that would grow under his successors into a viable democracy. (For a more complete discussion of this period in Turkish history, see Turkey, history of: The emergence of the modern Turkish state.) ( (Turkish: Kemal Father of Turks), ) born 1881, Salonika [now Thessalonki], Greece died Nov. 10, 1938, Istanbul, Tur. original name Mustafa Kemal, also called Mustafa Kemal Pasa soldier, statesman, and reformer who was the founder and first president (192338) of the Republic of Turkey. He modernized his country's legal and educational systems and encouraged the adoption of a European way of life, with Turkish written in the Latin alphabet and with citizens adopting European-style surnames. Mustafa Kemal attended the Military Academy at Istanbul, graduating in 1902. He advanced in the military and after World War I was given a post in the Ministry of War. Supportive of an independent Turkey, he resigned from the army (1919) and was chosen president of a National Congress. In 1920, when the British formally occupied Turkey and dissolved the Chamber of Deputies, he opened the first Grand National Assembly of Turkey; the assembly then assumed national sovereignty with Mustafa Kemal as president and prime minister of the state. After consolidating his control of Anatolia, Mustafa Kemal proclaimed a republic and was elected its first president (1922). The peace treaty of 1923 established Turkey's independence. In 1924 Mustafa Kemal abolished the caliphate and began a sweeping reform of Turkish politics, law, and culture. In 1934 he was given the name Atatrk (Father of Turks) by the National Assembly.