Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first president from 1923 until his death in 1938. He undertook sweeping reforms, which modernized Turkey into a secular, industrializing nation. Ideologically a secularist and nationalist, his policies and socio-political theories became known as Kemalism.

He came to prominence for his role in securing the Ottoman victory at the Battle of Gallipoli (1915) during World War I. Although not directly involved in the Armenian genocide, his government would later grant immunity to remaining perpetrators. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, he led the Turkish National Movement, which resisted the Empire's partition among the victorious Allied powers. Establishing a provisional government in the present-day Turkish capital Ankara, he defeated the forces sent by the Allies, thus emerging victorious from what was later referred to as the Turkish War of Independence. He subsequently proceeded to abolish the Ottoman sultanate in 1922 and proclaimed the foundation of the Turkish Republic in its place the following year.

As the president of the newly formed Turkish Republic, Atatürk initiated a rigorous program of political, economic, and cultural reforms with the ultimate aim of building a republican and secular nation-state. He made primary education free and compulsory, opening thousands of new schools all over the country. He also introduced the Latin-based Turkish alphabet. Turkish women received equal civil and political rights during his presidency. His government carried out a policy of Turkification, trying to create a homogeneous, unified and above all secular nation under the Turkish banner. The Turkish Parliament granted him the surname Atatürk in 1934, which means "Father of the Turks", in recognition of the role he played in building the modern Turkish Republic. He died on 10 November 1938 at Dolmabahçe Palace in Istanbul, at the age of 57; he was succeeded as president by his long-time prime minister İsmet İnönü.

In 1981, the centennial of Atatürk's birth, his memory was honoured by the United Nations and UNESCO, which declared it ''The Atatürk Year in the World'' and adopted the Resolution on the Atatürk Centennial, describing him as "the leader of the first struggle given against colonialism and imperialism". Atatürk was also credited for his peace-in-the-world oriented foreign policy and friendship with neighboring countries such as Iran, Yugoslavia, Iraq, and Greece, as well as the creation of the Balkan Pact that resisted the expansionist aggressions of Fascist Italy and Tsarist Bulgaria.

Name

Atatürk was born Mustafa. His second name Kemal (meaning 'perfection' or 'maturity' in Arabic) was given to him by his mathematics teacher, Captain Üsküplü Mustafa Efendi. According to Afet İnan, his teacher gave this name "in admiration of tatürk'scapability and maturity". According to other sources, his teacher wanted to distinguish Atatürk from another student who was also named Mustafa. Andrew Mango suggests that he may have chosen the name himself as a tribute to the nationalist poet Namık Kemal. According to Alkan, Atatürk seems to have embraced the name Kemal during his army years.

After receiving the surname Atatürk on his first ID card in 1934, his name appeared as Kemal Atatürk, while the given name Mustafa had disappeared altogether. In February 1935, Atatürk began to use the Old Turkic name Kamâl. According to ''Tarama Dergisi'' (1934), meant 'fortification', 'fortress', 'army', or 'shield'. On 4 February 1935, the government's official news agency Anadolu Agency gave the following explanation:

However, Atatürk returned to the old spelling of Kemal from May 1937 and onwards. To make a soft transition, he avoided using the name as much as he could, either by not using it at all or by signing documents as 'K. Atatürk'. An official explanation was never given, but it is widely agreed that the issue with Atatürk's name was linked to the Turkish language reform.

Early life

Mustafa Kemal was born either in the Ahmet Subaşı neighbourhood or at a house (preserved as a museum) in Islahhane Street (now Apostolou Pavlou Street) in the Koca Kasım Pasha neighbourhood in Salonica (), Ottoman Empire. His parents were Ali Rıza Efendi, a military officer originally from Kodžadžik (), title deed clerk and lumber trader, and Zübeyde Hanım. Only one of Mustafa's siblings, a sister named Makbule (Atadan) survived childhood; she died in 1956.

Claims and theories about Mustafa Kemal's ancestry are strikingly varied and contrasting. According to Andrew Mango, his family was Muslim, Turkish-speaking and precariously middle-class. His father Ali Rıza is thought to have been of Albanian origin by some authors;Jackh, Ernest, ''The Rising Crescent'', (Goemaere Press, 2007)
p. 31, ''Turkish mother and Albanian father''
Isaac Frederick Marcosson, ''Turbulent Years'', Ayer Publishing, 1969
p. 144.
however, according to Falih Rıfkı Atay, Vamık D. Volkan, Norman Itzkowitz, Müjgân Cunbur, Numan Kartal and Hasan İzzettin Dinamo, Ali Rıza's ancestors were Turks, ultimately descending from Söke in Aydın Province of Anatolia.Falih Rıfkı Atay, ''Çankaya: Atatürk'ün doğumundan ölümüne kadar'', İstanbul: Betaş, 1984, p. 17. His mother Zübeyde is thought to have been of Turkish origin, and according to Şevket Süreyya Aydemir, she was of Turkic Yörük ancestry. According to some various claims, she descended from Albanians, Macedonian Torbeši, or Muslim Bulgarians. Due to the large Jewish community of Salonica in the Ottoman period, many of his Islamist opponents who were disturbed by his reforms claimed that Mustafa Kemal had Jewish Dönme ancestors.

In his early years, his mother encouraged Mustafa Kemal to attend a religious school, something he did reluctantly and only briefly. Later, he attended the Şemsi Efendi School (a private school with a more secular curriculum) at the direction of his father. When he was seven years old, his father died. His mother wanted him to learn a trade, but without consulting them, Mustafa Kemal took the entrance exam for the Salonica Military School (''Selanik Askeri Rüştiyesi'') in 1893. In 1896, he enrolled in the Monastir Military High School (in modern Bitola, North Macedonia) where he excelled at mathematics. On 14 March 1899,T. C. Genelkurmay Harp Tarihi Başkanlığı Yayınları, ''Türk İstiklâl Harbine Katılan Tümen ve Daha Üst Kademelerdeki Komutanların Biyografileri'', Ankara: Genkurmay Başkanlığı Basımevi, 1972, p. 1. he enrolled at the Ottoman Military Academy in the neighbourhood of PangaltıFalih Rıfkı Atay, ''Çankaya: Atatürk'ün doğumundan ölümüne kadar'', İstanbul: Betaş, 1984, p. 29. within the Şişli district of the Ottoman capital city Constantinople (modern Istanbul) and graduated in 1902. He later graduated from the Ottoman Military College in Constantinople on 11 January 1905.

Military career

Early years

Shortly after graduation, he was arrested by the police for his anti-monarchist activities. Following confinement for several months he was released only with the support of Rıza Pasha, his former school director.Falih Rıfkı Atay: Çankaya, Pozitif Yayınları, İstanbul, 2004 After his release, Mustafa Kemal was assigned to the Fifth Army based in Damascus as a Staff Captain in the company of Ali Fuat (Cebesoy) and Lütfi Müfit (Özdeş). He joined a small secret revolutionary society of reformist officers led by a merchant Mustafa Elvan (Cantekin) called ('Motherland and Liberty'). On 20 June 1907, he was promoted to the rank of Senior Captain (''Kolağası'') and on 13 October 1907, was assigned to the headquarters of the Third Army in Manastır.T.C. Genelkurmay Başkanlığı Yayınları, ''ibid'', p. 2. He joined the Committee of Union and Progress, with membership number 322, although in later years he became known for his opposition to, and frequent criticism of, the policies pursued by the CUP leadership. On 22 June 1908, he was appointed the Inspector of the Ottoman Railways in Eastern Rumelia (''Doğu Rumeli Bölgesi Demiryolları Müfettişi'').

Mustafa Kemal began his revolutionary career in the Ottoman Empire as a Young Turk when he joined the Committee of Union and Progress, playing an important part in the 31 March Incident, which seized power from Sultan Abdülhamid II and restored the constitutional monarchy.

He proposed depoliticization in the army, a proposal which was disliked by the leaders of the CUP. As a result, he was sent away to Tripolitania Vilayet (present Libya, then an Ottoman territory) under the pretext of suppressing a tribal rebellion towards the end of 1908. According to Mikush however, he volunteered for this mission. He suppressed the revolt and returned to Constantinople in January 1909.

In April 1909 in Constantinople, a group of soldiers began a counter-revolution (see 31 March Incident). Mustafa Kemal was instrumental in suppressing the revolt.

In 1910, he was called to the Ottoman provinces in Albania. At that time Isa Boletini was leading Albanian uprisings in Kosovo, and there were revolts in Albania as well. In 1910, Mustafa Kemal met with Eqrem Vlora, the Albanian lord, politician, writer, and one of the delegates of the Albanian Declaration of Independence.

Later, in the autumn of 1910, he was among the Ottoman military observers who attended the Picardie army manoeuvres in France, and in 1911, served at the Ministry of War (''Harbiye Nezareti'') in Constantinople for a short time.

Italo-Turkish War (1911–12)

In 1911, he volunteered to fight in the Italo-Turkish War in the Ottoman Tripolitania Vilayet (present-day Libya). He served mainly in the areas near Derna and Tobruk. The invading Italian army had a strength of 150,000 men;William Henry Beehler, ''The History of the Italian-Turkish War'', page 96 it was opposed by 20,000 Bedouins and 8,000 Turks.Beehler, p. 14 A short time before Italy declared war, many of the Ottoman troops in Libya were sent to the Ottoman province of Yemen Vilayet to put down the rebellion there, so the Ottoman government was caught with inadequate resources to counter the Italians in Libya. Britain, which controlled the Ottoman provinces of Egypt and Sudan, did not allow additional Ottoman troops to reach Libya through Egypt. Ottoman soldiers like Mustafa Kemal went to Libya either dressed as Arabs (risking imprisonment if noticed by the British authorities in Egypt) or by the very few available ferries (the Italians, who had superior naval forces, effectively controlled the sea routes to Tripoli). However, despite all the hardships, Mustafa Kemal's forces in Libya managed to repel the Italians on a number of occasions, such as at the Battle of Tobruk on 22 December 1911.

During the Battle of Derna on 16–17 January 1912, while Mustafa Kemal was assaulting the Italian-controlled fortress of Kasr-ı Harun, two Italian planes dropped bombs on the Ottoman forces; a limestone splinter from a damaged building's rubble struck Mustafa Kemal's left eye, causing permanent tissue damage, but not total loss of sight. He received medical treatment for nearly a month; he attempted to leave the Red Crescent's health facilities after only two weeks, but when his eye's situation worsened, he had to return and resume treatment. On 6 March 1912, Mustafa Kemal became the Commander of the Ottoman forces in Derna. He managed to defend and retain the city and its surrounding region until the end of the Italo-Turkish War on 18 October 1912. Mustafa Kemal, Enver Bey, Fethi Bey, and the other Ottoman military commanders in Libya had to return to Ottoman Europe following the outbreak of the Balkan Wars on 8 October 1912. Having lost the war, the Ottoman government had to surrender Tripolitania, Fezzan, and Cyrenaica (three provinces forming present-day Libya) to the Kingdom of Italy in the Treaty of Lausanne (1912) signed ten days later, on 18 October 1912. Since 1923, historians have preferred to name this treaty as the "Treaty of Ouchy", after the Château d'Ouchy in Lausanne where it was signed, to distinguish it from the later Treaty of Lausanne (1923) signed between the Allies of World War I and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara (at that time known as Angora).

Balkan Wars (1912–13)

On 1 December 1912, Mustafa Kemal arrived at his new headquarters on the Gallipoli peninsula and, during the First Balkan War, he took part in the amphibious landing at Bulair on the coast of Thrace under Binbaşı Fethi Bey, but this offensive was repulsed during the Battle of Bulair by Georgi Todorov's 7th Rila Infantry Division under the command of Stiliyan Kovachev's Bulgarian Fourth Army.

In June 1913, during the Second Balkan War, he took part in the Ottoman Army forces commanded by Kaymakam Enver Bey that recovered Dimetoka and Edirne (Adrianople, the capital city of the Ottoman Empire between 1365 and 1453, thus of utmost historic importance for the Turks) together with most of eastern Thrace from the Bulgarians.

In 1913, he was appointed the Ottoman military attaché to all Balkan states (his office was in Sofia, Bulgaria) and promoted to the rank of Kaymakam ( Lieutenant Colonel / Colonel) on 1 March 1914. While in Bulgaria, he met with Dimitrina Kovacheva, the daughter of Bulgarian general Stiliyan Kovachev (against whose forces he had fought during the Balkan Wars), who had recently completed her education in Switzerland, during a New Year's Eve ball in Sofia and fell in love with her. The two danced at the ball and started to secretly date in the following days. Mustafa Kemal twice asked Dimitrina's parents for their permission to marry her (the second time was in 1915, during World War I) and was twice refused, which left him with a lifelong sadness.

First World War (1914–18)

In 1914, the Ottoman Empire entered the European and Middle Eastern theatres of World War I allied with the Central Powers. Mustafa Kemal was given the task of organizing and commanding the 19th Division attached to the Fifth Army during the Battle of Gallipoli. He became the front-line commander after correctly anticipating where the Allies would attack, and held his position until they retreated. Following the Battle of Gallipoli, Mustafa Kemal served in Edirne until 14 January 1916. He was then assigned to the command of the XVI Corps of the Second Army and sent to the Caucasus Campaign after the massive Russian offensive had reached key Anatolian cities. On 7 August, he rallied his troops and mounted a counteroffensive.Lengyel, ''They called him Atatürk'', 68 Two of his divisions captured Bitlis

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