Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Kemal Atatürk[1] (until 1934: Mustafa Kemal Pasha, Ottoman Turkish: مصطفى كمال پاشا; after 1935: Kamâl Atatürk;[2] commonly referred to as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk) was a Turkish field marshal, secularist reformer, and statesman who became the first President of Turkey from 1923 until his death in 1938. He is known for being a leader of Turkey who freed the country from being controlled by other countries and later for starting changes that made Turkey more modern and similar to Western civilization, mainly Europe and the United States.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born under the name Mustafa in 1881. His birth place was in Salonika, Macedonia (now Thessaloniki, Greece). Salonika was part of the Ottoman Empire at that time. He took the name Kemal as a schoolboy and Atatürk (which means Father of All Turks) when he was president. His father's name was Ali Rıza Efendi. His mother's name was Zübeyde Hanım. He also had a sister whose name was Makbule (Atadan). He became an army officer and the most successful general officer of the empire in World War I, fighting in Gallipoli.
When the Ottoman Empire was ended after the war, Atatürk organized a nationalist movement that created the new, secular, Republic of Turkey. This meant that the country's government was no longer led by hereditary or religious leaders. Visitors to Turkey are often surprised by the importance given to Atatürk in present-day Turkey.
Few countries have such a person in their history. He was a successful military commander, and later established a democratic constitution and put in place changes that set Turkey on the road to becoming a new and developing nation. He inspired many later leaders like Habib Bourguiba, Gamal Abdel Nasser and Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
His six principles still serve today as a sign post for establishing a democratic government:
- Republicanism: Replacing the hereditary monarchy with an elected parliament.
- Nationalism: Citizens working together with pride in a common interest.
- Secularism: Separating religion from government.
- Populism: The equality of all citizens before the law.
- Reformism: A constant process of development and modernisation.
- Etatism: An economic system combining private enterprise with government-funded monopolies of large industries
ReferencesEdit
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