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Mustafa Kemal Atatürk(1881-1938)was the founder and the first President of theRepublic of Turkey.Mustafa Kemal was born in 1881 in Salonika(Selanik,today in Greece,then under the Ottoman rule)His father's name Ali Rıza Efendi.His father was customs official.
His mother's name Zübeyde Hanım.For his primary education,he went to the school of Semsi Efendi in Salonika.But Mustafa lost his father at an early age,he had to leave school.
Mustafa and his mother went to live with his uncle in the countryside.His mother brought him up.Life continued like this for a time.Mustafa worked on the farm but his mother began to worry about his lack of schooling.It was finally decided that he should live with his mother's sister in Salonika.
He entered the Military Middle School in Salonika.In 1895,after finishing the Military Middle School,Mustafa Kemal entered the Military High School in Manastır.
After successfully completing his studies at the Manastır Military School,Mustafa Kemal went to İstanbul and on the 13th of march 1899 he entered the infantry class of the Military Academy .After finishing the Military Academy,Mustafa Kemal went on to the General Staff College in 1902.He was graduated from the Academy with the rank of captain on the 11th of January,1905.
In 1906,he was sent to Damascus(sam).Mustafa Kemal and his friends founded a society which they called''Fatherland and Freedom''in Damascus.On his own initiative,he went to Tripoli during the war with Italy in 1991 and took part in the defense of Derne and Tobruk.While he was still in Libya,the Balkan War broke out.He served in the Balkan War as a successful Commander(1912-1914).At the end of Balkan War,Mustafa Kemal was appointed military attache in Sofia.
When Mustafa Kemal was in Sofia,the First World War broke out.He was made Commander of the Anafartalar Group on 8th of August 1915.In the First World War he was in command of the Turkish forces at Anafartalar at a critial moment.This was when the Allied landings in the Dardanelles took place and he personally saved the situation in Gallipoli.During the battle,Mustafa Kemal was hit by shrapnel above the hearth,but a watch in his breast pocket saved his life.Mustafa Kemal explained his state of mind as he accepted this great responsibility:''Indeed,it was not easy to shoulder such responsibility,but as I had decided not to live to see my country's destruction,I accepted it proudly''.He then served in the Caucasus and in Syria and just before the armistice in 1918 he was placed in command of the Lightning Army group in Syria.After the armistice(peace agreement),he returned to İstanbul.
After the Armistice of Mondoros,the countries that had signed the agreement did not consider it necessary to abide by its terms.Under various pretexts the navies and the armies of the Entente(France,Britain and Italy)were in İstanbul,while the province of Adana had been occupied by the French,and Urfa and Maras by the British.There were Italian soldiers in Antalya and Konya,and British soldiers in Merzifon and Samsun.There were foreign officers ,officials and agents almost everywhere in the country.
On the 15th of May 1919 the Greek Army landed in İzmir with the agreement of the Entente.Under difficult conditions,Mustafa Kemal decided to go to Anatolia.On the 16th of May 1919,he left İstanbul in a small boat called the''Bandirma''.Mustafa Kemal was warned that his enemies had planned to sink his ship on the way out,but he was not afraid and on Monday 19th May 1919,he arrived in Samsun and set foot on Anatolian soil.That date marks the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence.It is also the date Mustafa Kemal later chose as his own birthday.A wawe of national resistance arose in Anatolia.A movement had already begun in Erzurum in the east and Mustafa Kemal quickly placed himself at the head of the whole organization.The congresses in Erzurum and Sivas in the Summer of 1919 declared the national aims by a national pact.
When the foreign armies occupied Istanbul,on 23th of April 1920 Mustafa Kemal opened the Turkish Grand National Assembly and hence established a provisional new goverment,the centre of which was to be Ankara.On the same day Mustafa Kemal was elected President of the Grand National Assembly.The Greeks,profiting by the rebellion of Çerkez Ethem and acting in collaboration with him,started to advance towards Bursa and Eskisehir.On the 10th of January 1921,the enemy forces were heavily defeated by the Commamder of the Western Front,colonel Ismet and his troops.On the 10th of july 1921,the Greeks launched a frontal attack with five divisions on Sakarya.After the great battle of Sakarya,which continued without interruption from the 23rd of August to the 13th of September,the Greek Army was defeated and had to retreat.After the battle,the Grand National Assembly gave Mustafa Kemal the titles of Ghazi and Marshal.Mustafa Kemal decided to drive the enemies out of his country and he gave the order that the attack should be launched on the morning of the 26th of August 1922.The bulk of the enemy forces were surrounded and killed or captured on the 30th of August at Dumlupınar.
The enemy Commander-in-Chief,General Trikupis,was captured.Or the 9th of September 1922 the fleeing enemy forces were driven into the sea near İzmir.The Turkish forces,under the extraordinary military skills of Kemal Atatürk,fought a War of Independence against the occupying Allied powers and won victories on every front all over the country.
On the 24th of july 1923,with the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne,the independence of the new Turkish State was recognized by all countries.Mustafa Kemal built up a new,sturdy,vigorous state.On the 29th of October 1923,he declared the new Turkish Republic.Following the declaration of the Republic he started to his radical reforms to modernize the country.Mustafa Kemal was elected the first President of the Republic of Turkey.
Atatürk made frequent tours of the country.While visiting Gemlik and Bursa,Atatürk caught a chill.He returned to Istanbul to be treated and to rest,but,unfortunately Atatürk was seriously ill.At 9.05 AM on the 10th November 1938,Atatürk died,but he attained immortality in the eyes of his people.Since the moment of his death,his beloved name and memory have been engraved on the hearts of his people.As a commander he had been the victorious of many battles,as a leader he had influenced the masses,as a statesman he had led a successful administration,and as a revolutionary he had striven to alter the social,cultural,economic,political and legal structure of society at its roots.He was one of the most eminent personalities in the history of the world,history will count him among the most glorious sons of the Turkish nation and one greatest leaders of mankind.
ATATÜRK'S PRİNCİPLES
Republicanism:
The Kemalist reforms represent a political revolution;a change from the multinational Ottman Empire to the establishment of the nation state of Turkey and the realization of national identity of modern Turkey.Kemalism only recognizes a Republican regime for Turkey.Kemalism believes that is only the republican regime which can best represent the wishes of the people.
Populism:
The Kemalist revolution was also a social revolution in term of its content and goals.This was a revolution led by an elite with an orientation towards the people in general.The Kemalist reforms brought about a revolutionary change in the status of women through the adoption of Western codes of law in Turkey,in particular the Swiss Civil Code.
Moreover women received the right to vote in 1934.Atatürk stated on a number of occasions that the true rulers of Turkey were the peasants.This was actually a goal rather than a reality in Turkey.In fact,in the offical explanation given to the principle of populism it was stated that Kemalism was against class privileges and class distinctions and it recognized no individual,no family,no class and no organization as being above others.Kemalist ideology was,in fact,based on supreme value of Turkish citizenship.A sense of pride associated with this citizenship would give the needed psychological spur to the people to make them work harder and to achieve a sense of unity and national identity.
Secularism:
Kemalist secularism did not merely mean separation of state and religion,but also the seperation of religion from educational,cultural and legal affairs.It meant independence of thought and independence of institutions from the dominance of religious thinking and religious institutions.Thus,the Kemalist revolution was also a secularist revolution.Many Kemalist reforms were made to bring about secularism,and others were realized because secularism had been achieved.
The Kemalist principle of secularism did not advocate atheism.It was not an anti-God principle.It was a rationalist,anti-clerical secularism.The Kemalist principle of secularism was not against an enlightened Islam,but against an Islam which was opposed to modernization.
Reformism:
One of the most important principles that Atatürk formulated was the principle of reformism or revolutionism.This principle meant that Turkey made reforms and that the country replaced traditional institutions with modern instittutions.It meant that traditional concepts were eliminated and modern concepts were adopted.The principle of reformism went beyond the recognition of the reforms which were made.
Nationalism:
The Kemalist revolutin was also a nationalist revolution.Kemalist nationalism was not racist.It was meant to preserve the independence of the Republic of Turkey and also to help the Republic's political development.It was a nationalism which respected the right to independence of all other nations.It was a nationalism with a social content.It was not only anti-imperialist,but it was also against the rule of a dynasty or of any particular social class over Turkish society.Kemalist nationalism believes in the principle that the Turkish state is an indivisible whole comprising its territory and people.
Statism:
Kemal Atatürk made clear in his statements and policies that Turkey's complete modernization was very much dependent on economic and technological development.The principle of statism was interpreted to mean that the state was to regulate the country's general economic activity and the state was to engage in areas where private enterprise was not willing to do so,or where private enterprise had proved to be inadequate,or if national interest required it.In the application of the principle of statism,however,the state emerged not only as the principle source of economic activity but also as the owner of the major industries of the country.
THE VIEWS OF ATATÜRK
On the economy
As a result of Atatürk's reforms,Turkey's economic structure was completely changed for the better.With the annulment of capitulations,fundamentals needed to secure a national and liberal economy were achieved.Atatürk's view of the economy of country lies in this saying:''The real master of the country is the villager''.
On foreign policy
Atatürk's motto of''Peace at Home,Peace in the World''was rigorously adhered to,despite the fact that many national leaders at that time slipped into the politics of internal subversion,police state tactics and then into international conflict.Turkey managed to avoid both subversion at home and involvement in war.
