Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (19 May 1881 – 10 November 1938) was an army officer, revolutionary
statesman, and
founder of the Republic of Turkey as well as its first President.
Mustafa Kemal established himself as an intelligent and extremely capable military commander while serving as a division commander at the Battle of Gallipoli. He later fought with distinction on the eastern Anatolian and Palestinian fronts, making a name for himself during World War I.[1] Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the hands of the Allies, and the subsequent plans for its partition, Mustafa Kemal led the Turkish national movement in what would become the Turkish War of Independence. Having established a provisional government in Ankara, he defeated the forces sent by the Entente powers. His successful military campaigns led to the liberation of the country and to the establishment of the Republic of Turkey.
As the first President of Turkey, Atatürk embarked upon a major programme of political, economic and cultural reforms. An admirer of the Enlightenment, Atatürk sought to transform the ruins of the Ottoman Empire into a modern, democratic, secular, nation-state. The principles of Atatürk's reforms are often referred to as Kemalism and continue to form the political foundation of the modern Turkish state.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born in the Ottoman city of Salonika (Turkish Selânik; modern-day Thessaloniki in Greece) in the spring of 1881 to Ali Riza Efendi, his father, and Zübeyde Hanim, his mother. Born as Mustafa, his second name Kemal (meaning Perfection or Maturity) was given to him by his mathematics teacher in recognition of his academic excellence.[2] In his early years, his mother encouraged Mustafa to attend a religious school (the Mahalle Mektebi (translated as Neighborhood School)), though a reluctant Mustafa completed only a brief stay there. Then he had a fight with one of his teachers and left home,his father had him go to Semsi Efendi school,which gave modern education.His parents wanted him to have education in trade,but he secretly entered an exam for getting into a military junior high school in Selânik (the Selânik Askerî Rüstiyesi) in 1893. In 1896 he enrolled into a military high school (the Manastir Askerî Idadisi) in the Ottoman city of Manastir (today's Bitola, in the Republic of Macedonia.) In 1899 he enrolled into the War College (the Mekteb-i Harbiye-i Sahane) in Constantinople and graduated in 1902. He later graduated from the War Academy (the Erkân-i Harbiye Mektebi) on 11 January 1905.
