Who is Atatürk?
One of the foremost iconic figures of the first twentieth century, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is remembered because the leader who emerged from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire to ascertain Turkey as a sovereign republic.
Born “Mustafa” on 1881, Turkey’s most known son came old-time within the Ottoman Empire, that had spent over 600 years up. When attending military college from the age of twelve, Kemal Pasha cut his teeth as a soldier in actions against the Italians in African country from 1911 to 1912, and later helped lead forces that blocked the Allied capture of city within the known Gallipoli Campaign throughout warfare I. His 1st raid politics came in 1919, once he organized a nationalist revolution to drive the occupying Allied powers out of Turkey. when rating decisive victories against the Greeks and Armenians, he secured the pact of urban center in Gregorian calendar month 1923, that recognized Turkey as a free nation. Later that year, the national assembly established Turkey as a republic with Atatürk as its 1st president.
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 modern, progressive, 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, replacing the old Ottoman Turkish alphabet. Turkish women received equal civil and political rights during Atatürk’s presidency ahead of many Western countries. In particular, women were given voting rights in local elections by Act no. 1580 on 3 April 1930 and a few years later, in 1934, full universal suffrage, earlier than most other countries in the world.
Mustafa Kemal’s first order of business was to modernize and secularize the country, which he did by studying Western governments and adapting their structure for the people of Turkey. He believed that modernization necessarily entailed Westernization, and he established a policy of state secularism, with a constitution that separated the government from religion.
Social and economic reforms were a crucial part of his strategy as well. He replaced the Arabic alphabet with a Latin one, introduced the Gregorian calendar and urged people to dress in Western clothes. Mustafa industrialized the nation, establishing state-owned factories around the country as well as a railway network. And a multitude of new laws established legal equality between the sexes. Mustafa removed women’s veiling laws and gave women the right to vote.
Although he believed he was advancing the country, not all of Mustafa Kemal’s reforms were warmly received. His policy of state secularism was particularly controversial, and he was accused of decimating important cultural traditions.
About the Author
