Mustafa Kemal ATATURK
“There are two Mustafa Kemals. One the flesh-and-blood Mustafa Kemal who now stands before you and who will pass away. the other is you, all of you here who will go to the far corners of our land to spread the ideals which must be defended with your lives if necessary. I stand for the nation’s dreams, and my life’s work is to make them come true.”
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881 - 1938) was the architect and the aboriginal President of the Republic of Turkey. Mustafa Kemal was built-in in 1881 in Salonika (Thessaloniki, today in Greece, again beneath the Ottoman rule). His father’s name was Ali Riza Efendi. His ancestor was community official.
His mother’s name was Zübeyde Lady.
The Turks were repulsed in the Caucasus, in the Suez Canal zone, and in Lower Iraq, but they held their positions in the Dardanelles, Baghdad was taken by the British in March 1917, and Arabia, Palestine, and Syria had to be evacuated (1917-1918). In the east, the Russian Revolution stopped military operations (armistice of 07 December 1917). On 30 October 1918, Turkey signed the armistice of Mudros that enabled the Alies to occupy a large part of Turkish territory the British Mesopotamia and Samsuni the French Syria and Cilicia, the Italians Konya and Antalya. Constantinople was occupied by Allied troops while Greek troops landed at Smyrna. The aim of the Western powers was the total dismemberment of Turkey. One man stood out against this policy, an officer who had distinguished himself in the Dardanelles, the Caucasus, and Smyrna Mustafa Kemal.
Appointed inspector of the northern army on 15 May 1919, he landed at Samsun on 19 May. On 22 June he issued at Amasya a proclamation against the government at Constantinople and decided to fight for Turkish independence. The Congress of Erzurum (23 July) and that of Sivas (4 September) placed him at the head of the struggle for a free and independent Turkey. On 23 April 1920 a Grand National Assembly net at Ankara, claimed legislative and executive powers and elected Mustafa Kemal as its president. On 30 May 1920 France signed an armistice concerning Cilicia with the Grand Assembly. But the determination of the Allies to enforce the Treaty of Sevres sparked off the War of independence. The treaty stipulated such weakening and tutelage of Turkey that Mustafa Kemal did not hesitate to open hostilities against the Greeks who occupied the whole western part of Anatolia (20 June 1920).
At first the Turkish army was forced to retreat, but it managed to halt the Greek advance and in January 1921 Ismet Pasha won a victory at Inonu. In the east, Kazım Karabekir defeated the Armenians and reoccupied the territories that had been lost in 1878; these gains were confirmed by treaties signed with the Soviets in 1920-1921. In 1921, a new Greek offensive was halted at Inonu. Another offensive in July enabled the Greeks to advance, but on 23 August 1921 Mustafa Kemal won a desicive victory on the Sakarya. The Grand Assembly conferred on him the title of Gazi (Victorious).
When the negotiations that started at that time and continued until the early summer of 1922 proved abortive, Mustafa Kemal took the offensive. On 26 August, at Dumlupinar, the Greek lines were broken and the Turks, advancing without respite, entered Smyrna on 9 Semtember. By 18 September not a single Greek soldier was left in Anatolia. Thanks to French mediation in the face of the threatening British attitude, an atmistice was concluded at Mudanya (11 October 1922) and the Turks reoccupied Thrace and the Dardanelles zone. The Treaty of Lausanne (24 July 1923) restored to Turkey the European frontiers of 1914 and its territorial integrity and recommended an exchange of Greeks in Turkey with Turks in Greece. The capitulations were annulled. The Treaty of Lausanne was ratified on 23 August 1923 by the Grand National Assembly, and on 2 October the Allies evacuated Istanbul. On 29 October 1923, a republic government was established in Turkey; Mustafa Kemal became the president of the Republic and Ismet Pasha (Ismet Inonu) was appointed Prime Minister. On 3 March 1924 the abolition of the caliphate was voted and measures for the secularization of education and law adopted.
Until his death in November 1938, Mustafa Kemal, who had become Kemal Atatürk, strove to transform Turkey into a modern state Westernized, yet retaining its character. The constitution voted in 1924 vested executive power in the President of the Republic and legislative power in a single House elected for four years by universal manhood suffrage (women were given the vote in 1934). This House elected the President of the Republic, also for four years. Although there were a few minor political parties until about 1930, in fact a one party system applied. The Republican People’s Party faithfully expressed the policy of Ataturk and his companions.
The principal measures of home policy included the suppression of regilious orders, of wearing religious costume or the fez (1925), the institution of civil, criminal, and commercial codes, compulsory civil marriage (1925), the use of the Gregorian calendar, the abulition of Islam as the State religion (1928), the introduction of the Latin alphabet (Nowember 1928), the withdrawal of foreign concessions (June 1929), and the nationalization of transport and major industrial undertakings, which were administered by the State banks. Demesnes belonging to the sultan were parcelled out and distributed among the peasants, but few of the great private estates were affected by the agrarian reforms. Education was made compulsory and developed considerably on all levels, although not yet adequately in the country regions. A law of January 1935 compelled every citizen to adopt a surname. In the previous year a four year plan was launched for the development of industry and the means of transport.
In foreign affairs, Ataturk followed a wise policy of concluding agreements with neighbouring states and the great powers. He joined in the Balkan Pact (February 1934) and the Pact of Saadabad (July 1937). By the Convention of Montreux of 1936 Turkey regained complete control of the Dardanelles. In 1936 it obtained the cession of the Sanjak of Alexandretta (Hatai) which it had claimed since 1937, and concluded a pact of mutual assistance with France and England. On 10 November 1938 Ataturk died at Istanbul, mourned by the whole nation. His remains were transferred to Ankara and first deposited in the Ethnographical Museum and then, on 10 November 1953, in the Mausoleum at Ankara.
To see me does not necessarily mean to see my face. To understand my thoughts is to have seen me.
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