Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK is the most important person in Turkish history.
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” PEACE AT HOME, PEACE IN THE WORLD” .
Mustafa Kemal ATATURK (1881–10 November 1938) was a Turkish army officer, a great teacher, revolutionary statesman, writer, and founder of the Republic of Turkey as well as its first President.
He stands as a towering figure of the 20th Century. Among the great leaders of history, few have achieved so much in so short period, transformed the life of a nation as decisively, and given such profound inspiration to the world at large.
Atatürk became known as an extremely capable military officer by being the only undefeated Ottoman commander during World War I. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, he led the Turkish national movement in the Turkish War of Independence. Having established a provisional government in Ankara, he defeated the forces sent by the Allies.
His successful military campaigns led to the liberation of the country and to the establishment of Turkey. During his presidency, Atatürk embarked upon a program of political, economic, and culturalreforms. An admirer of the Age of Enlightenment, he sought to transform the former Ottoman Empire into a modern, democratic, and secularnation-state.
Emerging as a military hero at the Dardanelles in 1915, he became the charismatic leader of the Turkish national liberation struggle in 1919. He blazed across the world scene in the early 1920s as a triumphant commander who crushed the invaders of his country. Following a series of impressive victories against all odds, he led his nation to full independence.
He put an end to the antiquated Ottoman dynasty whose tale had lasted more than six centuries and created the Republic of Turkey in 1923, establishing a new government truly representative of the nation’s will.
October 29, 1923 is a fateful date in Turkish history. On that date, Mustafa Kemal Pasha, the liberator of his country, proclaimed the Republic of Turkey. The new homogeneous nation-state stood in sharp contrast to the multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire out of whose ashes it arose. The dynasty and theocratic Ottoman system, with its Sultanate and Caliphate, thus came to and end. Atatürk’s Turkey dedicated itself to the sovereignty of the national will – to the creation of, in President’s words, “the state of the people “.Kemal’s private journal entries dated before the establishment of the republic in 1923 show that he believed in the importance of the sovereignty of the people.
In forging the new republic, the Turkish revolutionaries turned their back on the perceived corruption and decadence of cosmopolitan Constantinople and its Ottoman heritage. For instance, they made Ankara the country’s new capital. A provincial town deep in Anatolia, it was turned into the center of the independence movement. Ataturk wanted a “direct government by the Assembly” and visualized a representative democracy, parliamentary sovereignty, where the National Parliament would be the ultimate source of power.
His achievements in Turkey are an enduring monument to Atatürk. Emerging nationsadmire him as a pioneer of national liberation. The world honors his memory as a foremostpeacemaker who upheld the principles of humanism and the vision of a united humanity. ”He said; Peace at home ,peace in the world”.
Tributes have been offered to him through the decades by such world statesmen as LloydGeorge, Churchill, Roosevelt, Nehru, de Gaulle, Adenauer, Bourguiba, Nasser, Kennedy, andcountless others. A White House statement, issued on the occasion of “The AtatürkCentennial” in 1981, pays homage to him as “a great leader in times ofwar and peace”. It is fitting that there should be high praise for Atatürk, anextraordinary leader of modern times, who said in 1933: “I look to the world withan open heart full of pure feelings and friendship”…
