Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey, is celebrated for his leadership and reforms. He established democracy, supported public education, promoted Westernization, and advocated for women’s rights. He abolished the Sultanate and Caliphate, and modernized Turkey’s economy and culture. Atatürk’s legacy continues to be admired by many, and his death at age 57 was mourned by his country and leaders around the world.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938) is considered a hero by many people of Turkish origin and many leaders around the world. He established democracy under one-party rule in Turkey and created significant reforms there. His policies supported public education in what had previously been a largely illiterate country, extolled the virtues of Westernization, created reforms for women, and promoted peaceful relations with Europe and America. Though he has at times led the country autocratically, he is still regarded as a fantastic leader. He has earned the respect of people like General MacArthur and has been honored by the United Nations, President Kennedy, Queen Elizabeth II and various other world leaders as a true example of leadership, progressiveness and social reform.
Young Mustafa was named Kemal by a teacher due to his ability to excel in his studies. The name Atatürk would come much later when he founded the Republic of Turkey. After brief studies in a religious school, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk studied in a military school and joined the Turkish army in 1905. In his military service, he fought against the Allies in the First World War. After the war, much of Turkey – then considered the Ottoman Empire – was broken up into groups occupied by other countries, leading to a national movement to fight for Turkish independence.
He was heavily involved and involved in the war for independence, which Turkey won in 1923. The Turkish Republic was officially established after the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne and Atatürk became its first president. Atatürk strongly believed in the importance of secular rather than religion-based government. Some of his actions in his early years were to abolish the Sultanate and Caliphate. Sultans were the main rulers of the Ottoman Empire. The caliphate was another form of sovereign, held by divine right the leaders of Islam and the successors of Mohammed by the Sunnis.
Turkey’s first president wanted the abolition of both methods of leadership rather than lead the country towards a more democratic state. This met with some resistance, particularly in his later act of abolishing the caliphate, and there was strong protest. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk did not respond with purges as might have happened in a fascist or communist state because he strongly rejected them as not a good governance structure for the Republic of Turkey.
Much can be said about Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s achievements in his role as president, which he held for 15 years. He attempted to modernize Turkey in various ways, calling for equality and the prominence of women in modern Turkish society, leading John Dewey to advise him on establishing public schools, advocating Westernized forms of dress, improving Turkey’s economy, and make peace with one of Turkey’s fiercest enemies in past centuries, the Greeks. He banned polygamy, established a secular court, helped establish a new alphabet for Turkey that was much easier to master, and did much in the study and advancement of Turkish culture and history.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is said to have loved children and adopted one son and seven daughters. He also took care of two other children, but he didn’t legally adopt them. Many of his beloved daughters would go on to set a precedent for the new equality in education and social reform as they grew up. They became examples of the Turkish ‘modern woman’ and were highly westernized in dress and attitude. Atatürk left a legacy that has long been admired, and his untimely death at the age of 57 was sincerely mourned by his own country and by the leaders of many other countries.
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