Kemal Atatürk (or alternatively written as Kamâl Atatürk, Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1934, commonly referred to as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk; 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish marshal and statesman who was the first President of Turkey from 1923 to his death in 1938.
He is known for being a leader who freed his people from being controlled by other countries and then for starting changes that founded Turkish nation state based on social and economic nationalism, more modern and similar to Western civilization, mainly France (such as the French model of secularism called laïcité).
Atatürk was born under the name Mustafa in 1881. His birthplace was in Salonika, Macedonia (now Thessaloniki, Greece). Salonika was then part of the Ottoman Empire. He took the name Kemal as a schoolboy and Atatürk (which means Father of the Turks) when he was president. His father's name was Ali Rıza Efendi. His mother's name was Zübeyde Hanım. He also had a sister, whose name was Makbule (Atadan). He became an army officer and the most successful general officer of the empire in World War I, fighting in Gallipoli.
While the Ottoman Empire was collapsing after the war, Atatürk organized a nationalist movement that created the new, secular Republic of Turkey. That meant that the country's government was no longer led by hereditary or religious leaders. Visitors to Turkey are often surprised by the importance given to Atatürk in Turkey.
Few countries have such a person in their history. He was a successful military commander, later established a unitary republic based on a constitution and put in place changes that set Turkey on the road to becoming a new and developing nation. He inspired many later leaders like Amānullāh Khān, Reza Shah Pahlavi, Adolf Hitler, Habib Bourguiba, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Sukarno, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and John F. Kennedy.
His six principles still serve today as a sign post for establishing a democratic government: