Atatürk Lifs Tek Sayfa

Mustafa Atatürk Lifs…

On a day of 1881, a male child was born in a pink house located at the district of Ahmet Subaşı, city of Salonika, which is inside Greek boundaries today.

Father Ali Rıza whispered the name of the child to his ear. "MUSTAFA."
      
       Before Mustafa ,Zübeyde Hanım and Ali Rıza Bey had three children named Fatma,Ömer and Ahmet. When Mustafa was born none of those children were alive.

Mother Zübeyde Hanım was a pretty Turkmen woman strictly devoted to religious beliefs.The ancestors of Zübeyde Hanım were known as a branch of Turkmen tribe. They immigrated from Anatolia to Rumelia during the conquest of Rumelia by the Ottomans and settled in Sarıgöl subdistrict located west of the Vodina district in west Makedonia. It is thought that this tribe came there from Konya or Aydın provinces of Anatolia.
      
       Father Ali Rıza was a resident of Salonika and his father was Ahmet Efendi .His uncle Hafız Ahmet Efendi, a teacher in the district school, was nicknamed as "Red Hafız Efendi" because of his red beard.

At the time, Father Ali Rıza was working as a customs officer. Later, he quit and established a partnership with a timber trader Cafer Efendi. He was also involved with brine trading for some time. Ali Rıza passed away at the young age of 47. What were left from Ali Rıza Bey to Zübeyde was two mecidiyes (40 kuruş) widow salary,7 year old Mustafa and his sister Makbule.

First enrolled in a traditional religious school, Mustafa soon switched to a modern one. After a short time(1893) Mustafa Kemal enrolled to military middle school, he provided acceptance of himself to his friends and teacher. He was clever, hard working and dignifed. Especially, in the field of Mathematics he was unique. All of his teacher were appreciating him. He had a special positon from view of his Mathematics teacher. Lietunant Commander amazed with his student's abilities, characher and diligence. One day, Lietunant Commander teacher Mustafa spoke to Mustafa quoting. His mathematics teacher said “My son, we both have the same name. As, there should be a difference, let your name Mustafa Kemal, from now on”. After his father died left the school and he went tolive with their uncle.

In 1905, Mustafa Kemal graduated from the War Academy in Istanbul with the rank of Staff Captain. Posted in Damascus, he started with several colleagues, a clandestine society called "Homeland and Freedom" to fight against the Sultan's despotism. In 1908 he helped the group of officers who toppled the Sultan. Mustafa Kemal's career flourished as he won his heroism in the far corners of the Ottoman Empire, including Albania and Tripoli. He also briefly served as a staff officer in Salonica and Istanbul and as a military attache in Sofia.

In 1915, when Dardanelles campaign was launched, Colonel Mustafa Kemal became a national hero by winning successive victories and finally repelling the invaders. Promoted to general in 1916, at age 35, he liberated two major provinces in eastern Turkey that year. In the next two years, he served as commander of several Ottoman armies in Palestine, Aleppo, and elsewhere, achieving another major victory by stopping the enemy advance at Aleppo.

On May 19, 1919, Mustafa Kemal Pasha landed in the Black Sea port of Samsun to start the War of Independence. In defiance of the Sultan's government, he rallied a liberation army in Anatolia and convened the Congress of Erzurum and Sivas which established the basis for the new national effort under his leadership. On April 23, 1920, the Grand National Assembly was inaugurated. Mustafa Kemal Pasha was elected to its Presidency.
Fighting on many fronts, he led his forces to victory against rebels and invading armies. Following the Turkish triumph at the two major battles at Inonu in Western Turkey, the Grand National Assembly conferred on Mustafa Kemal Pasha the title of Commander-in-Chief with the rank of Marshal. At the end of August 1922, the Turkish armies won their ultimate victory. Within a few weeks, the Turkish mainland was completely liberated, the armistice signed, and the rule of the Ottoman dynasty abolished.
In July 1923, the national government signed the Lausanne Treaty with Great Britain, France, Greece, Italy, and others. In mid-October, Ankara became the capital of the new Turkish State. On October 29, the Republic was proclaimed and Mustafa Kemal Pasha was unanimously elected President of the Republic.

Atatürk married Latife Usakligil in early 1923. The marriage ended in divorce in 1925.
The account of Atatürk's fifteen year Presidency is a saga of dramatic modernization. With indefatigable determination, he created a new political and legal system, abolished the Caliphate and made both government and education secular, gave equal rights to women, changed the alphabet and the attire, and advanced the arts and the sciences, agriculture and industry.
In 1934, when the surname law was adopted, the national parliament gave him the name "Atatürk" (Father of the Turks).
He died at 9.05 on November 10, 1938, following an illness of a few months, the national liberator and the Father of modern Turkey died. But his legacy to his people and to the world endures.

Atatürk's body was re-interred in Anıtkabir splendid mausoleum in 1953.