Kemal Atatürk, originally Mustafa Kemal led and founded modern Turkey, in 1919 organized the nationalist party, established a rival government to the Ottoman sultan, and after a civil war served from 1923 as president of the republic.
Ali Riza, a customs official, turned lumber merchant, fathered Mustafa, and died during his boyhood. Zubeyde, his mother, a devout and strong-willed woman, reared him and his sister. People first enrolled him in a traditional religious school, but he quickly switched. In 1893, he entered a military high school, where his mathematics teacher gave the second name Kemal, meaning perfection, to young Mustafa in recognition of superior achievement. People thereafter knew him as Mustafa Kemal.
From the academy in Istanbul in 1905, Mustafa Kemal graduated with the rank of staff captain.
In 1915, when people launched campaign of Dardanelles, Mustafa Kemal, colonel and hero, won successive victories and finally repelled the invaders. Promoted to general at 35 years of age, he liberated two major provinces in east in that year of 1916. In the next two years, he as commander of several armies in Palestine and elsewhere stopped the enemy advance at Aleppo to achieve another major victory.
On 19 May 1919, Mustafa Kemal Pasha landed in Samsun, the port on Black Sea, to start independence. In defiance, he rallied a liberation army in Anatolia and convened the congress of Erzurum and Sivas as the basis for the new effort. On 23 April 1920, people inaugurated the grand assembly. They elected Mustafa Kemal Pasha.
His forces fought on many fronts to victory against rebels and invading armies. Following the triumph at the two major battles at Inonu in west, the grand assembly conferred the title of commander-in-chief with the rank of marshal on on Mustafa Kemal Pasha. At the end of August 1922, the armies won their ultimate victory. Within a few weeks, people completely liberated the mainland, signed the armistice, and abolished the rule of the dynasty.
In July 1923, people signed the treaty of Lausanne with Great Britain, France, Greece, Italy, and other powers. In mid-October, Ankara served as the capital of the new state. On 29 October, people proclaimed and unanimously elected Mustafa Kemal Pasha.
Dramatics account fifteen-year saga of Atatürk. With indefatigable determination, he created a new political and legal system, abolished the caliphate, made secular education, gave equal rights to women, changed the alphabet and the attire, and advanced arts, sciences, agriculture, and industry.
In 1934, the parliament adopted the surname law and then gave him the name "Atatürk," father.
Following an illness of a few months, the liberator and the father on 10 November 1938 died. Nevertheless, his legacy to his people and the world endures.
L'uomo che ha combattuto contro i paesi occupanti occidentali per rendere la Turchia una Repubblica. Ancora oggi l'uomo più controverso, il più amato e il più odiato.
Questo è il resoconto della Guerra d'Indipendenza turca, in uno dei discorsi più appassionati del Padre della Turchia: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.