INTEGRATED ENGLISH REFERENCE NOTES - Prof. Dr. Ziya Yurttaş

Atatürk
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Atatürk is the founder and the first president of the Turkish Republic. He was born
in 1881 in Salonika which is in Greece now but was a part of the Ottoman Empire at that
time. He attended military school and became an officer in the Ottoman Army in 1902.
He fought on several fronts in different wars and became a national hero after the
Gallipoli War in 1915. Ottoman Empire was invaded by several foreign powers after the
First World War.
He started the Independence War against the invading powers in Samsun on May
19th, 1919. He led the Nation to victory after a bitter and costly struggle on August 30th,
1922. He established the Turkish Republic, on October 29th, 1923 and was elected as the
first President of the Republic.
The Turkish Republic was established on the principles of; republicanism,
nationalism, statism, secularism, populism, and revolutionism which have become to be
known as Kemalism. Atatürk has carried out several bold and broad reforms to create a
modern state on the ruins of the six-century old Ottoman Empire.
His many reforms include the following:
� Abolishing the Sultanate and establishing the Republic.
� Abolishing the Caliphate and Religious Code and establishing the secularism
and Civil Code.
� Closing down the religious orders.
� Changing hats and costumes.
� Introducing the Latin alphabet.
� Establishing several state institutions to promote peace, prosperity, and
progress in the Country.
Atatürk died on November 10th, 1938, but his memory and his works will live
forever. He is one of the greatest leaders of the Twentieth Century. Even if he had achieved
only one of his many accomplishments, he would still have deserved to be called as one of
the greatest leaders in the world.