Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

About Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

The founder of modern Turkey. Ataturk abolished the Ottoman Sultanate and established a secular republic in 1923. His reforms transformed Turkey: adopting the Latin alphabet, granting women the vote, abolishing the caliphate, and secularizing law and education. Ataturk was a military hero from the Battle of Gallipoli who became a revolutionary modernizer. His principle of Kemalism, emphasizing secularism, nationalism, and reform, remains the foundation of the Turkish state. Ataturk died in 1938. He is revered in Turkey as the Father of the Turks. His mausoleum in Ankara is a national pilgrimage site.