Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Gallipoli commander who led the national movement and founded the Republic of Turkey as its first president
Born in Salonica, he joined the Young Turk movement and made his name defending Gallipoli in the First World War. After the defeat he landed at Samsun in May 1919 to organise the national movement against occupation, and in 1920 convened the Grand National Assembly in Ankara. With gold and arms from the Bolshevik government he defeated the Greek army, and the Treaty of Lausanne recognised the victory. In these years the ethnic cleansing of Anatolia’s Armenians and Greeks was completed through massacres, deportations and population exchange. He abolished the sultanate in 1922 and in 1923 became the first president of the republic, pursuing secularising reforms and Turkification under one-party rule. He died in 1938.
Career timeline
- 1915Commander of the 19th Division at Gallipoli
- 1919Landed at Samsun and organised the national movement
- 1920Speaker of the Grand National Assembly in Ankara
- 1921–1922Victories at the Sakarya and Dumlupınar
- 1923–1938First president of the Republic of Turkey