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Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
Atatürk translates to 'Father of the Turks' or 'Father
Turk'.
Country: Turkey (former Ottoman Empire).
Cause: Creation of the Republic of Turkey.
Background: The Ottoman Empire is founded in Asia
Minor, in present-day Turkey, during the 14th Century.
From a small geographical base the empire quickly
expands. At its zenith it incorporates Anatolia, the
Balkan states, Bulgaria, Greece, the Middle East,
Hungary, North Africa up to the Moroccan frontier,
Kurdistan and Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), Armenia
and Azerbaijan.
Fortune turns at the end of the 17th Century when the
Ottomans are forced to relinquish Hungary. The empire's
long slide to oblivion has begun. By the middle of the
19th Century it has become the "sick man of Europe".
Abdül Hamid II becomes sultan of the empire in 1876. He
quickly implements political reforms but within a year
has the newly introduced constitution suspended and the
empire's first parliament dissolved. Dissatisfaction
with his reign starts to mount in the empire's colonial
outposts and at home.
Mini biography: Born on 12 March 1881 in Salonika, now
Thessaloníki, in present-day Greece. He is given the
single name Mustafa. His father, Ali Riza Efendi, is a
minor official in the Ottoman Government. He is one of
six children, although four of his five siblings die at
early ages. His one surviving sister, Makbule (Atadan),
lives until 1956.
Following his father's death in 1888, Atatürk enrols at
the Salonika military cadet school. While at this school
he is given the second name Kemal (meaning 'perfection'),
and is thereafter known as Mustafa Kemal.
In 1896 he is accepted into the military high school at
Monastir (now Bitola in the present-day Macedonia). In
1899, after completing his training at Monastir, Atatürk
enters the military college in Istanbul, the capital of
the Ottoman Empire.
1902 - Atatürk's graduates from the Istanbul
military college with the rank of captain. He then
enters the Istanbul military academy.
1905 - Atatürk graduates from the military
academy with the rank of major on 11 January. He will be
assigned to a succession of staff positions, starting in
1905 with a post in the 5th Army at Damascus, the
capital of Syria. In 1907 he is promoted to senior major
and posted to the 3rd Army in Salonika.
While serving in these positions he becomes involved in
the growing Turkish nationalist movement, organising a
secret society called 'Vatan ve Hürriyet' (Fatherland
and Freedom) among fellow officers.
1907 - Atatürk's group merges with others opposed
to Abdül Hamid's reign to form the Committee of Union
and Progress (CUP), popularly known as the 'Young Turks'.
1908 - Abdül Hamid is forced to yield when army
units in Macedonia rebel. The 1876 constitution and
parliamentary rule are reinstated on 24 July. At
elections held in November, the CUP wins all but one of
the Turkish seats, confirming its hold on government.
Political instability in the Ottoman Empire following
the Young Turk revolution gives foreign powers the
opportunity to seize occupied territory. Austria annexes
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bulgaria proclaims its complete
independence. Italy invades Libya in 1911, taking the
capital Tripoli and other port towns. In 1912 the empire
loses all its European territory except part of eastern
Thrace bordering Greece and Bulgaria.
1911 - After serving briefly on the general staff
in Istanbul, Atatürk travels to Libya to organise
irregular forces in the war with Italy. He successfully
defends Tobruk and on 6 March 1912 is made the commander
of the region around the Libyan city of Darnah.
1912 - The CUP wins an overwhelming majority in
fresh elections held in April, but military losses to
Italy see its support quickly dwindle. In July it is
forced to yield office to a political coalition called
the Liberal Union.
Atatürk holds field commands in the two Balkan wars
(1912-13). During the Second Balkan War in 1913 he is
made the chief-of-staff of the army in the Gallipoli
Peninsula. On 27 October 1913 he is assigned as a
military attaché to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.
While in this post he is promoted to the rank of
lieutenant colonel.
1913 - The Liberal Union government is overthrown
on 23 January in a coup d'état engineered by CUP leaders
Ahmet Cemal Pasha and Ismail Enver Pasha. The CUP takes
control of the empire, introducing a military
dictatorship headed by the so-called 'Three Pashas' -
Cemal, Enver and Mehmet Talat Pasha.
1914 - The countdown to the First World War
begins on 28 June. The Ottomans quickly side with the
Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary) against the
Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia), with Enver
signing a defensive alliance with Germany against the
Russians on 2 August. Germany declares war on France the
following day. Britain in turn declares war on Germany
on 14 August. The First World War has begun.
The Ottomans formally enter the war on 28 October but
suffer a disastrous defeat almost immediately. Most of
the Third Army is lost in eastern Anatolia in December
during an abortive offensive led by Enver against Russia,
where Ottoman Armanians took arms against their own
goverment and joined forces with Russians. (More
information about Armenian issue can be found at this
link.)
1915 - The Triple Entente launches an operation
to seize Istanbul and open a route to Russia by forcing
a fleet through the Dardanelles Strait (Çanakkale Boiazi),
the entry to the Sea of Marmara and a gateway to
Istanbul, which lies on the sea's northeastern shore.
But the naval attack fails and is quickly called off.
On 25 April the Triple Entente begins a new assault to
secure the Dardanelles. Troops are landed on the beach
at Gallipoli and ordered to move forward.
On the hills above the infantry troops of the 19th
Division, the main reserve of the Turkish 5th Army, are
commanded by Atatürk. He rallies the Turkish soldiers
and is able to hold the Triple Entente forces at bay. "I
am not giving you an order to attack," Atatürk tells his
troops, "I am ordering you to die!"
The ill-fated Gallipoli campaign, which includes troops
from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (the
ANZACs), results in the deaths of over 200,000 Triple
Entente soldiers for no effective gain. It is abandoned
by the Triple Entente in the autumn.
The Turkish victory has come at the cost of about
253,000 lives.
Referring to the campaign, Atatürk later says, "Indeed,
it was not easy to shoulder such responsibility, but as
I had decided not to live to see my country's
destruction, I accepted it proudly."
In tribute to the enemy troops killed at Gallipoli he
writes, "Those heroes that shed their blood and lost
their lives ... you are now lying in the soil of a
friendly country. Therefore rest in peace. There is no
difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us
where they lie side by side now here in this country of
ours. ... You, the mothers, who sent their sons from
faraway countries, wipe away your tears; your sons are
now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having
lost their lives on this land. They have become our sons
as well."
Atatürk is now promoted to the rank of full colonel and
given the honorific title 'Pasha' - the highest official
title of honour in the Ottoman Empire.
1916 - In the south, the 'Arab Revolt', directed
by British Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence (Lawrence of
Arabia), spells the end of Ottoman influence in the
Middle East.
Meanwhile, Atatürk is promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general
on 1 April. He takes command of the Eastern Front,
checking the advance of the Russian forces. When Russia
leaves the war following the Bolshevik Revolution of
1917 the Ottoman Empire regains its eastern provinces.
1917 - British forces drive the Ottomans out of
Mesopotamia and take Palestine and Syria. Late in the
campaign Atatürk takes command of Ottoman forces in
Syria and withdraws many units intact into Anatolia. He
also heads the 7th Army in Palestine during the final
offensive that defeats the Ottoman forces there in 1918.
1918 - The First World War is drawing to a close.
The empire capitulates and signs an armistice on 30
October. The CUP Cabinet resigns en mass on 1-2 November.
Cemal, Enver and Talat flee into exile in Germany on 1
November.
The First World War ends on 11 November with the signing
of a general armistice. Atatürk returns to Istanbul on
13 November and is assigned to a post in the Ministry of
Defence. The capital is occupied on 13 November.
1919 - British, French, Italian, and Greek forces
occupy other regions of the empire, and Sultan Mehmet VI
is taken into custody to ensure the cooperation of what
remains of the Ottoman government.
Cemal, Enver and Talat are tried in absentia by a
Turkish military tribunal (which was pressured from
victorious Allied states), found guilty of war crimes
and sentenced to death (On April 4, 1919, Lewis Heck,
the U.S. high commissioner in Istanbul, reported that
"it is popularly believed that many of [the trials] are
made from motives of personal vengeance or at the
instigation of the Entente authorities, especially the
British."). The charges included subversion of the
constitution, wartime profiteering, and the massacres of
both Greeks and Armenians.
Meanwhile, as the occupational forces start to press for
the carve-up of the Ottoman Empire, based on agreements
made between them during the war, a new nationalist
Turkish movement begins to coalesce around Atatürk.
After expressing opposition to the presence of the
occupation forces on Turkish territory, Atatürk is
assigned as Inspector to the 9th Army in Erzurum in
eastern Anatolia.
On 15 May the Greek Army lands at the Turkish port of
Izmir (Smyrna), on the Anatolian coast. Atatürk leaves
Istanbul for Anatolia the next day. On 19 May he arrives
at Black Sea port of Samsun, 300 km northeast of Ankara.
The date marks the unofficial beginning of the 'Turkish
War of Independence'.
Working with others committed to Turkish independence,
Atatürk begins to recruit a nationalist army to drive
the occupational forces from Anatolia and ensure that
all Ottoman territory inhabited by a Turkish Muslim
majority is held together in an independent Turkish
state.
On 22 June Atatürk issues the 'Amasya Declaration'
calling for national resistance against the invasion of
foreign powers. "The freedom of the nation shall be
restored with the resolve and determination of the
nation itself," the declaration states.
The next day the Ottoman Government strips him of all
his official functions.
Atatürk resigns from the army on 8 July and declares
himself "a private individual". On 30 July the Ottoman
Government orders his arrest.
At congresses held in Erzurum from 23 July to 7 August
and at Sivas from 4-11 September the nationalists
formulate and agree to a 'National Pact' setting out
their objectives.
"The national movement’s real and definitive reason is
the events that occurred in Izmir, and the threat of
Armenian invasion," Atatürk tells United States
representatives in Istanbul on 3 August.
1920 - Atatürk begins the year by calling for a
national protest against the Greek attempt to annex
Izmir, and against atrocities allegedly carried out by
the French and Armenians in Turkey's southern provinces.
When the Ottoman parliament agrees to the National Pact
on 28 January the occupation forces crack down,
arresting and deporting many nationalists and dismissing
the parliament. Istanbul is reoccupied on 16 March.
On 23 April the nationalist's governing council, the
Grand National Assembly, meets in Ankara and elects
Atatürk as its leader and the head of its provisional
government. The War of Independence now begins in
earnest, centring on Anatolia, where Greek troops have
moved inland from Izmir.
At the same time, the Atatürk nationalists and the
Russian Bolshevik government target the newly proclaimed
Armenian republic on Turkey's eastern border. By the
middle of 1921 the Armenian resistance has been broken
and the Kars region occupied by the Turks. What remains
of Armenia is absorbed into the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR).
Meanwhile, on 11 April the Ottoman Parliament is
abolished and Atatürk is condemned to death by a
religious decree. On 11 May the Ottoman Military Court
also sentences Atatürk to death.
On 10 August the Ottoman Government ratifies the Sevres
Treaty partitioning Turkey between the occupying powers.
The treaty is rejected by the Grand National Assembly on
1 March 1921.
1921 - By the middle of the year the Greek
advance into Anatolia has been stopped. By October,
French and Italian troops have been withdraw from
Anatolia.
On 5 August Atatürk is appointed by the Grand National
Assembly as commander-in-chief of the entire Turkish
forces.
On 23 August the Turks launch a counterattack against
the Greeks at Sakarya, 80 km southwest of Ankara.
Atatürk takes personal command of the Turkish forces. At
the end of the 22-day battle the Greeks have been
defeated and forced to retreat to Izmir.
In recognition of his military achievements, Atatürk is
given the rank of marshal and title Ghazi (victorious)
by the Grand National Assembly on 19 September.
1922 - The most controversial campaign of the War
of Independence occurs in early September when the
nationalists move into Izmir during their final push
against the Greeks.
Much of the city, which is home to the last intact
Armenian community in Anatolia, is burnt to the ground
in fires variously reported to have been lit by either
the retreating Greeks or Armenians. Thousands of Greeks
and Armenians die and thousands more flee into permanent
exile.
The theatre of the war against the Greeks now moves to
eastern Thrace, however fighting is avoided when Atatürk
accepts a British-proposed truce. On 11 October the
occupying forces sign an armistice with the Turkish
military.
On 1 November, the Grand National Assembly effectively
abolishes the Ottoman Empire, opening the way for the
final negotiations on the shape of the new Turkish state.
1923 - On 30 January Greece and Turkey sign an
agreement for the exchange of the remaining ethnic
populations within their respective territories. Under
the agreement over one million Greek Turks will be
forced to leave regions they have occupied for
generations and return to their homeland.
The negotiations on the shape of Turkey conclude on 24
July with the ratification of the Treaty of Lausanne and
the recognition of Turkey's present-day borders.
Signatories to the treaty include Turkey, Britain,
France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Romania and Serbo-Croat-Slovenian
Union.
The occupying forces leave Istanbul on 2 October.
On 29 October the Grand National Assembly proclaims the
Republic of Turkey. Atatürk is named president and
Ankara the capital. Atatürk now moves to implement a
series of far-ranging reforms designed to transform
Turkey into a modern, secular state.
"Following the military triumph we accomplished by
bayonets, weapons and blood, we shall strive to win
victories in such fields as culture, scholarship,
science, and economics," he states. "The enduring
benefits of victories depend only on the existence of an
army of education."
Islamic Sharia law is abolished (1924) and a European-style
legal system introduced (1926). Women are granted equal
status (1934). Polygamy and divorce by renunciation are
ended and civil marriage allowed (1926).
A new Turkish alphabet based on Latin replaces Arabic
script (1928). Arabic and Persian words are dropped from
the vocabulary and replaced with Turkish equivalents.
The Western calendar is adopted (1925). The Western
numeric system is introduced (1928), followed by the
metric system (1931). Turks are encouraged to abandon
traditional clothing for Western styles (1925), and to
adopt surnames (1934).
Turkey is declared a secular state without an official
religion (1928). Islam is suppressed, religious schools
are closed (1924), public education is secularised and
made coeducational, and the day of rest is changed from
Friday to Sunday (1935). The Hagia Sophia mosque in
Istanbul is converted into a museum.
Education to primary level is made compulsory. Atatürk
himself leads some classes. In 1923 the level of
literacy had been less than 9%. By 1938 the level has
risen to more than 33%.
As well as political reforms, Atatürk also encourages
reforms to the economic system, stating, "National
sovereignty should be supported by financial
independence. The only power that will propel us to this
goal is the economy. No matter how mighty they are,
political and military victories cannot endure unless
they are crowned by economic triumphs."
The ideology behind the reforms comes to be know as
Kemalism (later known as Atatürkism). Its basic
principals - republicanism, nationalism, populism,
reformism, etatism (statism), and secularism - are know
as the 'Six Arrows'.
Together with the basic principals of Kemalism are the
complimentary principles - national sovereignty,
national independence, national unity and togetherness,
peace at home peace abroad, modernisation, scientificism
and rationalism, and humanitarianism.
The Republican People's Party (Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi -
CHP) founded by Atatürk in August provides a political
foundation for the ongoing Kemalist reforms. It will be
Turkey's sole political party for over 20 years.
Meanwhile, Atatürk's mother dies on 14 January 1923.
On 29 January Atatürk marries Latife Hanim, the daughter
of a prosperous merchant from Izmir. A well-educated and
outspoken woman, she is 20 years his junior. The
marriage ends in divorce in on 5 August 1925.
Atatürk also adopts eight children - seven girls and a
boy.
1924 - The Grand National Assembly introduces a
new constitution establishing it as a unicameral
parliament elected to four-year terms by a universal
vote. The president, who is to be elected to a four-year
term by the assembly, will appoint the prime minister.
On 1 March, Atatürk tells the assembly, "There is a need
to separate Islam from its traditional place in politics
and to elevate it in its appropriate place. This is
necessary for both the nation's worldly and spiritual
happiness. We have to urgently and definitively relieve
our sacred and holy beliefs and values from the dark and
uncertain stage of political greed and of politics. This
is the only way to elevate the Muslim religion."
Two days later, the Sharia legal system is abolished,
along with the religious education system.
1925 - On 25 February the Grand National Assembly
prohibits all religious activities in politics.
In March, after an uprising against the "godless"
government in Ankara breaks out in the Kurdish region in
southeastern Turkey, Atatürk hastily organises the
passage of the Maintenance of Order Law.
The law, which gives the government emergency powers for
the next four years and allows it to outlaw
organisations it deems to be subversive, will be used to
suppress opponents of Atatürk's reforms.
1926 - Atatürk oversees the dissolution of the
CUP after some its remaining members are accused of
plotting his assassination. Following an investigation
into the plot, 15 of Atatürk's political opponents are
hanged. Others are sent into exile.
1927 - Atatürk is reelected as president. He will
remain in the position right up to his death, with his
term being extended in 1931 and 1935.
1928 - Turkey is declared a secular state on 10
April. Islam is dropped as the state's official religion.
1931 - Atatürk establishes the Turkish Historical
Society.
1932 - Turkey joins the League of Nations, the
forerunner to the United Nations (UN), on 18 July.
1934 - Women are given the vote and the right to
hold office.
Speaking at a meeting of the International Women's
Congress in Istanbul on 22 April 1935, Atatürk says, "I
am convinced that the exercise of social and political
rights by women is necessary for mankind's happiness and
pride. You can rest assured that Turkish women together
with world’s women will work towards world peace and
security."
On 24 November 1934 Atatürk is given his new surname (meaning
'Father of the Turks' or 'Father Turk') by the Grand
National Assembly in recognition of his contribution to
the formation of the modern Turkish state. He is now
known as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Kemal Atatürk.
1935 - The role of the state in managing economy
is written into the constitution.
1938 - Atatürk dies from cirrhosis of the liver
at 9.05 am on 10 November at Dolmabahçe Palace in
Istanbul. The entire country mourns his passing. On 21
November his body is transported to Ankara and placed in
a temporary tomb at the Ethnography Museum. On 10
November 1953 Atatürk's remains are interred in a newly
completed mausoleum on a hill overlooking Ankara.
The day after Atatürk's death, the Grand National
Assembly elects his chief lieutenant, Ismet Inönü, as
the second president of Turkey.
Postscript
1945 - Turkey becomes one of the 51 original
members of the UN.
1946 - The Democrat Party (DP) is officially
recognised. Turkey is now a multiparty state.
1950 - The DP wins elections held in May, ending
the dominance of Atatürk's CHP.
1954 - The DP increases it's majority at the
elections but subsequently comes under attack from the
CHP for restricting the freedom of the press.
1960 - The DP Government imposes martial law.
On 27 May, army units under the direction of the chief
of general staff, General Cemal Gürsel, stage a coup.
The president and prime minister are arrested, along
with most of the DP representatives in the Grand
National Assembly. They are charged with abrogating the
constitution and instituting a dictatorship. The
government is replaced by the Committee of National
Unity (CNU), composed of the 38 officers who had
organised the coup.
1961 - A new constitution is introduced, setting
the ground-rules for Turkey's so-called Second Republic.
Elections for the country's new bicameral parliament are
held in October.
1980 - Political instability presses the military
to again take over the government on 12 September. The
constitution is redrafted in 1982. Civilian rule returns
at the end of 1983.
Comment: Atatürk knew there is no place for religious
fundamentalists in the governance of a tolerant, modern
state. Religious fanatics from all nations and faiths
would do well to heed of his observations. For example
this:
"It is claimed that religious unity is also a factor in
the formation of nations. Whereas, we see the contrary
in the Turkish nation. Turks were a great nation even
before they adopted Islam. This religion did not help
the Arabs, Iranians, Egyptians and others to unite with
Turks to form a nation. Conversely, it weakened the
Turks' national relations; it numbed Turkish national
feelings and enthusiasm. This was natural, because
Mohammedanism was based on Arab nationalism above all
nationalities."
And this:
"I am not leaving a spiritual legacy of dogmas,
unchangeable petrified directives. My spiritual legacy
is science and reason. ... What I wanted to do and what
I tried to achieve for the Turkish nation is quite
evident. If those people who wish to follow me after I
am gone take the reason and science as their guides they
will be my true spiritual heirs."
And this:
"You know there is an unforgiving enmity between the
societies of the Muslim world and the masses of the
Christian world. Muslims became eternal enemies of
Christians, and Christians those of Muslims. They viewed
each other as nonbelievers, fanatics. The two worlds
coexisted with this fanaticism and enmity. As a result
of this enmity, the Muslim world was distanced from the
Western progress that took a new form and colour every
century. Because, Muslims viewed progress with disdain
and disgust. At the same time, the Muslim world had to
hold on to its arms as a result of this enmity that
lasted for centuries between the two groups. This
continuous occupation with arms, enmity, and disdain for
Western progress constitute another important cause of
our regression."
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