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| 19 May Ataturk |
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a Turkish army officer, revolutionary, and founder of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President from 1923 until his death in 1938.
Atatürk came to prominence for his role in securing the Ottoman Turkish victory at the Battle of Gallipoli during World War I. Following the Empire's defeat and subsequent dissolution, he led the Turkish National Movement, which resisted against the mainland Turkey's partition among the victorious Allied powers. Establishing a provisional government in present-day Turkish capital Ankara, he defeated the forces sent by the Allies, thus, emerging victorious from what is later referred to as the Turkish War of Independence. He subsequently proceeded to abolish the Ottoman Empire and proclaimed the foundation of the Turkish Republic in its place.
As the president of the newly formed Turkish Republic, Atatürk initiated a rigorous program of political, economic, and cultural reforms with the ultimate aim of building a modern and secular nation-state. He made primary education free and compulsory, opening thousands of new schools all over the country. Turkish women received equal civil and political rights during Atatürk's presidency ahead of many Western countries. His government also carried out an extensive policy of Turkification trying to create a single, united and largely homogeneous nation. The Turkish Parliament granted him the surname Atatürk in 1934, which means "Father of the Turks", in recognition of the role he played in building the modern Turkish Republic. ( photo colorized by Marina Amaral )
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