Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

One of the most important historical figures in Turkey is marshal Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Turkish field marshal Mustafa Kemal Atatürk served as the Republic of Turkey's first president from 1923 until his death in 1938. He was also an author, statesman, and revolutionary.

He implemented broad, progressive reforms that made Turkey a secular, developing country. His policies and sociopolitical beliefs, which were secularist and nationalist in ideology, came to be known as Kemalism. Atatürk is one of the most significant political figures of the 20th century due to his military and political achievements.

For his part in ensuring the Ottoman Turkish victory at the Battle of Gallipoli (1915) in World War I, Atatürk rose to notoriety. He was the leader of the Turkish National Movement, which fought against the partition of mainland Turkey among the victorious Allied countries after the Ottoman Empire was defeated and dissolved. He established a temporary government in the then-English-speaking Ankara, the capital of modern-day Turkey, and beat the Allied forces there, winning what is now known as the Turkish War of Independence. He then went on to declare the formation of the Turkish Republic in lieu of the decaying Ottoman Empire.