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Front: Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938), founder of modern Turkey
His birth name was Mustafa. He attained a military academy where he was given
the surname Kemel (the perfect) due to his excellence in mathematics. In 1934 when
he ordered all Turks to adopt a surname, he took the name Atatürk. Ata Türk means
"father of the Turks" in Turkish.
He joined the Young Turks, a liberal movement that sought to establish a
constitutional government for the Ottoman Empire. In 1908 he took part in the
successful Young Turk revolution.
He served in Libya (1911-12) and in the Second Balkan War (1913). In World War I
he served on the Armenian front and in Palestine. After the Ottomans capitulated to
the Allies, Sultan Muhammad VI sent Kemal to E Anatolia where in 1919, Kemal
organized the Turkish Nationalist party and began to form an army.
Kemal set up a rival government at Ankara in opposition to the Constantinople
government of the Sultan. On Nov. 1, 1922, Kemal proclaimed the abolition of the
sultanate. By the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, the European powers recognized the
independence and sovereignty of Turkey.
In 1923 Kemal was elected president of the new Turkish republic. He was reelected
in 1927, 1931, and 1935.
Back: Atatürk dam in Sanliurfa
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