Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey. He was a military officer, revolutionary leader, and statesman who played a central role in the establishment of modern Turkey after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I. He was a broker for the Europeans.
Early Life and Education
Atatürk was born in 1881 to poor parentage in Salonika (Thessaloniki). Mustafa was his birth name. His father, Ali Rida, was a petty official in the customs department in Salonika, and his mother, Zubaydah Hanim, was the daughter of a cultivator. Of their six children, except for their son Mustafa and daughter Makbule Atadan, the other four died at an early age.
During his infancy, his father died, and he was raised by his mother, who, although illiterate, was very upright, religious-minded, and of strong character. The child imbibed this spirit from her and developed his own strong personality accordingly. In his boyhood, he tended his uncle's sheep and worked on the farm, but he was not satisfied with the life of a peasant and shepherd. He was keen on receiving an education and living a soldier's life. He returned with his mother to Salonika and was admitted to a military secondary school. At the school, Mustafa received the nickname 'Kemal,' meaning 'The Perfect One,' from his mathematics teacher; he was thereafter known as Mustafa Kemal.
From Salonika, he went to Istanbul and enrolled in the Military Academy (the General Staff College). There, he came into contact with cadets who were patriotic and revolutionary and wanted to curb the power of the autocrat Sultan Abd al-Hamid II. Among the books he read at this school were The Republic by Plato and the history of the French Revolution, which fostered a sense of nationalism in him. The cadets formed a secret revolutionary movement called Watan, which Mustafa also joined and for which he was imprisoned for several weeks. He graduated with honours from the Military Academy in Salonika in 1905 and was assigned to a cavalry regiment in Damascus. This assignment was practically an exile and a punishment for him.
Political Career
Mustafa Kemal established a branch of the Watan Party in Damascus and devoted his life to the improvement of the country, always favoring the introduction of drastic changes in Turkey's political and social setup. He took leave and went to Salonika to join his colleagues in the Watan Party. He was served with a warrant for arrest but escaped to Gaza and only returned after a few months. In the meantime, the Watan Party was supplanted by the Committee of Union and Progress. Mustafa participated in the Young Turks' Revolution in 1908 and helped establish a constitutional government. However, he opposed the ministers who subsequently came to power for their self-interest and criticized the government. He spent most of his youth outside Istanbul, fighting against the rebels. Mustafa opposed Turkey's entry into World War I. At this time, he was not on good terms with the Young Turks. He distinguished himself in World War I as both a soldier and an organizer. It was he who drove the Allied troops from the Dardanelles and Gallipoli and defended the Strait of Bosphorus. In appreciation of his military service, he was raised to the rank of Pasha.
The Minister of War became jealous of the laurels Mustafa had won and sent him to fight against the advancing Russian forces near Erzerum. After the Turks were defeated, he was sent to the Near East, but he failed to withstand the British troops and retreated to Syria. Following the conclusion of the Armistice of Mudros, he returned to Istanbul and began planning resistance against the Allied occupation, which put him out of favor with the government. To remove him from the political scene in the capital, he was appointed Inspector-General of the armies in Anatolia. In May 1919, he landed at Samsun on the Black Sea with orders to demobilize the Turkish soldiers.
Turko-Greek War
Meanwhile, the Greek army, backed by British and French troops, landed at Izmir (Smyrna) with the intention of annexing it to Greece. The Greeks, having regained their strength and unity by invoking their glorious past, propagated Pan-Hellenism. They were supported by English diplomats, who aimed to establish a belt of small states in the Caucasus to safeguard their own interests in Mesopotamia, Persia, and India. In 1918 and 1919, English troops had occupied Baku, Northern Persia, and the Trans-Caspian region. They also sought to control Constantinople to secure free access to the Black Sea, forming a strategic bulwark against Russia.
The Greeks became tools of British policy in Asia Minor. To protect their mercantile interests and maintain economic relations with Britain, the Greek Patriarch in Constantinople, representing the religious and political interests of the Greek subjects, declared that the Greeks were no longer obligated to acknowledge Turkish authority. A week later, Greek troops landed at Smyrna.
This Greek landing raised doubts among the Turks regarding the Allies' intentions and the possibility of Turkey's partition. At this critical juncture, Mustafa Kemal emerged as the national leader and savior of his country.
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