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Home > History > Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Ataturk shaped the destiny of a nation which was alone and dying. He gave it a new future. Under his progressive nationalist leadership his country broke free from its passive, inward-looking and parochial conservatism, ingrained through long centuries of habit, and from the defeatism and apathy engendered by the inexorable decline of its imperial power. Aiming to replace the image of Turkey as ' the Sick Man of Europe ' with that of a dynamic and self-renewing non-imperialist country capable of winning the respect of its more advanced European neighbours, he led his country out of the Middle Ages into the twentieth century in a mere couple of decades.

He achieved this through a co-ordinated series of sweeping reforms, all directed towards the creation in Turkey of a western-style democracy. These changes were so drastic that it is impossible to conceive that anyone could have brought them about if he had not been, like Mustafa Kemal, a national hero twice over as a result of his leadership at Gallipoli and his single-handed master minding of the Turkish War of Independence, which ended with the departure of all foreign armies from Turkish soil.

The philosophy behind Ataturk's reforms is now known as Kemalism. In February 1937 he had the following six principles written into Article Two of the Constitution of the Turkish Republic:

1. Republicanism
2. Nationalism
3. Populism
4. Revolutionism
5. Secularism
6. Etatism

The first four principles provide the basis for the new political life of the country, and the last two lay down the guidelines for his reforms.

Ataturk Picture Gallery

When he finished the Military College	When he is Staff Captain	1906, Damascus	1911, Tripoli	1911, Tripoli
Balkan War, with Rauf Bey	27 November 1911, when promoted to Commander	At a masked ball, with Janissary costume,Sophia	With the commander of 3rd Army Corps, Esat Pasa	When he is the commander of 19th division
At Conkbayiri	1 June 1915, when promoted to Captain	Anafartalar, Canakkale	Kirectepe,in front of Martyr's Monument	Diyarbakir, when he is the commander of the 2nd army
At Syria	At Syria	1918, Karlsbad	1918, Syria	1918, Aleppo
17 April 1919, signed to Rauf Bey	Sivas Congress with Rauf Bey	1919, Sivas	Ankara, during the Turkish War of Independence	1920, Ankara, with Ismet Pasa
As the President of the National Assembly	10 January 1921, Cay, with Ali Ihsan Sabis Pasa	At the headquarters of the 1st Army	5 August 1921, as the Supreme Military Commander	When he rise in rank to Marshal
When he rise in rank to Marshal	1922,as Marshal	1922 April, Aksehir, with Ismet Pasa	Ilgin, parade ground	26 August, Kocatepe
After the Turkish War of Independence was won	1923, Derince manoeuvres	After the war, at a ceremony	During the decleration of the Turkish Republic	Ataturk, the first President of the Republic
30 August 1924, Dumlupinar ceremony	Dumlupinar ceremony	Bursa ceremony	At a ceremony	At a ceremony
Excursions in Anatolia	Excursions in Anatolia	Excursions in Anatolia	Excursions in Anatolia	Ankara manoeuvres
1926, Republic Day ceremonies	1926, Republic Day ceremonies	1926, Excursions in Anatolia	1926, Excursions in Anatolia	1927, signed for Pera Palas
1927, Istanbul	1927, Istanbul	1927, Istanbul	1927, Istanbul	1927, in front of the National Assembly, Ankara
Various photographs	Various photographs	Various portraits	Various portraits	Various portraits
Various portraits	Various portraits	Excursions in Anatolia	Excursions in Anatolia	Excursions in Anatolia
Excursions in Anatolia	1928, with Afghan King Amanullah Han	With the new uniform of the Turkish Army	Istanbul, Savarona	1933, with Yugoslav King Alexandre, Dolmabahce Palace
1933, Republic Day	At the Grand National Assembly	1936, with English King Edward VIII, Dolmabahce Palace	1937, Republic Day, with Fevzi Cakmak	1937

One day my mortal body will turn to dust, but the Turkish Republic will stand forever.

M.Kemal Ataturk