10.11.2026 06:30
88 years have passed since the passing into eternity of the Great Leader Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who raised up a nation whose hopes had been exhausted with the fire of the National Struggle and ensured that Anatolia became a homeland, founding the Republic of Turkey, which turns 103 years old today.
The Supreme Leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born in Thessaloniki in 1881. Mustafa Kemal began his primary education at the neighborhood school of Hafız Mehmet Efendi, in line with his mother Zübeyde Hanım’s wish, and then completed primary school at the Şemsi Efendi School, to which he transferred at his father Ali Rıza Efendi’s request.
Mustafa Kemal left the Thessaloniki Civil Middle School, where he had gone for secondary education, at his own request, continued his education at the Thessaloniki Military Middle School, and then graduated second in his class from the Monastir Military High School. Alongside his military education, Atatürk also continued foreign-language education and took French lessons in Thessaloniki during summer leaves.
Later, he came to Istanbul and entered the Military College in 1899, completing it in 1902 with the rank of lieutenant; he graduated from the Military Staff College in 1905 with the rank of staff captain.
Mustafa Kemal was assigned in 1905 to the command of the Fifth Army in Damascus for his staff officer internship, and was awarded the Order of Medjidie, Fifth Class, for his outstanding services in the Syrian region. Assigned in 1907 to the Third Army Headquarters in Monastir, in central Macedonia, Mustafa Kemal was appointed to the staff branch in Thessaloniki.
While serving in Monastir and Thessaloniki, Mustafa Kemal took part in 1909 in the Action Army, which suppressed the 31 March Incident in Istanbul. Mustafa Kemal, who was also assigned to the operation organized in 1910 to suppress the uprising in Albania, was sent to Tobruk after Italy landed troops in Tripolitania in 1911. He successfully commanded Turkish forces in Tobruk and Derna and won the Battle of Tobruk against the Italians.
Appointed Commander of Derna on 6 March 1912, Mustafa Kemal joined the war with the units at Gallipoli and Bolayır when the Balkan War began in October 1912, and was instrumental in the recapture of Didymoteicho and Edirne.
“NO DUTY IS GREATER THAN THE DEFENSE OF THE HOMELAND”
Mustafa Kemal was appointed military attaché in Sofia in 1913 after the Balkan War.
When the First World War began while he was serving as military attaché, Mustafa Kemal applied to the Acting Supreme Command and asked to take a frontline duty.
Upon being given the reply, “There is always a duty for you in the army. However, since we consider the Sofia military attaché post more important, we are leaving you there,” the Great Leader wrote the following letter to Deputy Commander-in-Chief Enver Pasha:
“There can be no more important and noble duty than active duties concerning the defense of the homeland. While my comrades are on battlefronts and in the lines of fire, I cannot serve as military attaché in Sofia. If I am deprived of the qualification to be a first-class officer, if this is your conviction, please state it openly.”
Thereupon, Mustafa Kemal was appointed in 1915 to the command of the 19th Division, to be formed in Tekirdağ under the III Corps commanded by Esat Pasha.
The enemy forces that landed troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula and advanced toward Chunuk Bair retreated under the attack of the 19th Division forces under Atatürk’s command. Mustafa Kemal Pasha gave morale and confidence to the Turkish soldier whose ammunition had run out by saying, “If you have no ammunition, you have your bayonets.”
During the Chunuk Bair attack, Mustafa Kemal escaped certain death when a piece of shrapnel that struck his chest hit the watch in his pocket, shattering it and turning back. Mustafa Kemal Pasha determined not only the fate of the Northern Region Battles of the Gallipoli Peninsula but also that of the Dardanelles Strait, the Gallipoli Front, and Istanbul, and thus Mustafa Kemal Pasha won fame as the “Hero of Anafartalar” in the Gallipoli Campaigns.
After Gallipoli, Mustafa Kemal was appointed to the command of the XVI Corps on the Eastern Front; in 1916 he stopped the Russian attacks, retook Bitlis and Muş from the enemy, and was promoted to general on that front.
“HE SET OUT FOR SAMSUN UPON THE OCCUPATION OF THE COUNTRY”
Appointed in July 1917 to the command of the Seventh Army, stationed in Palestine and Syria, Mustafa Kemal Pasha was later transferred to the command of the Second Army, but he did not accept the post and remained in Istanbul at the disposal of the General Headquarters. That same year he went to Germany with Crown Prince Vahdettin and conducted inspections at the German General Headquarters and on German battlefronts.
Reassigned to the Syrian front in 1918, Mustafa Kemal served as Commander of the Seventh Army, and during this time he informed Istanbul that the British forces’ real aim was to occupy Iskenderun and place the retreating Seventh Army under blockade to the north.
After the British took Iskenderun without resistance on 9 November 1918, Mustafa Kemal Pasha criticized the concessions granted to the British in his telegraph conversations with the government center. Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who tried to explain that “if things continued this way, the country would be exposed to a thousand and one kinds of intrigue and invasion,” was informed that the Yıldırım Army Group Command and the Seventh Army had been abolished.
The Pasha wanted this helplessness to be completely eliminated and, leaving the command of the units under him to Second Army Commander Nihat Pasha, set out from Adana to Istanbul by train that same evening.
Staying in Istanbul from 13 November 1918 to 16 May 1919 and evaluating the country’s general situation with his close friends, Mustafa Kemal Pasha embarked on the journey to Samsun that would change his country’s fate and began the struggle for independence. Keeping secret his aim of liberating the country from enemy occupation, he left Istanbul with the duty of Army Inspectorate.
Mustafa Kemal, who landed at Samsun via the Black Sea on 19 May 1919, issued the Amasya Circular on 22 June 1919. He informed the Turkish nation that “the integrity of the homeland and the independence of the nation were in danger, and that a congress would be convened in Sivas to save the homeland with determination and resolve.”
In addition, he resigned from the duty assigned to him by the Ottoman Government and from military service, and chaired the congresses convened in Erzurum on 23 July 1919 and in Sivas on 4 September 1919.
With the decisions taken at these congresses—“the nation would defend the homeland against enemy occupation, a provisional government would be established for this purpose, a national assembly would be convened, and mandate and protectorate would not be accepted”—the foundations of the Grand National Assembly were also laid.
The Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM) began its historic duty in Ankara on 23 April 1920 under Atatürk’s leadership. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was elected President of the Assembly and the Government.
“HE FOUNDED ANADOLU AGENCY, WITNESS TO THE NATIONAL STRUGGLE AND WAR OF INDEPENDENCE”
Seventeen days before the opening of the TBMM, on 6 April 1920, Anadolu Agency (AA) was founded on the instructions of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Founded with the aim of “announcing the voice of the National Struggle to the world,” AA announced the first laws enacted by the TBMM and witnessed every stage of the National Struggle and the War of Independence.
Although the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) opened and a national government was established, the Treaty of Sèvres was signed between the Ottoman Government and the Allied Powers on August 10, 1920.
“THE TREATY OF SÈVRES DOES NOT EXIST FOR US”
In his statement to the correspondent of the United Telegraph newspaper, Atatürk emphasized that they did not recognize the Treaty of Sèvres and said, “The Treaty of Sèvres, which is directed at destroying our political, judicial, economic and financial independence and ultimately at denying and eliminating our right to live, does not exist for us.” The fact that the Treaty of Sèvres, signed between the Ottoman Government and the Allied Powers, was not accepted was announced to the world by the TBMM.
“NO INCH OF THE HOMELAND CAN BE ABANDONED UNLESS IT IS SOAKED WITH THE BLOOD OF ITS CITIZENS”
The advance of the Greek forces that occupied Izmir with the help of the Allied Powers was stopped by the First and Second Battles of İnönü in 1921.
The Battle of Sakarya began when the Greek army attacked again on August 23, 1921. Atatürk gave his historic order to the troops: “There is no line of defense; there is a surface of defense. That surface is the entire homeland. No inch of the homeland can be abandoned unless it is soaked with the blood of its citizens.”
THE RANK OF “MARSHAL” AND THE TITLE OF “GAZI”
The Turkish army, commanded by Commander-in-Chief Mustafa Kemal Pasha, routed the Greek army and concluded the Battle of Sakarya in victory. In the 22-day battle, the Greek army suffered heavy losses. Because of this victory, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was given the rank of “Marshal” and the title of “Gazi” by the TBMM.
After the Sakarya Victory, the Treaty of Kars was signed with the Caucasian Republics on October 13, 1921, and the Ankara Agreement, which drew today’s borders of Turkey except for Hatay, was signed with the French on October 20, 1921.
Under Atatürk’s command, the Turkish army launched the Great Offensive by going on the counterattack on August 26, 1922, to save the homeland from enemy occupation.
In the Battle of Dumlupınar (Commander-in-Chief) on August 30, 1922, led by Mustafa Kemal Pasha, the Turkish army routed the Greek army. Following the fleeing enemy forces, the Turkish army entered Izmir on September 9, 1922.
After the great military victories that saved Anatolia from enemy invasion, the Armistice of Mudanya was signed on October 11, 1922, and the Allied Powers withdrew from the Turkish lands they had occupied.
The War of Independence went down in history as the war in which the country’s fate changed, the Turkish nation defied the world, and heroic epics were written.
TURKEY’S INDEPENDENCE DOCUMENT, THE LAUSANNE PEACE TREATY, WAS SIGNED
The Treaty of Lausanne was signed on July 24, 1923, between the Turkish delegation headed by İsmet İnönü and Britain, France, Italy, Japan, Greece, Romania, and Yugoslavia.
Regarding the Treaty of Lausanne, the Great Leader commented, “This treaty is a document expressing the collapse of a great assassination that had been prepared against the Turkish nation for centuries and was thought to have been completed with the Treaty of Sèvres.”
THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF TURKEY
Atatürk examined the republic, democracy, and form of government established by revolution in France, but foresaw that the same could not be applied in Turkey.
Since he knew the country’s political, sociological, and economic structure very well, he knew that democracy would be internalized by all segments of society only with the Republic.
Falih Rıfkı Atay, one of Atatürk’s close friends and a master journalist and writer, wrote in his work titled “Çankaya” the process leading to the Republic and Mustafa Kemal’s views in outline with the following sentences:
“The necessity to resolve extraordinary situations in the regime emerged. Because Turkey’s form of state had not yet been determined. It was necessary to clearly specify the new form of government in the Kanun-i Esasi. Because supporters of the sultanate and caliphate still existed.”
Atatürk kept the idea of the Republic secret until it was proclaimed, due to the thought that he might face opposition, but he carried out work for the quick acceptance of the new form of government; in Nutuk he wrote, “We were trying to reorganize state administration within the framework of national sovereignty principles, without mentioning the Republic, in a way that was advancing toward the Republic at every moment.”
The Republic was proclaimed by the TBMM on October 29, 1923, and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was elected President. The Great Leader Atatürk, who was elected President four consecutive times until his death in 1938, became the President who held this office for the longest time.
The assassination attempt against President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk on June 14, 1926, was prevented, and the ringleaders were arrested in Izmir. In his statement to Anadolu Agency regarding the assassination attempt, the Great Leader commented, “There is no doubt that this despicable attempt was directed at our sacred Republic and the lofty principles on which it rests rather than at my person. My humble body will certainly become earth one day, but the Republic of Turkey will endure forever.”
Gazi Mustafa Kemal was given the surname “Atatürk” by Law No. 2587 on November 24, 1934, and the use of this surname by others was prohibited.
HIS STEPS IN ECONOMY, FOREIGN POLICY, AND AGRICULTURE
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk launched the First Five-Year Industrial Plan in 1933 to alleviate the effects of the 1929 World Economic Crisis and accelerate the country’s development. Important steps were also taken in foreign policy during the same period. Joining the League of Nations, signing the Balkan Entente, the Montreux Straits Convention, and the Saadabad Pact, among other regional and international steps, contributed to Turkey’s emergence as an effective actor in its region and in the world.
Atatürk, who valued agriculture and farmers, had planned and serious work carried out on farms for 13 years starting from 1925, established farms on unproductive lands, and made these lands suitable for agriculture.
“HATAY IS MY PERSONAL MATTER”
Atatürk made intense efforts for Hatay’s joining the motherland, which he called “It is my personal matter” rather than a national matter; this goal was realized in 1939 after his death.
In his 57-year life, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk worked tirelessly for the independence of his nation and homeland and emerged victorious from every struggle he entered.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who maintained his respect through his military and political genius, died at Dolmabahçe Palace at 09:05 on November 10, 1938, at the age of 57.
Atatürk’s death was met with great sorrow not only in Turkey but all over the world.
ATATÜRK'S FUNERAL'S JOURNEY TO ANITKABIR
Atatürk's body was placed on a catafalque in the ceremony hall of Dolmabahçe Palace on November 16. On November 19, the funeral was seen off by a large crowd aboard the Yavuz Battleship to İzmit, and from there, that same evening, by the train he used on all his nationwide travels to Ankara.
The funeral, welcomed in Ankara on November 20 by state officials and foreign state dignitaries, was placed on a catafalque in front of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. Atatürk's body, placed with a great funeral ceremony in its temporary grave at the Ankara Ethnography Museum on November 21, 1938, remained here until November 10, 1953, when it was moved to its eternal resting place, Anıtkabir.
Atatürk, who said, "My humble body will certainly one day become earth, but the Republic of Turkey will endure forever," lives in the hearts of the Turkish nation at Anıtkabir, the heart of Turkey and his eternal resting place.
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