Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) was the Ottoman general who led Turkey’s War of Independence (1919–22), founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923, and as its first president imposed the most radical modernization program of the 20th century — secular law, Latin script, women’s suffrage and Western dress.
“Atatürk” means “Father of the Turks,” a surname parliament gave him in 1934. He remains modern Turkey’s untouchable founding myth — revered for saving the nation, debated for the authoritarian methods and the minorities crushed along the way.
