Mustafa Kemal Atatrk - Research Paper Example

Ataturk (Atatürk Mustafa Kemal) Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic and its first President, stands as a towering figure of the 20th Century. Among the great leaders of history, few have achieved so much in so short period, transformed the life of a nation as decisively, and given such profound inspiration to the world at large (Mustafa Kemal Atatürk) Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, is regarded as the founder and father of Turkish republic. Unlike many other prominent leaders in the world, Atatürk’s popularity is not confined within the boundaries of turkey alone. In fact he is widely regarded as an international figure who contributed heavily not only to Turkey, but also to the world as well. He has shown the world that how effective leadership and dedicated services can make revolutionary changes in the life of people. The life of Atatürk is a lesson for the modern political leaders who are struggling to contribute something to their nations because of widespread corruption, partialities, biases, discriminations and prejudices. This paper briefly analyses the life history of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk “Ataturk was born in Salonica in 1880 into a family which was Muslim, Turkish speaking and precariously middle class”(Mango, p. 25). Salonica is not part of Turkey at present; it is the part of Greece now. Even though, Ataturk had many brothers and sisters, only one of Atatürks siblings, a sister named Makbule survived childhood. Mustafa Kemal was the childhood name of Ataturk. Even though the origin of Ataturk is still controversial, it is widely accepted that his father was an Albanian whereas his mother was a Macedonian. Ali Raza, a civil servant, was the father of Ataturk who died at the age of 46 because of his crazy life styles (Mango, p. 30). The sudden and unexpected death of Ali Raza brought the entire responsibility of looking after the family, on the shoulders of his mother. His mother was a strong believer in God and religion and she encouraged Mustafa to attend childhood education at a religious school. Even though Atatruk was not much interested in religious education, he spent a brief period of his childhood in this religious school. However, he joined another secular school later because of the instructions of his father. His parents were interested in making Ataturk a business man and forced him to learn more about the trade activities. But his interests were different and unknown to even his parents. Atatürk took an entrance exam for a military junior high school in Salonika in 1893 without seeking the permission of his parents. In other words, he was a free thinking person even from his childhood. He got the admission in the military school and enrolled in that school in 1896. From then onwards, his education was primarily based on military subjects. In 1899 he joined a War College in order to know more about the war time strategies. He was graduated from the Military College in 1905. Since his education was on military subjects, it was easy for him to get a job in military. He has joined the Fifth Army based in Damascus as a Captain, immediately after the graduation. He has joined a small secret revolutionary society of reformist officers during this period because of his strong differences with the activities of the administration. Ataturk has climbed the steps of military ladder gradually and got many important positions in the military. In 1908, he helped the Young Turk Revolution to seize power from Abdülhamid II. On March 1, 1914, he was promoted as the lieutenant colonel in the military. Ataturk played a significant role in the First World War. He has anticipated each and every movement of the Allies and did everything possible to defeat them. In fact the strategies developed and used during the First World War made Ataturk a prominent military personnel not only in Turkey, but all over the world. Even though, he was loyal soldier in the Ottoman Army, he was not much interested in the administration of the Ottoman dynasty. He has realized that the Turkish people need freedom from the brutal rules of the Ottoman dynasty and for that purpose; he had an important role to play. He resigned from the Ottoman Army on 8 July 1919. Even before resigning from the military, he declared that the independence of his country was in danger. He has conducted a successful agitation against the Ottoman dynasty and became the first president of republic of Turkey in 1923. Even though the contributions of Ataturk as a military leader and a freedom fighter were immense, his achievements as the president of turkey are more significant. “Nearly everyone was illiterate in Turkey when Ataturk took the power. Life expectancy was pitifully short and medical care did not exist at all. The basic skills of trade, artisanry and engineering were unknown to the Turkish people at that time” (Kinzer, p.11). Atatürks governmental structure had a unicameral parliament, an administration that had to answer for the quality of its achievements, as well as an effective bureaucracy. What was intended to become modern Turkey was defined from 6 principles: Republicanism, Nationalism, Populism, Statism (State control over the basic means of production, where the banks were used as the administrative body), Secularism and Revolutionism (Atatürk Mustafa Kemal) Atatürk continued in the President ship for 15 years until his death in 1938. He did everything possible to make Turkey capable of standing in its own legs with the help of comprehensive reformation processes in the political, social, legal, economic, and cultural spheres. Emerging nations now admire and imitate him as an idol. The visions of Atatürk were highly integrated and he believed in secular credentials and humanity. Renowned world leaders like Churchill, Roosevelt, Nehru Nasser, Kennedy etc paid immense tribute to Atatürk for his contributions to the world. He never treated neighbouring countries as friends rather than enemies which helped Turkey to get more cooperation from the neighbouring countries for its economic growth. In short, Atatürk is an idol for many of the people not only in Turkey, but all over the world. His contributions to Turkey in world in general and Turkey in particular cannot be neglected. The modern generation can take many lessons from the visionary leader Atatürk. Works Cited 1. “Atatürk Mustafa Kemal”. Web. 08 December 2010. 2. “Ataturk”. Web. 08 December 2010. 3. Kinzer, Stephen. “Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds” Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Revised edition (September 16, 2008) 4. Mango, Andrew. “Ataturk: The Biography of the founder of Modern Turkey”.2002. Publisher: Overlook TP (August 26, 2002) 5. “Mustafa Kemal Atatürk”. Web. 08 December 2010. Read More