Mustafa kemal ataturk biography turkish youth

(1881-1938)

Who Was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk?

As a young man, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was involved with the Young Turks, a revolutionary group that deposed the sultan in 1909.

Ataturk led the Turkish War of Independence and signed the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923, which made Turkey a republic. He was elected its first president and ushered in reforms that modernized Turkey.

Early Life

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk was born simply "Mustafa" in the early months of 1881, in Salonika, in what was then the Ottoman Empire (his birthplace is now known as Thessalonika, in modern-day Greece).

Atatürk last words

When he was 12 years old, Mustafa was sent to the military academy in Istanbul. There, his mathematics teacher gave him the name Kemal — meaning "perfection"— because he excelled in academics. He graduated in 1905.

Military Career

As a young man, Mustafa Kemal became a member of the Young Turks, a revolutionary movement of intellectuals.

He participated in the Young