Turkey: Phoenix from the Ashes ••• 233Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
M
ustafa Kemal (1881-1938) was born into a middle-class family in the
Ottoman city of Salonika (now the Greek city of Thessalonki). As a boy,
Mustafa was educated first in a traditional Muslim madrasa and then trans¬
ferred to a European-style school. When he was twelve, he entered a military
high school, where a teacher gave him the nickname Kemal (meaning perfec¬
tion) in recognition of his superior work. The name stuck, and he was there¬
after known as Mustafa Kemal.
By 1905 Mustafa Kemal had graduated from the war academy in Istanbul
with the rank of captain and was posted to Damascus. Already disenchanted
with the Ottoman government, he started a clandestine society called "Home¬
land and Freedom." In 1908 he participated in the Young Turk revolution that
seized power from the sultan.
Mustafa Kemal then served as a field officer in a number of campaigns, in¬
cluding actions in Albania and Libya. When World War I broke out, his highly
regarded military experience led to his being assigned the prestigious com¬
mand of the forces resisting the British assault on the Dardanelles. This action
made him a war hero among the Turks, and the next year, at the age of thirty-
five, he was promoted to general. As the Turkish forces suffered a series of de¬
feats, Kemal kept their Syrian retreat from turning into a rout. Thus he came
out of the war with his reputation intact.
The victorious Allies soon found cooperative elements within the Ottoman
elite, but Kemal refused to acquiesce to an occupation force that would only
serve their own interests. Once again he rallied Turkish forces to resist invad¬
ing foes. Though many joined the cause, Kemal proved charismatic enough to
lead the resistance. He took full advantage of the situation, and when in 1923
Turkey freed itself of Allied occupation, Kemal was declared the leader of his
country. For the next fifteen years he utterly transformed the country by fol¬
lowing nationalist, reformist, and secular principles. As a testament to his
achievements, Turkey's Grand National Assembly bestowed on Kemal the
honorary title of Ataturk, "Father of the Turks."
Kemal was convinced that to remain independent of foreign control, Turkey
had to westernize. The defeat suffered in World War I discredited the old Otto¬
man regime based on Islamic traditions and laws, and this opened the door to
the adoption of a program of westernizing reforms led by Kemal. These re¬
forms dramatically affected all aspects of Turkish life, from clothing styles and
written language to gender relations and law codes. Although most Turks ac¬
quiesced, some embraced the changes more enthusiastically than others. West¬
ernization took root most securely in Turkey's urban regions and less deeply in
the rural villages. When Kemal Ataturk died in 1938, the country's Western ori¬
entation seemed assured. Today, however, after decades of westernization, there
remain many who disagree with Kemal's path to Turkish national salvation.