Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

By Troy Lennon.
In 1915 as the Anzac troops poured ashore at Ariburnu, now Anzac cove, in the Dardanelles they came close to breaking
through.
But a Turkish officer confronted retreating soldiers and told them ``You cannot run away from the enemy''.
They protested that their ammunition was gone, so he ordered them to fix their bayonets and lay down on the ground.
As they did so the Anzacs also went to ground. This bought the turks vital time to regroup, and for reinforcements to join
the fray.
The officer was lt. colonel Mustafa Kemal soon to be promoted to full colonel and later to be known as Ataturk the father
of Turkey. A man revered in his own country, and also honoured in Australia.
He was born in 1881 in Salonika in Greece, then part of the Ottoman empire.
His father Ali Riza was a government clerk turned failed merchant of Turkish background.
Mustafa inherited his mother Zubeyde's fair hair and blue eyes, making him stand out from the crowd.
He attended a muslim school briefly until his father put him into the secular institution the Shemsi Effendi in Salonika, a
school with a modern curriculum.
His father's business failures meanwhile led him to drink eventually causing his death, leaving the family destitute.
Mustafa's education then stalled. He refused to go to a conventional school, preferring instead a military school.
Zubeyde was against it but she relented. At the age of 12 he entered the Military Secondary School in Salonika.
His mathematics teacher, also called Mustafa, saw promise in the boy and according to a turkish custom gave him the
second name Kemal, meaning `perfect'. At this time surnames were not compulsory, this nickname helped distinguish
him.
He was proud and aloof, but such a prodigy that he taught other students in the master's absence.
At fourteen he went to Monastir to a military training school.
At that time rebellions erupted throughout the Ottoman Empire. He tried to enlist in the fight against the rebels, but was
recognised and returned to school.
At age 18 Mustafa Kemal went to Constantinople (Istanbul) to Harbiye War College. There he was involved with
movements plotting to restore the parliament dissolved in 1877 by Sultan Abdul Hamid.
He graduated from the college in 1905 with the rank of captain, and he was soon arrested for his political activities.
Avoiding punishment he accepted a posting away from the capital.
While there he joined other disgruntled officers, to form a group called Vatan ve Harriyet (Fatherland and Freedom)
opposed to the sultan's despotism.
But Syria was only an outlying province, so he arranged to go back to Salonika and linked up with the ``Committee of
Union and Progress''.
Mustafa was in Constantinople in 1908 when the Committee spearheaded the revolt, under a young major named Enver,
which restored the constitution.
But the `Young Turk' revolution did not depose the Sultan and failed to halt the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire.
Bulgaria declared its independence, Austria annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Crete joined Greece.
Mustafa Kemal went to Tripoli and Benghazi to quell uprisings, which he did with diplomatic and military skill.
He also excelled himself when counter-revolution threatened in 1909. The revolt was quashed and the Sultan deposed in
favour of his brother Mehmed V.
But the Committee was annoyed with Mustafa's belief that the military should be separate from politics, and they tried to
assassinate him, but it was a dismal failure.
He withdrew from politics and threw himself into becoming a good military officer. In 1911 when the Italians landed at
Tripoli Mustafa accompanied Enver and rounded up local forces to fight the Italians.
Despite the campaign's lack of success he was promoted to major.
In 1912 Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro invaded Turkey in the first Balkan War. Mustafa successfully defended
the Gallipoli Peninsula, but Turkey had already lost much of its empire.
The country slipped toward dictatorship under Enver.
Mustafa was then appointed a military attache to Sofia, Bulgaria, in 1913. While there he acquired not only the rank of
lieutenant colonel but absorbed western culture and was determined to spread its benefits to his own people.
Just before World War I broke out the Turks made a secret alliance with Germany. Although under no obligation Enver was
eager to enter the conflict and gave orders to attack the Russian fleet, drawing them into war.
Mustafa was opposed to the war but was ready to serve. He asked for a command. He distinguished himself especially for
his defeat of the Allied troops at Gallipoli, and stopping the enemy advance at Aleppo.
He became brigadier general at the age of only 37.
But Turkey was on the losing side. In the aftermath of war the Ottoman empire was slated to be dismembered, its
territories divided up among other powers.
The Ottoman army was also ordered to demobilise, but Mustafa issued a declaration of independence and urged soldiers to
stay armed for a fight for independence.
In defiance of the sultan's government a National Assembly was elected in April 1920 with Mustafa Kemal elected
president, its capital in Ankara.
The Allied powers were alarmed about this development and the British occupied Constantinople, forcing the existing
government to sign the treaty of Sevres with even harsher conditions for the carve up of the country.
The British, Greeks, French, Armenians and Georgian armies tried to take their ceded territory by force.
Mustafa Kemal was given full powers as commander in chief of the Turkish forces in 1921 and by 1922 defeated the
foreign troops sent to enforce the treaty of Sevres.
With the defeat of the foreign armies Turkey was now in a position to negotiate its own treaty. Representatives met with
the other powers in Lausanne in 1922 to discuss a treaty guaranteeing Turkish sovereignty.
While negotiations were going on Mustafa Kemal married Latife Hanim.
The old sultanate was dissolved and a treaty was signed at Lausanne on July 24 1923. Shortly after the occupation troops
left Constantinople (officially renamed Istanbul in 1930) the triumphant Turkish army entered the city.
A Turkish Republic was proclaimed on October 29th 1923.
Mustafa then set about reorganising and modernising the Turkish state. For him that meant adopting many western ways.
He abolished religious courts and schools, later instituting a new code of civil law. He worked to remove elements of
mysticism and superstition from peoples' daily lives and the administration of the state, preventing a return to rule by
Sultans.
The latin alphabet was also introduced to replace arabic script, and he abolished many laws and customs relating to forms
of dress.
In 1934 surnames were made compulsory, and the assembly voted him the name Ataturk, father of the the Turks.
He introduced votes and equality for women, he separated the army from politics, and even reformed the calendar.
There was some opposition, particularly from muslims who wanted to reinstate canon law, unfortunately he returned to
some despotic, but never opressive, methods to continue his reforms.
His drive for reform took its toll however, in 1925 his marriage ended, his health then began to fail and by 1937 he was all
but incapacitated.
He died on November 10th 1938 from cirrhosis of the liver.
On the centenary of his birth in 1981 Unesco issued a special resolution to honour Ataturk for his promotion of `world
peace, international understanding and respect for human rights'. In Canberra there is also a memorial to him for his part
in the Battle of Gallipoli.