Middle East Conflict Biographies | Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Biography

Born in 1881 (Salonika, Ottoman Empire)
Died on November 10, 1938 (Istanbul, Turkey)

President of Turkey
Military leader

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is widely hailed as the founder of modern Turkey, a nation that emerged in 1923 out of the wreckage of the Ottoman Empire (a vast empire of southwest Asia, northeast Africa, and southeast Europe that reigned from the thirteenth century to the early twentieth century). Throughout the twentieth century, Atatürk was widely revered for the way he introduced his nation to such features as democratic political institutions, an effective civil administration (including such services as police and fire service, and garbage collection), universal education, and the idea of the rights of individuals. Atatürk is also remembered for introducing his predominately Muslim nation to the benefits as well as the drawbacks of secular, or non-religious, rule....