Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was
born in Salonica (now in
Greece) in 1881. He is
renown as the founder of the
Republic of Turkey.
In 1915, he emerged as a
military hero at the Dardanelles-Gallipoli and later became the leader
of the Turkish national
liberation struggle in 1919.
In 1923, as the creator of
the new Republic of Turkey, Atatürk
established a form of
government that reflected
the wishes of the people
thru the Parliament.
Sweeping cultural and
socio-political reforms took
place. Between 1926 and
1930, legal changes led the
way for Islamic religious
laws to be abolished and a
secular system emerged.
Atatürk initiated a program
for economic development in Turkey, which consisted
of agricultural expansion,
industrial and technological
advances.
Determined not to stop
there, Atatürk undertook the
greatest challenge of all, a
reform of the existing
language. In 1928, he
decided to abolish the
Arabic script and
incorporated the Latin
alphabet with the Turkish.
With this came the impetus
to develop the education of
the country's citizens.
Primary education was
declared compulsory and
great prominence was given
to the education of women.
