Atatürk, Kemal (1881–1938)

Turkish politician and general, first president of Turkey from 1923. After World War I he established a provisional rebel government and in 1921–22 the Turkish armies under his leadership expelled the Greeks who were occupying Turkey. He was the founder of the modern republic, which he ruled as a virtual dictator, with a policy of consistent and radical Westernization.

Kemal, born in Thessaloniki, was banished in 1904 for joining a revolutionary society. Later he was pardoned and promoted in the army and was largely responsible for the successful defence of the Dardanelles against the British in 1915. In 1918, after Turkey had been defeated, he was sent into Anatolia to implement the demobilization of the Turkish forces in accordance with the armistice terms, but instead he established a provisional government opposed to that of Constantinople (modern Isanbul, then under Allied control) and in 1921 led the Turkish armies against the Greeks, who had occupied a large part of Anatolia. He checked them at the Battle of the Sakaria, 23 August–13 September 1921, for which he was granted the title of Ghazi (‘the Victorious’), and within a year had expelled the Greeks from Turkish soil. War with the British was averted by his diplomacy, and Turkey in Europe passed under Kemal's control. On 29 October 1923 Turkey was proclaimed a republic with Kemal as first president.