This date in 1881 is observed as the birthdate of Turkish statesman Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. (The exact day is unknown due to unclear records and the use of different calendars.) The founder of modern Turkey (officially the Republic of Türkiye), he reshaped his country as a secular nation after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
He was born in the city of Salonica, now known as Thessaloniki and currently in Greece, to an army officer father and a mother from a farming family. He opted for a military education in high school against his mother’s wishes and graduated from the Ottoman Military College in Istanbul. Soon after, he fought in a series of conflicts such as the Italo-Turkish War and the Balkan Wars.
He was given prominent World War I army commands and was said to have been the only Turkish general to emerge undefeated among the Central Powers that included Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. He successfully marshaled the military of the vanquished Ottoman Empire to safeguard the core of the Turkish homeland — and the current republic was proclaimed on Oct. 29, 1923, with Atatürk as president.
Atatürk introduced wholesale reforms so associated with him that the underlying ideology is referred to as Kemalism. A key part of this is a secular outlook. Kemalist secularism took the religion-suffused Ottoman Empire and radically transformed it for the new republic. As of this writing in 2025, Turkey is home to over 85 million people. Most are ethnic Turks and Kurds are the largest ethnic minority. While officially secular, it has a Muslim-majority population.
Not only was the state separated from religion, but Atatürk also undertook cutting-edge social change across education, women’s rights, the legal system, dress and language. Through such measures, he initiated a metamorphosis of Turkish society.
“Atatürk’s ‘revolutions,’ as they are still praised in Turkish textbooks, were sweeping,” explains Turkish scholar Mustafa Akyol in an article for The Century Foundation. “The ‘Ministry of Sharia’ was disbanded, and Sufi orders and traditional madrasas (Islamic schools) were banned, leaving behind little trace of organized religion, while mosques were placed under government control. The Ottoman fez was banned and the European-style brimmed hat was imposed by law for government officials. The Islamic calendar was replaced with the Gregorian one, and the Arabic alphabet with the Latin.”
The strong-handed ways in which he pushed through his agenda complicate any complete assessment, but there is no denying that this was among the most rapid transformations in the history of any society. Even with an Islamist party in charge of the country for the past many years now, Turkey is still officially secular, with the constitutional structure being chipped away at rather than being demolished.
Atatürk’s own perspective on religion has been a matter of intense debate. Some scholars assert that he was not religious; others argue he embraced certain aspects of Islam. What is undeniable is that he wanted religion separated from the public sphere — contrary to past practices in his country and the prevalent norms in the region.
In a 1928 book by Grace Ellison titled “Turkey Today,” he is quoted as saying “I have no religion, and at times I wish all religions at the bottom of the sea.” He later denied saying this, whether because he didn’t say it or because he was making a political calculation.
Atatürk’s efforts earned him many admirers worldwide. Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy spoke highly of him, as did Charles de Gaulle and other Western figures. Modernizers in the Middle East and North Africa, such as Reza Shah in Iran and Habib Bourguiba in Tunisia, drew inspiration from his secularism.
Atatürk died at age 57 in Istanbul, his life cut short due to overwork, smoking and alcohol consumption. His legacy lives on, not only in Turkey but far beyond. (D. 1938)
PHOTO: Atatürk in 1932.
