Kemal assumed the name Ataturk, or "father of the turks," in 1934 in place of his original name Mustafa Kemal. He grew up in the decaying Ottoman Empire, attending a military academy and rising quickly in the Imperial Army because of his courage and intelligence. In 1908, Kemal became involved in the Young Turk movement's attempt to overthrow the waning Ottoman regime and establish a modern Republic in Turkey. During World War I, he commanded a victorious force in the Dardenelles, gaining great prestige as a heroic military leader. For Americans, he might be seen as similar in character and fame to Gen. George Washington, the leader of the Continental army and first president of the United States.

After Turkey's defeat in WWI, the Allies divided the Ottoman Empire among the victors, with the sultan ruler in Constantinople cooperating. Kemal and other Turkish patriots saw this as treasonous. In May 1919, Ataturk helped form the Turkish National Party and an independent army. Later that year, a new government was formed by nationalist congresses in Erzerum and Sivas. When the British occupied Constantinople, Ataturk set up a new government in the city of Ankara. A fierce civil war ensued, and the Turkish forces defeated the allies, expelled the Greeks and the Armenians, and abolished the sultanate. Modern Turkey established a European constitutional republic with a parliament and elected Ataturk president in 1923, 1927, 1931, and 1935. Very rapidly, Ataturk reformed Turkish society from a feudal Islamic monarchy to a modern, secular, Western republic. He abolished the religious/political rule of the Islamic caliphate and instituted Western standards of law, economics, and education. French, German, and Swiss models were employed. Ataturk's reforms in Turkey, collectively known as Kemalism, constituted the modernization of a traditional Islamic state. Kemalist political philosophy consists of six principles: (1) republicanism; (2) nationalism; (3) populism; (4) statism; (5) secularism; and (6) reformism. Republicanism implies a Western, parliamentary system of government (with regular elections, rights that are constitutional, and multiple political parties).

Nationalism means a country independent of foreign domination and distinct in history, geography, and culture. Populism means a democratic culture and selfgovernment. Statism refers to the mixed economy of Turkey, allowing private property and entrepreneurship but with some state industries and public regulation of economics for the common good. Secularism means the formal, legal separation of church and state, ending the state domination of Islamic clerics, and freedom of individual conscience in matters of faith and religion. Turkey is one of a few Islamic countries that provides constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion. The individual in Turkey is allowed to investigate and believe any religion one chooses, without civil penalty or social punishment. This rests on the view that only freely chosen, informed religious belief is pleasing to God. Reformism is the series of radical social reforms that Ataturk instituted to transform Turkey from a medieval, Middle Eastern monarchy into a modern Western civilization. Turks embrace Western science and progress, including equal rights for women, the European legal system, secular public education, the Latin (rather than Arabic) alphabet, the Western calendar, and European dress styles.

Together, Ataturk's reforms transformed a weak, isolated, impoverished country into a strong, prosperous, advanced nation that is integrated into the Western world.

Although sometimes criticized for his methods, Ataturk is recognized internationally as a great political leader and thinker who transformed an important part of the 20th-century world. He is revered in Turkey as the nation's Founding Father and an inspiration to contemporary Turkish leaders. Although his nation is still developing to achieve fully the goals of his 1930s reforms, it has advanced impressively. Perhaps because of Ataturk's military and political background, the army in Turkey enjoys an unusual respect and is seen as the preserver of Ataturk's republic and vision. As a combination soldier, statesman, ruler, and reformer, Ataturk is unrivaled in the twentieth century.

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