Today is the birthday of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Today is the birthday of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk - the founder of the modern Turkish state, reformer, politician, prominent statesman and military leader who led the Turkish War of Independence that began in 1919.

The first president of the Republic of Turkey was born in 1881 in Thessaloniki (now Greece). He graduated from the Ottoman Military College in Istanbul in 1902, receiving the rank of lieutenant, and continued his education at the Ottoman General Staff Academy, which he completed on January 11, 1905, with the rank of captain. In 1911, he entered service at the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

At the beginning of World War I, Mustafa Kemal successfully commanded Turkish troops in the Battle of Çanakkale, for which he was awarded the rank of colonel. After the Battle of the Dardanelles, Kemal was promoted to divisional general and appointed commander of the army on the Syrian-Palestinian front.

After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the war and the occupation of the country, he led the national liberation movement for Turkey's independence. On the eve of the Turkish War of Independence, he formed a government in Ankara. In September 1921, the commander-in-chief of the Turkish army, Kemal, was given the title of "Gazi" for his victory in the Battle of Sakarya and was nominated for the rank of marshal.

On April 23, 1920, the first session of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was held, at which Mustafa Kemal was elected chairman of the parliament and head of government. In this capacity, he took important steps toward the creation of the Republic of Turkey. After the war, he founded the Republican People's Party and became its first chairman.

On November 1, 1922, the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist. On October 29, 1923, the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed, and Atatürk was unanimously elected its first president. He held this office for four terms until his death in 1938, serving in this position longer than anyone in the history of Turkey.

Atatürk is included in the list of the 100 most studied figures in history.

Under the Surname Law, on November 24, 1934, the parliament granted Mustafa Kemal the surname Atatürk.

Atatürk died of liver cirrhosis on November 10, 1938, at Dolmabahçe Palace - the former residence of Turkish sultans in Istanbul. He was buried on November 21, 1938, on the grounds of the Ethnography Museum in Ankara. On November 10, 1953, his remains were reinterred in the mausoleum "Anıtkabir," built in Atatürk's honor.

"Azerbaijan's joy is our joy, its sorrow is our sorrow. Azerbaijan is our brother. It is our duty to help it, no matter what," said Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1921, when accepting the credentials of Azerbaijan's representative in Turkey, Ibrahim Abilov.