Ataturk Born: Founder of Modern Turkey
He was the man who turned the ruins of the Ottoman Empire into a modern secular republic. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born in Salonica in 1881 and became a military hero before becoming Turkey's founding president. He abolished the caliphate, replaced Arabic script with the Latin alphabet, gave women the vote, and closed religious courts — all in the span of roughly 15 years. He gave himself the surname Atatürk, meaning 'Father of the Turks.' He died in 1938. His portrait hangs in most Turkish homes.
May 19, 1881
145 years ago
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