Observer Report
Turkey commemorates the death anniversary of Mustafa Kemal Ataurk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey. Although Ataturk Remembrance Day is not a public holiday, it is marked throughout the country with a moment of silence.
Mustafa Kemal was born in 1881. the surname Ataturk was granted to him in 1934, it means “Father of Turks. Ataturk was the leader of the Turkish National Movement in the Turkish War of Independence. He established the Republic of Turkey in 1923 and became its fist president. Ataturk’s extensive reforms helped convert Turkey into a modern nation. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk died at 9:05 on November 10, 1938. Every year, all of Turkey observe a moment of silence on November 10 to honour Ataturk’s memory. At 9:05, sirens go off across the country. Everyone stops and keeps silence for a minute, remembering Ataturk and his accomplishments. Many poeple lay flowers and wreaths at Ataturk’s memorials.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a Turkish field marshal, revolutionary statesman, author, and the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first president from 1923 until his death in 1938. He undertook sweeping progressive reforms, which modernized Turkey into a secular, industrial nation. Ideologically a secularist and nationalist, his policies and theories became known as Kemalism. Due to his military and political accomplishments, Atatürk is regarded as one of the most important political leaders of the 20th century.
Atatürk came to prominence for his role in securing the Ottoman Turkish victory at the Battle of Gallipoli (1915) during World War I. Following the defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, he led the Turkish National Movement, which resisted mainland Turkey’s partition among the victorious Allied powers. Establishing a provisional government in the present-day Turkish capital Ankara, he defeated the forces sent by the Allies, thus emerging victorious from what was later referred to as the Turkish War of Independence. He subsequently proceeded to abolish the decrepit Ottoman Empire and proclaimed the foundation of the Turkish Republic in its place.
As the president of the newly formed Turkish Republic, Atatürk initiated a rigorous program of political, economic, and cultural reforms with the ultimate aim of building a modern, progressive and secular nation-state.
He made primary education free and compulsory, opening thousands of new schools all over the country. He also introduced the Latin-based Turkish alphabet, replacing the old Ottoman Turkish alphabet. Turkish women received equal civil and political rights during Atatürk’s presidency.[ In particular, women were given voting rights in local elections by Act no. 1580 on 3 April 1930 and a few years later, in 1934, full universal suffrage
