A visitor who comes for the first time in Turkey is probably surprised by the innumerable portraits and busts of Kemal Atatürk that are seen in every corner of the country and the veneration in which he is held more than half a century after his death. Many countries have of course their own heroes, but perhaps none who is recognized not only as a great military com-mander and an out-standing statesman, but also as a man who almost single-handedly carried out a far reaching political, social and cultural revolution.

Atatürk was born in 1881 in Salonica which then was one of the great cosmopolitan cities of the Ottoman Empire. This empire, with Istanbul as its capital had reached its apogee in the 16th century. It was a theocratic, monarchical and in a sense a feudal state whose grandeur started thereafter to decline as its borders gradually receded. Nevertheless, at the time that Atatürk was born it still encompassed the greatest part of the Balkans and practically the whole Middle East. Its population included, besides Turks, Arabs, Greeks, Serbs, Bulgarians, Armenians and Jews.  But as a young officer, Atatürk had to witness the defeat in the Balkan wars in 1912-13 which resulted in the loss of most of the European territories of the Empire including his hometown. Close to a million Turks fleeing persecution had to abandon their homes and take refuge in territories still held by the Empire.

Already in his student years Atatürk started to develop his political ideas. He had learned French and was reading avidly the works of Rousseau and Voltaire as well as the translations of the works of English political thinkers. He realized very early that unless it could accomplish a profound transformation, his country had no chance to integrate itself into modern civilization.  For him, modern civilization meant the West with its industrial technology, commercial reach, cultural radiance and secular systems of government.

The First World War dealt the final blow to the Ottoman Empire. Atatürk distinguished himself as a commanding general officer in the Dardanelles and the Middle East, but in the end Turkey was defeated, together with her allies, Germany, Austria and Bulgaria. As he was compelled to sign a humiliating treaty, Greece landed its forces in Izmir with the aim of annexing Western Anatolia. The Sultanate in Istanbul, under the control of occupying powers, had become impotent. It is under these circumstances that Atatürk took the lead in Anatolia in organizing a new political movement and a national army with the aim of recuperating the territories where the majority of the population was overwhelmingly Turkish. Combining military operations with skillful diplomacy he achieved his goal. A new Turkey was to emerge with the Treaty signed in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1923.

As the peace negotiations in Lausanne were proceeding, the new Parliament in Ankara decided to abolish the Sultanate. This was the prelude to the proclamation of the Republic later in 1923. But in abolishing the Sultanate it was decided to maintain in Istanbul the Caliphate, the ultimate religious authority of the Islamic world, which the Ottoman dynasty had been representing since the 16th century following the conquest of Egypt. It would not take long, however, before Atatürk decided to abolish the Caliphate as well. His model for Turkey was that of a secular state, a state where religion did not have any political power or influence. Looking at what is happening in the world today, the exploitation of religion to ferment hatred and violence, this vision of Atatürk is fully vindicated.

Atatürk was elected the first President of the Republic of Turkey. He made Ankara the capital of the new Republic. He became the driving force of several social, educational and cultural reforms. He pursued a foreign policy of reconciliation and friendship with neighbors and endeavored to preserve peace as the clouds of war were gathering in Europe and in the Mediterranean in the late 1930s.  He never wavered from his aim of anchoring Turkey firmly to the West and prepared the institutional infrastructure which enabled Turkey later to move towards a multi-party parliamentary democracy. He restored the pride, dignity and self-confidence of the Turkish people. Emancipation and empowerment of women was one of his most important achievements.

Atatürk died on November 10, 1938, but continues to remain a source of inspiration for the people. His legacy is still valid because he was a man of principle, but not a dogmatic one. Rationalism and pragmatism always prevailed in him and are encapsulated in what he said shortly before his death: "I am leaving no sermon, no dogma, nor am I leaving as my legacy any commandment that is frozen in time or cast in stone".