Encyclopedia of Islam

Assassins

---

World War I, Mustafa Kemal left Istanbul in 1919 

to gather support for a resistance movement in 

Anatolia, eventually settling in Ankara, where the 

Grand National Assembly was opened in 1920. 

When Turkish troops under Mustafa Kemal’s com-

mand defeated the Greek troops that had invaded 

western Anatolia in 1921, the nationalist forces 

earned enough bargaining power to reject the 

terms of the Sèvres treaty (the World War I peace 

agreement that would have divided the country) 

and to abolish the Ottoman sultanate, which had 

reigned for 600 years. In 1923, a new treaty ensur-

ing Turkey’s borders was agreed to at Lausanne 

(in Switzerland), and the republic was proclaimed 

with Mustafa Kemal as its president.

Mustafa Kemal’s regime was autocratic, which 

allowed him to push through a series of reforms 

designed to rebuild t

Urkey

 as a modern, Western, 

secular nation. In 1924, he abolished the 

caliph

-

ate

, which Ottoman sultans had assumed since 

the 16th century, and closed religious schools. 

He closed the 

dervish

 lodges, which were seen 

as threatening to the secular regime, and banned 

the wearing of religious dress outside of places of 

worship. He had a new civil code adopted, bring-

ing equal rights to 

Women

. He had the Arabic 

alphabet

 replaced with a modified Latin alphabet 

and encouraged the replacement of Arabic and 

Persian words in the language with “pure” Turkish 

words, even if they had to be invented.

In 1934, a law was passed requiring all citizens 

to adopt a surname, and Mustafa Kemal chose 

for himself that of Ataturk, meaning “Father of 

the Turks.” Ataturk died in 1938 in Istanbul after 

having served four terms as president, but his 

legacy has continued until today. His mausoleum 

in Ankara continues to be visited regularly; his 

image appears on every banknote and in every 

public building, and his statues stand prominently 

in every city and town. Boulevards, universities, 

towns, and Istanbul’s international airport are 

named after him. The ideas he brought to frui-

tion—constituting an ideology known as Kemal-

ism—also continue to make up the dominant 

ideology of the Turkish state.

See also o

ttoman

 

dynasty

; 

secUlarism

.

Mark Soileau