A close friend may praise you. Sometimes a teacher, your parents or a family member may do the same. How many heroes or heroines have been praised by his enemies in history? There are few. One of them is Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. According to American leader John F. Kennedy, he was one of the greatest figures of our century. Winston Churchill of the UK called him a great hero, and former French President Charles de Gaulle said he was the greatest achiever among all the World leaders.
What made Mustafa Kemal different from other leaders? How did he become a legendary figure? Why did his enemies respect him so much? It’s not only winning wars, of course. There are a lot of other achievements in his life. When his father died, they moved to Uncle Huseyin’s farm. While he was helping with the farm work there, he decided to make a change and secretly sat for the military school exams, and passed. He was an outstanding cadet, military school student. When he graduated from Academy of War in 1905, things were getting worse. His first duty was in Damascus. While he was working there, the Ottoman Administration sent him to different places for new duties. He was a division commander during the Battle of Gallipoli in 1915. The Allied Forces were dreaming of the partition of Anatolia and İstanbul when Mustafa Kemal’s armies woke them up. On April 23, 1920, he established Turkish Grand National Assembly. He went on fighting against enemies and all enemies left the country completely on September 9, 1922.
Things were not over. It was just a beginning. His duty as a commander was over. Now, it was time to become a statesman, an economist, and a teacher. While his friends were discussing the new regime, he suddenly said, ‘’We are going to declare the Republic, tomorrow.’’ He managed it. It was October 29, 1923. Then, he went on to introduce his revolutions in many fields such as introducing the Latin Alphabet on November 1, 1928, establishing the Central Bank of the Turkish Republic on June 5, 1931, giving women the right to vote on December 5, 1934 . While he was making the revolutions, he worked day and night. Soon, the poor country of war turned into a strong, modern, and independent state. He had only a short time to enjoy his new state before he passed away on November 10, 1938. While his coffin was passing by, millions were crying. Some of them were the commanders of the Allied Forces.