Ataturk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey.

• Author: Gruen, George E.
• Position: Review

Ataturk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey

Andrew Mango (New York, NY: Overlook Press, 2000) 666 pp., with 16 pp. of illus.

A Visitor to Turkey is immediately struck by the ubiquitous Presence of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. Not only is his statue found in public squares in every town, but although he died in 1938, his portrait is still prominently positioned on the walls of government offices and schools, as well as in businesses and many private homes throughout the country This ubiquitous presence stands in marked contrast to the fate of other autocratic national leaders of his time, such as Lenin, Musssolini and Hitler, whose monuments have been torn down, and whose ideas have been largely discredited.

It is not only Ataturk's visage, but also his vision of creating a modern, secular democratic state that continues to dominate political discussion in Turkey today as the country enters the 21st century and struggles to qualify for membership in the European Union. In neighboring Russia, the Bolshevik revolution has been reversed, and in Iran, the Islamic Republic has striven to undo the secularization of society begun by Reza Shah, who had sought to follow his contemporary Ataturk's example. Yet in Turkey, Ataturk's principles have been enshrined in the constitution, the courts have outlawed parties seeking to restore Islamic rule, and the military leadership, which sees itself as the guardian of the Kemalist legacy, has intervened whenever it felt that the civilian government was failing to safeguard the unity of the nation or the basic principles the founder of the Turkish Republic had championed.

There is still a law on the books that protects his memory from insult. He has been designated as the Eternal Leader of the Nation. In 1934, when Mustafa Kemal decided to make surnames compulsory for all Turkish citizens as one of his modernization moves, the childless leader of the country chose for himself the name Ataturk, literally "Father Turk," or father of the Turkish nation. The National Assembly passed a law restricting the use of this surname to "the person of the Gazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha." [The title Gazi originally meant a warrior on behalf of Islam, and was given by the Ottoman sultans to generals--then still called Pashas--for outstanding exploits.] Kemal had achieved his title in recognition of his distinguished military service in defending Gallipoli during the First World War and, following the Ottoman defeat, for his charismatic leadership of the Turkish national movement. Following the Greek invasion of Anatolia, in 1919, he galvanized grassroots support and succeeded, in a bloody and bitterly fought conflict, to free the Turkish heartland from occupation by the Allied forces of Britain, France, Italy and Greece, who had determined to dismember and divide the sultan's patrimony Not only skillful in battle, Mustafa Kemal adopted a realistic foreign policy, relinquishing claim to the Ottoman Empire's extensive Arabian territories and achieving international recognition for the new Turkish Republic in 1923.

As Andrew Mango points out in his definitive new study, Ataturk: The Biography of the Founder of Modern Turkey, Kemal consciously worked to distance himself and his people from Arabic or Ottoman influences and also gave primacy to his role as the elected leader of the new Republic. Indeed, Ataturk's ability went far beyond the military and extended to the field of domestic politics and international diplomacy. He combined skillful timing and pragmatism in his tactics, with single-minded dedication to achieving his goals for Turkey: "Peace at home and peace in the world," forging a unified Turkish nation, and creating a modern society

However, as Mango demonstrates in great and fascinating detail, Ataturk remained a highly controversial figure in his lifetime, and there is growing debate today, both in Turkey itself and abroad, over the wisdom of some...