The congresses in Erzurum and Sivas in the Summer of 1919 declared the national aims by a national pact. A movement had already begun in Erzurum in the east and Mustafa Kemal quickly placed himself at the head of the whole organization. A wave of national resistance arose in Anatolia. It is also the date that Mustafa Kemal later chose as his own birthday. That date marks the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence. Mustafa Kemal was warned that his enemies had planned to sink his ship on the way out, but he was not afraid and on Monday19th May 1919, he arrived in Samsun and set foot on Anatolian soil. On 16th of May 1919, he left Istanbul in a small boat called the "Bandirma". Under difficult conditions, Mustafa Kemal decided to go to Anatolia. On the 15th of May 1919 the Greek Army landed in Izmir with the agreement of the Entente. There were foreign officers, officials and agents almost everywhere in the country. There were Italian soldiers in Antalya and Konya, and British soldiers in Merzifon and Samsun. Under various pretexts the navies and the armies of the Entente (France, Britain and Italy) were in Istanbul, while the province of Adana had been occupied by the French, and Urfa and Maras by the British. After the armistice (peace agreement), he returned to Istanbul.Īfter the Armistice of Mondoros, the countries that had signed the agreement did not consider it necessary to abide by its terms. He then served in the Caucasus and in Syria and just before the armistice in 1918 he was placed in command of the Lightning Army group in Syria. Mustafa Kemal explained his state of mind as he accepted this great responsibility: "Indeed, it was not easy to shoulder such responsibility, but as I had decided not to live to see my country's destruction, I accepted it proudly". During the battle, Mustafa Kemal was hit by shrapnel above the heart, but a watch in his breast pocket saved his life. This was when the Allied landings in the Dardanelles (Çanakkale Bogazi) took place and he personally saved the situation in Gallipoli. In the First World War he was in command of the Turkish forces at Anafartalar at a critical moment. He was made Commander of the Anafartalar Group on 8th of August, 1915. When Mustafa Kemal was in Sofia, the First World War broke out. At the end of the Balkan War, Mustafa Kemal was appointed military attache in Sofia. He served in the Balkan War as a successful Commander (1912-1914). While he was still in Libya, the Balkan War broke out. On his own initiative, he went to Tripoli during the war with Italy in 1911 and took part in the defense of Derne and Tobruk. Mustafa Kemal and his friends founded a society which they called "Vatan ve Hürriyet" (Fatherland and Freedom) in Damascus. He was graduated from the Academy with the rank of captain on the 11th of January, 1905. After finishing the Military Academy, Mustafa Kemal went on to the General Staff College in 1902. In 1895, after finishing the Military Middle School, Mustafa Kemal entered the Military High School (Askeri Idadisi ) in Manastir.Īfter successfully completing his studies at the Manastir Military School, Mustafa Kemal went to Istanbul and on the 13th of March 1899 he entered the infantry class of the Military Academy (Harbiye Harp Okulu).
He entered the Military Middle School in Salonika. It was finally decided that he should live with his mother's sister in Salonika. Mustafa worked on the farm but his mother began to worry about his lack of schooling. Mustafa and his mother went to live with his uncle in the countryside. But Mustafa lost his father at an early age, he had to leave school. For his primary education, he went to the school of Semsi Efendi in Salonika. Mustafa Kemal was born in 1881 in Salonika (Selanik, today in Greece, then under the Ottoman rule). Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881 - 1938) was the founder and the first President of the Republic of Turkey.