Kemal Atatürk

Atatürk, Kemal (Mustafa Kemal; (1881–1938), founder of modern Turkey. An army officer who gained prominence during World War I, Atatürk headed a provisional government in Ankara that opposed the Allied regime in Istanbul established after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. In 1923 he won European recognition of the new Turkish republic. His secular regime replaced the political power of Islam and modernized the Turkish economy.