At the height of its power in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Turkish Ottoman Empire spanned three continents, controlling much of Southeastern Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. However, at the end of WWI, as one of the losing countries the Ottomans were forced to sign the Moudros Treaty, where their army and government became powerless. The country was almost fully occupied by the victorious Allied powers. Atatürk arranged for his appointment as Inspector General of the remnant Ottoman Turkish Forces in Anatolia, and arrived at the Black Sea Port of Samsun on May 19, 1919. Rapidly he organized a public movement for freedom, which led to the key milestone of establishing the Turkish Grand National Assembly eleven months later. In parallel, he was able to restructure the military forces, which under his leadership defeated the invading forces. By November 26, 1922, all invading forces had evacuated the Turkish motherland as defined in the 1920 Oath of the Nation. Thereafter, the political restructuring of the country by Atatürk led to the formal declaration of the Republic of Turkey on October 29, 1923.
Atatürk’s successes were highly respected by global leaders of the period and beyond, as evidenced below in these quotes:
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Former President of the United States of America
I obtained information concerning Mustafa Kemâl from someone who knows him very well. When talking with Foreign Minister Litvinov of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, he said that in his opinion, the most valuable and interesting statesman in all of Europe does not live in Europe today, but beyond the Bosphorus, he lives in Ankara, and that this was the President of the Turkish Republic, Gazi Mustafa Kemâl Atatürk.
John F. Kennedy, Former President of the United States of America
The name of Atatürk reminds people of the historical successes of one of the great individuals of this century, the leadership that gave inspiration to the Turkish nation, farsightedness in the understanding of the modern world and courage and power as a military leader. It is without a doubt that another example can’t be shown indicating greater successes than the birth of the Turkish Republic and ever since then Atatürk’s and Turkey’s broad and deep reforms undertaken as well as the confidence of a nation in itself.
General Douglas MacArthur, Former United States Commander-in-Chief of the Far East Forces
He was a military-statesman, one of the greatest leaders of our era. He ensured that Turkey got its rightful place among the most advanced nations. Also, he gave the feeling of support and self-confidence to the Turks that form the foundation stone of a nation’s greatness. I take great pride in being one of Atatürk’s loyal friends.
Ernest Hemingway, American Journalist, Novelist and Nobel Laureate
The West and the East came face to face at the second class coastal town of Mudanya on a crooked road covered with dust on the hot Marmara coast. Despite the English flag ship “Iron-Duke’s” ash-colored deathly turrets that transported the Allied generals for negotiations with İsmet Pasha, the Westerners had come here to beg for peace, not to ask for peace or to dictate the conditions… These negotiations demonstrate the end of Europe’s dominance over Asia, because as everyone knows, Mustafa Kemâl got rid of all the Greeks.
Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Atatürk’s death is not only a loss for the country, but for Europe is the greatest loss, he who saved Turkey in the war and who revived a new the Turkish nation after the war. The sincere tears shed after him by all classes of people is nothing other than an appropriate manifestation to this great hero and modern Turkey’s Ata.