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Mustafa Kemal was born in Selânik (now Thessaloniki) on 1881 during the time when Macedonia was still part of the Ottoman Empire. His first (birthname) name was Mustafa and Kemal was his second name, given by his mathematics teacher. He entered a military school.

During the Balkan Wars, the Ottoman Empire fought other Balkan states and after the war, the Ottoman Empire now held Eastern Thrace and Selânik was ceded to Greece. Western Thrace was ceded to Bulgaria (Western Thrace was ceded later to Greece after World War I.)

Although, the Ottoman Empire joined the Central Powers alongside Germany, Bulgaria and Austria during World War I and when the central powers were defeated, those treaties forced them to gave up huge amount of land, leaving just a boundary similar to Present-day Turkey.

When the Ottoman Government signed the Treaty of Sèvres in order to cede Eastern Thrace (excluding Istanbul province), Imbros, Tenedos, and Ionia (including Izmir), Mustafa Kemal and other Turkish Nationalists never accept the treaty. All of Anatolia were occupied by the Allies. The Turkish War of Independence was broke out and He set up a provisional government at Ankara. On 1922, when Greek Forces Reached an area west of Ankara, Mustafa Kemal and his army defeated them and they drove them out into the sea, Izmir was recaptured. They successfully overthrew the Ottoman Sultan. On 1923, Turkey proclaimed a republic, placing its capital to Ankara, and Mustafa Kemal became Turkey’s first president.

The Treaty of Lausanne was signed by those countries defeated by Turkey. This treaty forced Greece to cede Eastern Thrace, Ionia, Imbros and Tenedos back to Turkey.

Mustafa Kemal organized reforms to his country, he encouraged westernization, he freed Turkish women from legal disabilities, he never wanted his people to be backward. He outlawed wearing turban, fez and veil in public. He gave women to have a right to vote and others. He adopted a surname Atatürk (Father of the Turks) so he encouraged Turks to adopt a surname instead of an Arabic-style name (e.g. Mehmed son of Ahmed). He forced to changed letters of Turkish Language from Arabic into Latin.