Mustafa Kemal was the first President of which country?

Mustafa Kemal was the first President of Turkey, serving from 1923 until his death in 1938.

Better known as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, he founded the Republic of Turkey after the Ottoman Empire’s defeat and dissolution following World War I. The Turkish Grand National Assembly established the republic on October 29, 1923, and elected him its first president. Before that, he had led the Turkish National Movement and commanded forces during the Turkish War of Independence.

As president, Atatürk introduced sweeping reforms intended to create a modern, secular nation-state. His government abolished the Ottoman sultanate and caliphate, replaced the Arabic-based Turkish script with a Latin-based alphabet, expanded state education and adopted European-influenced legal and social reforms. Women gained expanded political rights during this period, including full voting rights in national elections in 1934.

A common mix-up is confusing Turkey’s first president with its last Ottoman sultan, Mehmed VI, or with İsmet İnönü, who succeeded Atatürk in 1938. The surname “Atatürk,” meaning “Father of the Turks,” was granted to Mustafa Kemal by parliament in 1934.