Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (lahir di Selânik (sekarang Thessaloniki, Yunani), 12 Maret 1881 – meninggal di Istana Dolmabahçe, Istanbul, Turki, 10 November 1938 pada umur 57 tahun), hingga 1934 namanya adalah Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Pasha, adalah seorang perwira militer dan negarawan Turki yang memimpin revolusi negara itu. Ia juga merupakan pendiri dan presiden pertama Republik Turki. Mustafa Kemal membuktikan dirinya sebagai komandan militer yang sukses sementara berdinas sebagai komandan divisi dalam Pertempuran Gallipoli. Setelah kekalahan Kekaisaran Ottoman di tangan tentara Sekutu, dan rencana-rencana berikutnya untuk memecah negara itu, Mustafa Kemal memimpin gerakan nasional Turki dalam apa yang kemudian menjadi Perang Kemerdekaan Turki. Kampanye militernya yang sukses menghasilkan kemerdekaan negara ini dan terbentuknya Republik Turki. Sebagai presiden pertama negara ini, Mustafa Kemal memperkenalkan serangkaian pembaruan yang luas yang berusaha menciptakan sebuah negara modern yang sekuler dan demokratis. Menurut Hukum Nama Keluarga, Majelis Agung Turki memberikan kepada Mustafa Kemal nama "Atatürk" (yang berarti "Bapak Bangsa Turki") pada 24 November 1934.
Kemal meninggal dunia pada 10 November 1938 dalam usia 57 tahun karena kelelahan yang luar biasa akibat berat dan banyaknya tugas yang ada setelah sakit yang berkepanjangan karena sirosis hati. Penggantinya, İsmet İnönü, memperkuat kultus individu Atatürk secara anumerta, yang telah bertahan hingga sekarang, bahkan setelah Partai Rakyat Republikan Atatürk sendiri kehilangan kekuasaan setelah pemilu yang demokratis pada 1950. Atatürk berusaha untuk memodernisasi dan mendemokratiskan sebuah Republik Turki yang baru dari sisa-sisa Kekaisaran Ottoman.
Dalam upayanya ini, Atatürk telah menerapkan pembaruan-pembaruan yang meluas, yang akibatnya telah mendekatkan Turki kepada Uni Eropa sekarang. Tekanan yang diberikan kepada sekularisme dan nasionalisme juga telah menimbulkan konflik pada tingkat tertentu di dalam masyarakat. Sebagian pemeluk Islam yang taat merasa gagasan sekularisme ini bertentangan dengan ajaran Islam, dan mengkritik negara karena tidak memberikan kebebasan yang penuh dalam agama. Meskipun terdapat konflik-konflik ini, Atatürk tetap dihormati di seluruh Turki dan prinsip-prinsipnya tetap merupakan tulang punggung politik Turki modern.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (pronounced [mustäˈfä ceˈmäl äˈtäˌtyɾc]; 19 May 1881 (conventional) – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish army officer, revolutionary, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey. His surname, Atatürk (meaning "Father of the Turks"), was granted to him in 1934 and forbidden to any other person by the Turkish parliament. Atatürk was a military officer during World War I. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, he led the Turkish National Movement in the Turkish War of Independence.
Having established a provisional government in Ankara, he defeated the forces sent by the Allies. His military campaigns led to victory in the Turkish War of Independence. Atatürk then embarked upon a program of political, economic, and cultural reforms, seeking to transform the former Ottoman Empire into a modern and secular nation-state. Under his leadership, thousands of new schools were built, primary education was made free and compulsory, and women were given equal civil and political rights, while the burden of taxation on peasants was reduced. His government also carried out an extensive policy of Turkification. The principles of Atatürk's reforms, upon which modern Turkey was established, are referred to as Kemalism.
During 1937, indications that Atatürk's health was worsening started to appear. In early 1938, while he was on a trip to Yalova, he suffered from a serious illness. He went to Istanbul for treatment, where he was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. During his stay in Istanbul, he made an effort to keep up with his regular lifestyle for a while. He died on 10 November 1938, at the age of 57, in the Dolmabahçe Palace, where he spent his last days. The clock in the bedroom where he died is still set to the time of his death, 9:05 in the morning.
Atatürk's funeral called forth both sorrow and pride in Turkey, and 17 countries sent special representatives, while nine contributed armed detachments to the cortège. Mustafa Kemal's remains were originally laid to rest in the Ethnography Museum of Ankara, and transferred on 10 November 1953, 15 years after his death in a 42-ton sarcophagus, to a mausoleum that overlooks Ankara, Anıtkabir. In his will, Atatürk donated all of his possessions to the Republican People's Party, providing that the yearly interest of his funds would be used to look after his sister Makbule and his adopted children, and fund the higher education of the children of İsmet İnönü. The remainder of this yearly interest was willed to the Turkish Language Association and the Turkish Historical Society.
