The founder of the Turkish Republic is often described as a dictator Essay

The founder of the Turkish Republic is often described as a dictator but was actually more like a latter-day king. (Andrew Ma - Essay Example A modern-day leader strives for greatness. Ataturk was the type of leader who needed to say something, stand by it and achieve it. A modern day leader does not also accept the status quo that he/she found when they took the leadership seat of their country; however, they assume a forward momentum of driving their country forward. This was the kind of leader that Ataturk was. Modern-day kings also argue coherently and cohesively. In addition, it is the aim of this paper to praise Ataturk and not to defame him by referring to him as a dictator as other previous authors have done (Dogan 2003, p. 45; Huntington 2006, p. 34; Alayarian 2008, p. 56; Blythe 2000, p. 1). The paper will first offer a short account/version of his life and achievements, followed by my key purpose of studying the political legacy of Ataturk, as well as why I consider that he is a particularly interesting and rare case of a constructive or kind dictator. His Achievements (Life and Military) Kemal Ataturk was born, in 1881, to a middle-class or average family in Salonica (Thessolaniki, Greece), in the world famous Ottoman Empire. His first name was Mustafa, but it is not known who gave him a second name, Kemal. People argue that it is his teacher due to his excellence, or he/she wanted to differentiate him from Mustafa (Mango 1999, p. 185). Others argue that the name was given to him by Ataturk himself following the release of a famous poem. All through his life, Ataturk gained the more honourific names of Pasha, Bey, Ghazi, as well as three years prior to his death, Ataturk, which stands for â€Å"Father of the Turks.† Critics argue that people can attribute both the young Ataturk’s future military occupation and his modernising changes to the reality that his father had devoted him, at a young age, to the military and also sent him to a contemporarily secular school instead of an Islamic madrassa (Mango 1999, p. 186). Also, Ataturk was enrolled in numerous military schools fro m 1893-1905, and went to be one of the Kingdom’s best young military officers, at the status of Major (Kasaba 2008, p. 45). At times, secretly, Ataturk also took part in revolutionary groups, which wanted to reform the Kingdom. Ataturk effectively defended an Ottoman fortification in Libya all through the 1911-12 Italo-Turkish warfare, which was one of the very few triumphs for the Turks against the advanced Italian forces. In 1912-13, Ataturk acquitted himself commendably once more in a losing battle in the Balkan warfare, where he was appointed to the Gallipoli peninsula, which also would motivate him for his next and more prominent role (Zurcher 1998, p. 33). During the First World War, wherein Ataturk individually opposed neutrality, he was the principal Turkish commander in the Gallipoli war (Mango, 1999, 186). This incompetent and disastrous gamble by Winston Churchill led to a total of over 250,000 deaths on both sides – Ottoman and Australian, British and New Z ealand, respectively. Ataturk fruitfully revolted waves of Allied armies and caused a big defeat on the Allied armies. He also won a crucial victory for the Turkish citizens (Ahma 2003, p. 53). He used the rest of the war to gather tactical triumphs in other regions of the Empire against British and Russian forces, in what were eventually a fated Central Powers and Ottoman war efforts that he had foreseen following a mid-war trip to