Kemal Ataturk

Let us ask some questions, if you are in a country which is almost in wars for 100 years, and if you lost almost all educated and young people in these wars, if your country were about to be shared by French, UK, Greeks, Italians, Armenians, Kurds, Arabs, Russians, if all the big powers were looking your territory to share the oil reserves, if your government were trying to transfer all the power to UK, if your government had very high debt burden, if your country literacy rate were only 5 percent, if you have only a few doctors, engineers, matematicians etc, if you were almost importing everything and having no industry, can't even produce a pin, if you have a country only relying to the agriculture, if you don't have any entrepreneur because of your people always made war but trade were in the hand of the minorities, if you don't have any capital to invest, if the religiuos were too dominant in the society, religious people were the most strongest figures, if you can't print your mo... Read more

biggest leader all time . .

Ataturk had all three types leadership qualities wrapped up in one: Entrepreneurial (founded a new country from the ashes of an empire with a new economic, social, political fabric); managerial (delegated work to those who would be best fit for the work); Charismatic (good looks and knows how to party)

If Greeks had the power of Jews, Kemal would be a historic person like Adolph Hitler

M.Kemal ATATURK was a great leader.. he did everything for TURKEY.... thank you ATAM for everthing

I think this person is symbolic. He could proof that the islamic country can go moderate, non-extremistic way.

Millions of people followed him... Not just his own nation he also affected lots of other nations,,, for the freedom, peace, and happiness! "Peace at home, peace in the world!" M. Kemal Ataturk

il a fondé la république LAIQUE en Turquie

He did a lot of positive things as many of the reviewers below noted , but he's kinda like Oliver Cromwell is to the Irish if you're Armenian.

A leader who changed a part of the world, starting with nothing.

he was the face of modern turkey

He is the greatest leader of the 20. century he is not only military leader hower he is state leader. He have skills that world leaders dont have.

Here is a person who was the George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon and a half dozen others of his country, and he is little known outside Turkey. Look at twinmom101's posting to get a nice thumbnail sketch of his accomplishments. If you want other than Islamic regime in a Moslem country, you must support the Ataturks of the world.

Biggest poser ever. This guy was ashamed of who he was and where he came from, so he told his country to pretend to be something they're not. Saddest thing ever. Honestly, westernized turks are the laughing stock of the west no thanks to this guy. No wonder why turks can't even get into the EU.

One of the greatest leaders of 20th and many other centuries.

Kemel Ataturk, the father of Modern Turkey is one of the great leaders of the 20th century. This great man saved the Turkish nation from wreck and ruin and paved it's way into the modern world. A great man, who is highly underatted outside of Turkey!!!

The founder of modern Turkey, Ataturk was one of those military figures like Charles DeGaulle in France who were bigger than life, who was the personification their country. As a young army officer in the early 20th Century, he was a member of the Young Turks, a group of people who wanted to liberalize Turkey by adopting a constitutional government. During the First World War, he served effectively but was ultimately fighting on the wrong side. Turkey was allied with Germany and they lost the war. After the war he moved the Greeks out of Anatolia, giving Ataturk the mandate needed to overthrow the weak Sultanate. In 1923, Turkey was recognized as a independent nation. He was subsequently re-elected four times unanimously by the Parliament. His fifteen years in power were characterized by Westernization and reform. He made some meaningful constitutional reforms like separating religion and state, but Ataturk was nonetheless a dictator. He only tolerated limited dissent and brutally oppr... Read more

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk brought Turkey into the modern world. What he did for Turkey indicates, if notproves, that Muslim countries are indeed capable of being secular and progressive, while still maintaining their own cultural identity. Ataturk was a real visionary.

Born in 1881 as Mustafa, Kemal Ataturk (the perfect one and Father of the Turks) was the founder of the modern Turkish state, picking up the pieces of the terminal Ottoman Empire. Ataturk is similar to Teddy Roosevelt of the U.S. as both were the turning points in bringing their respective countries into the 20th Century, a transformation to contemporary and practical political realities. After successfully defending Turkey from a series of Greek attacks in 1919 and 1922 as a general, Ataturk instituted many revolutionary reforms for an Islamic nation, including education and suffrage for women, implementing a western style justice system, banning demeaning religious clothing such as veils for women (though he also went a bit far banning fezzes as well), converting the Turkish language to a western alphabet, and requiring surnames for all citizens. While I cannot give Ataturk more than three stars since his influence has been mostly localized to Turkey, he certainly deserves to be o... Read more

Although not a saint by any means, Ataturk brough Turkey out of the antique age of the Ottoman Empire and into modern times. He out-lawed traditional gear like the fez for men and discouraged veiling of women. He also converted (with some help) the Turkish language from Arabic script to the Roman alphabet and set up a western style government with no religious influence. This religious issue is still a hot one today along with allowing women to wear veils in government buildings and universities. Because of his vast reform, Turkey is now the powerful ally we have today and proof that democracy can work in a muslim nation. By the way, don't expect to see any Turks giving him a bad rating here. It's illegal for them to denounce him, at least it is in Turkey.