Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Mustafa Kemal

Mustafa Kemal

2 7.3
The founder and first president of modern Turkey who made it a secular state
  • proper noun
: Mustafa Kemal
  • General Mustafa Kemal, who came to be known as Ataturk ("Father of the Turks"), would not have been able to drive out the foreign forces that occupied his country in the wake of World War I or to found the republic on the ashes of empire without the military's active assistance.
  • Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Examples

  • When Mustafa Kemal Ataturk created the Turkish Republic in 1923, he wanted to advance industrial growth while also creating a strong military and bureaucracy that would be loyal to the Republic.

    Academic text (2000)

  • When the Turkish Republic was established in 1923, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and the other leaders of the new regime embarked on a comprehensive program to create an ethnically homogeneous community and turn it into the foundation of the new state.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Nursi used print media and traditional networks to create "counter-publics," opposing the reforms of Mustafa Kemal.

    Academic text (2000)

  • The rigid conformity with which these basic principles are upheld is paradoxical, however, and ill conforms to the true spirit of Mustafa Kemal.

    Academic text (2000)

  • Mustafa Kemal, known as Mustafa Kemal, revolutionized Turkey by implementing reforms to modernize the nation.

  • As the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal led significant changes in education, law, and women's rights.

  • In 1923, Mustafa Kemal declared the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, marking a new era in the country's history.

Synonyms

Ataturk
vsMustafa Kemal
2 6.3

Last name taken by Mustafa Kemal, founder and first president of modern Turkey

is the full personal name rather than the adopted family name form
Kemal Ataturk
vsMustafa Kemal
1 5.7

Founder and first president of modern Turkey who made government separate from religion

is the same person but uses the original personal name order
Kemal Pasha
vsMustafa Kemal
7.1

Turkish leader who founded modern secular Turkey

is the common modern reference without the historical honorific title

Surface Forms

Mustafa Kemal main

Morphology

Mustafa + Kemal

This is a personal name (a proper noun) composed of two given names; knowing the isolated name parts ('Mustafa' and 'Kemal') does not convey the semantic role 'founder and first President of modern Turkey'. Proper names are essentially arbitrary and not compositionally meaningful, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituent name tokens would not be able to infer the MWE's definition.

Etymology

Mustafa Kemal is the name of the man who founded modern Turkey. A teacher gave him the second name Kemal, meaning 'perfection', and he later took the surname Atatürk ('Father of the Turks'), so the name Mustafa Kemal now refers to Turkey's founder and first President.