When the Turkish Government negotiated the armistice of Mudros (Oct. 3o, 1918), Mustafa Kemal was opposed to the policy of complete surrender, and after the signature of the armi stice retired to Constantinople. The Greek landing at Smyrna on May 16, 1919, which reawakened the Turkish nation, and his appointment by the Ottoman Government in Constantinople as inspector of the IX. Army Corps in north-eastern Anatolia gave him his chance. His mission, as conceived by the sultan and the grand vizier, was to execute the armistice terms by super intending the disarmament and demobilization of the Turkish army in this remote district. Mustafa Kemal meant to create a nucleus of national resistance against the partition of the country, and therefore accepted with alacrity the position offered him by the unsuspecting Government. As soon as he landed at Samsun he began to organize his new movement locally at Amasia, Tokat and Sivas, and to correspond secretly with other parts of the country. The sultan's government, awaking too late, recalled him to Constantinople, but he went on instead to Erzerum and sent in his resignation to Constantinople. He next convened two congresses, one at Erzerum in July, and the other at Sivas in Sept. 1919. Both congresses endorsed his programme of fighting for national existence to the bitter end, and appointed a standing executive committee under his chairmanship. Thereupon he was outlawed by the Constantinople Government, and relations be tween the capital and the interior of Anatolia were broken, but all the efforts of the Constantinople Government and the Allied Powers to frustrate Mustafa Kemal's activities simply strength ened his conviction that he had taken the right path.
The political and military history of the new Turkish Nation alist movement, commonly called the "Kemalist" movement, after its founder, is to be found elsewhere. (See the articles on LAU SANNE, CONFERENCE OF; TURKEY.) Mustafa Kemal was in favour of the Nationalists participating in the general election at the close of 192o, but decidedly opposed to the meeting of the As sembly at Constantinople, and his judgment was borne out by the event. On April 23, 192o, Mustafa Kemal gathered together
at Angora the Nationalist members of the late Parliament who had escaped from Constantinople, and was elected unanimously president of this new National Assembly.
During the two and one-half years which followed, Mustafa Kemal was the heart and soul of the Turkish national resistance. His exceptional military ability, his keen intellect and his per suasive oratory carried his countrymen through their ordeal. Dur ing the summer campaign of 1921, which was the supreme crisis of the Graeco-Turkish War, the Angora assembly appointed Mustafa Kemal generalissimo of the Turkish forces, with unlim ited power, and he took personal charge at the front during the 2 2 days' and nights' fighting of the battle of the Sakaria. During the battle his horse was wounded and the general broke a rib in falling, but he never left the front. After this battle the as sembly gave him the rank of field-marshal and the traditional title of "Ghazi" (the victorious).
The destruction of the Greek army, the peace settlement at Lausanne, the abolition of the sultanate, the declaration of the republic and the abolition of the caliphate--were the direct work of Mustafa Kemal. On Oct. 29, 1923, the date on which the Republic was proclaimed, the great national assembly unanimously elected Mustafa Kemal the first president of the republic. In fact, if not in theory, he became dictator. Restlessness reached a climax in June 1926, with the conspiracy of the former Com mittee of Union and Progress against Kemal's life. He was left in authority, however, and on Nov. 1, 1927 was unanimously re elected. For the revolution in social organisation and the policy of Westernization see TURKEY, HISTORY. (A. J. T.) Mustafa Kemal was re-elected president on May 4, 1931, and on March 2, 1935. In December 1934, in accordance with a new law obliging all Turkish citizens to adopt a family name, the president took the name Kemal Atatiirk. He died at Istanbul Nov. 1o, 1938.