Ataturk
38.911741, -77.05081 | Political
An outdoor bronze sculpture of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk by Nuray Anahtar, installed outside the Turkish Ambassador’s Residence, on the periphery of Sheridan Circle, in Embassy Row. It was unveiled by the Atatürk Society of America in November 2013. It is one of two statues in Washington, D.C. depicting Kemal Atatürk; the other is installed in front of the Embassy of Turkey, which is also located in Embassy Row.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a Turkish army officer, revolutionary, and founder of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President from 1923 until his death in 1938. Ideologically a secularist and nationalist, his policies and theories became known as Kemalism. Atatürk came to prominence for his role in securing the Ottoman Turkish victory at the Battle of Gallipoli during World War I. Following the Empire’s defeat and subsequent dissolution, he led the Turkish National Movement, which resisted against the mainland Turkey’s partition among the victorious Allied powers. Establishing a provisional government in present-day Turkish capital Ankara, he defeated the forces sent by the Allies, thus, emerging victorious from what is later referred to as the Turkish War of Independence. He subsequently proceeded to abolish the Ottoman Empire and proclaimed the foundation of the Turkish Republic in its place.