Atatürk Early life

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born in the early months of 1881, either in the Ahmed Subaşı neighbourhood or at a house (preserved as a museum) in Islahhane Street (now Apostolou Pavlou Street) in the Koca Kasım Pasha neighbourhood in Salonica,[8] Ottoman Empire, to Zübeyde Hanım, a housewife, and Ali Rıza Efendi, a militia officer, title-deed clerk and lumber trader. Only one of Mustafa's siblings, a sister named Makbule (Atadan) survived childhood; she died in 1956.[9] According to Andrew Mango, his family was Muslim, Turkish-speaking and precariously middle-class.[10] His father Ali Rıza is thought to have been of Albanian origin by some authors;[11][12][13][14][15] however, according to Falih Rıfkı Atay, Vamik D. Volkan and Norman Itzkowitz, Ali Rıza's ancestors were Turks, ultimately descending from Söke in the Aydın Province of Anatolia.[16][17] His mother Zübeyde is thought to have been of Turkish origin[13][14] and according to Şevket Süreyya Aydemir, she was of Yörük ancestry.[18] Due to the sizeable minority of Jews in Selanik during the Ottoman period, many of Atatürk's Islamist opponents have eagerly claimed that he may have Dönme ancestors (Jews who converted to Islam during the Ottoman period.)[19] However, his grandparents were not native to Selanik, and his family had moved to this city (the largest metropolis in Ottoman Rumelia after Istanbul) in the late 19th century, from other provinces of the Ottoman Empire. There are also some suggestions about the possibility of his partial Slavic origin, based on his light skin complexion, blond hair and blue eyes.[20][21][22]

He was born Mustafa, and his second name Kemal (meaning Perfection or Maturity) was given to him by his mathematics teacher, Captain Üsküplü Mustafa Efendi, "in admiration of his capability and maturity" according to Afet Inan,[23][24] and, according to Ali Fuat Cebesoy, because his teacher wanted to distinguish his student who had the same name as him,[25] although his biographer Andrew Mango suggests that he may have chosen the name himself as a tribute to the nationalist poet Namık Kemal.[26] In his early years, his mother encouraged Mustafa Kemal to attend a religious school, something he did reluctantly and only briefly. Later, he attended the Şemsi Efendi School (a private school with a more secular curriculum) at the direction of his father. His parents wanted him to learn a trade, but without consulting them, Mustafa Kemal took the entrance exam for the Salonica Military School (Selanik Askeri Rüştiyesi ) in 1893. In 1896, he enrolled into the Monastir Military High School. On 14 March 1899,[27] he enrolled at the Ottoman Military Academy in the neighbourhood of Pangaltı[28] within the Şişli district of the Ottoman capital city Constantinople (now Istanbul) and graduated in 1902. He later graduated from the Ottoman Military College in Constantinople on 11 January 1905.[27]