Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was born in Salonika in 1881. His father was Ali Riza Efendi and his mother was Zubeyde Hanim. Ali Riza Efendi, one of the Selanik aborigines. Her distant grandfather left Vidin and settled in Serres, and from there they came to Thessaloniki. Ali Riza Efendi was a customs officer for a long time and left the civil service to deal with wood. Atatürk's mother Zübeyde Hanım was also a member of an old Turkish family, which was based in Langaza near Thessaloniki.
This family was one of the descendants of nomads from Anatolia to Rumelia and became known as Varyemezoğulları. This family had large farms in Langaza and they worked in livestock.
Ali Rıza Efendi, who married Zübeyde Hanım in 1871, died in 1888 when he was fifty years old.
The little Mustafa continued his education in the neighborhood school of Hafiz Mehmet Efendi, at the request of his mother. However, he soon went to Şemsi Efendi Mektebi, a modern education in Thessaloniki with the wishes of his father, and finished there his elementary school. Şemsi Efendi was very pleased that little Mustafa was present in his own school because he appreciated the skills and intelligence of his new student. Mustafa's father died during his school days. Mustafa had two sisters, Makbule and Naciye, who were younger than him. When his father died, little Mustafa was seven years old, Makbule had just reached his age, and Najiye was forty days old when the youngest sibling died in Thessaloniki.
Following the death of Ali Rıza Efendi, Zübeyde Hanım settled down with his three children and his brother Hüseyin Efendi, who had served as Subvanic on the Rapla farm near Thessaloniki. Due to his farm life he had unintentionally obstructed the education of Mustafa. However, he soon returned to Thessaloniki and continued with his aunt, from whom he had stopped. After completing the elementary school of Şemsi Efendi, Mustafa continued his training at the Salonika School for a while. He continued his education here. Mustafa really liked this school. His teachers, with his intelligence and outstanding talents, soon attracted him. The teacher Mustafa Efendi, who taught math at this school, added the name "Kemal" at the end of the name of little Mustafa to distinguish him from the other Mustafas in his class, given the superior skills and intelligence of his young talent. The young student became Mustafa Kemal.
After he had finished the military college of Thessaloniki, Mustafa Kemal entered 1896 in the military college of the monastery. In this school he was friends with Omer Naci, who came from the military college. This person, who later became known as a famous orator, played an active role in Mustafa Kemal's love of rhetoric and literature. One of his close friends, Ali Fethi (Okyar), was a student at this school. Mustafa Kemal not only loved learning foreign languages and his military education; In the summer he took French lessons when he returned to Thessaloniki on vacation.
On November 13, 1899, the young Mustafa Kemal entered the Military Academy in Istanbul and graduated in November 1898 Manastır Military School. After three years of successful training, he finished school on February 10, 1902, in the rank of lieutenant and continued his studies at Military College in the same year. In 1903, the second year of the Military Academy, he get more respect from his teachers and students friends because of his will and enthusiasm.
On January 11, 1905, he graduated from the Military Academy with the rank of a staff captain. Mustafa Kemal introduced himself to his friends and teachers with his intelligence, talents, and superior personality at Military College, and gained their sincere esteem and respect. In addition to his great interest in military courses, he was also particularly interested in mathematics, literature and good words. In Harbiye and Militr College, he was known as an intellectual and a revolutionary officer because he was brave enough to express his ideas for the cases of the country and the nation.
The period was the period of despotism and could be against these behaviors; but he was truly loved by his environment, and his sincerity in his thoughts prevented him from going into any form of organization. In the days following his graduation from Military College, he was suspected for his thoughts and attitude towards the regime of Istibdat and the sultanate for a short time in Istanbul, which is why he was promoted to Damascus, Syria on 5 February 1905.
