(1881–1938) RARE 6,25X3.25 vintage album page signed in old black bold ink, “K. Ataturk.” According to Beckett this is the only one of his signatures they have ever authenticated. Comes in a Beckett encasement and a full Letter of Authentication from Todd Mueller Authentics. Super rare in any form. Our minimum bid is lower than our cost on this piece. With photographs bringing $30,000 plus, this is a great piece at a low price. Kemal Atatrk was a Turkish field marshal, revolutionary statesman, author, and the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first president from 1923 until his death in 1938. He undertook sweeping progressive reforms, which modernized Turkey into a secular, industrial nation. Ideologically a secularist and nationalist, his policies and theories became known as Kemalism. Due to his military and political accomplishments, Atatrk is regarded as one of the most important political leaders of the 20th century.Atatrk came to prominence for his role in securing the Ottoman Turkish victory at the Battle of Gallipoli (1915) during World War I. Following the defeat and dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, he led the Turkish National Movement, which resisted mainland Turkey's partition among the victorious Allied powers. Establishing a provisional government in the present-day Turkish capital Ankara, he defeated the forces sent by the Allies, thus emerging victorious from what was later referred to as the Turkish War of Independence. He subsequently proceeded to abolish the decrepit Ottoman Empire and proclaimed the foundation of the Turkish Republic in its place. As the president of the newly formed Turkish Republic, Atatrk initiated a rigorous program of political, economic, and cultural reforms with the ultimate aim of building a modern, progressive and secular nation-state. He made primary education free and compulsory, opening thousands of new schools all over the country. He also introduced the Latin-based Turkish alphabet which replaced the old Ottoman Turkish alphabet. Turkish women received equal civil and political rights during Atatrk's presidency. In particular, women were given voting rights in local elections and a few years later, in 1934, full universal suffrage. His government carried out a policy of Turkification. trying to create a homogeneous and unified nation. Under Atatrk, non-Turkish minorities were pressured to speak Turkish in public; non-Turkish toponyms and last names of minorities had to be changed to Turkish renditions. The Turkish Parliament granted him the surname Atatrk in 1934, which means "Father of the Turks", in recognition of the role he played in building the modern Turkish Republic. He died on 10 November 1938 at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul. at the age of 57; he was succeeded as President by his long-time Prime Minister Ismet Inonu and was honored with a state funeral. His iconic mausoleum in Ankara, built and opened in 1953, is surrounded by a park called the Peace Park in honor of his famous expression “Peace at Home, Peace in the World.” In 1981, the centennial of Atatrk's birth, his memory was honored by the United Nations and UNESCO, which declared it The Atatrk Year in the World and adopted the Resolution on the Ataturk Centennial, describing him as "the leader of the first struggle given against colonialism and imperialism" and a "remarkable promoter of the sense of understanding between peoples and durable peace between the nations of the world and that he worked all his life for the development of harmony and cooperation between peoples without distinction". He is commemorated by many memorials and places named in his honor in Turkey and throughout the world.