Abstract:

Scrutinizing on the transformation of the leader image of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the Western public opinion, this study delineates also on the evolving image of Turkish nation indirectly in reference to Atatürk. Coming onto the Western public agenda for the first time as a successful soldier at Gallipoli War, Mustafa Kemal was labeled by different and even contradictory epiteths by his Western interlocutors in the following National War and Republican periods. Undoubtfully, political leaders, diplomats and foreign journalists took the lead as the main agents moulding the image of Mustafa Kemal throughout the world. The genius of Mustafa Kemal, who had been evaluated as a bandit group leader at the beginning of the Turkish National War of Independence, was admitted due to the developmental moves and reforms of the Republican era. Foreign politicians, diplomats and journalists who personally attended the funeral ceremony of Atatürk or sent their messages, commemorated him not only as a military leader changing the fate of Turkish nation, but also as a political leader who made his mark in the world history

Keywords: