Early life

Mustafa was born on an undetermined date in the early months of 1881, either in the Ahmed Subaşı neighbourhood or in Islahhane Street in the Koca Kasım Pasha neighbourhood in Salonica , Ottoman Empire, to his mother Zübeyde Hanım  and father Ali Rıza Efendi. Only one of Atatürk's siblings, a sister named Makbule  survived childhood; she died in 1956. According to Andrew Mango, he was born into a family which was Muslim, Turkish-speaking and precariously middle-class. Time magazine states that Mustafa Kemal's father was of Albanian and his mother was of Macedonian origin, and Patrick Kinross wrote that he was as fair as any Slav from beyond the Bulgarian frontier with fine white skin and eyes of a deep but clear light blue. According to Encyclopaedia Judaica, one assertion that was commonly made by many Jews of Salonika was that Kemal Atatürk was of Doenmeh origin. Many of Atatürk’s religious opponents eagerly embraced this view, the Turkish government denied it. His father Ali Rıza is thought to be of Albanian origin; however, according to Falih Rıfkı Atay, Ali Rıza's ancestors were from Söke in the Aydın Province of Anatolia. His mother Zübeyde is thought to be of Turkish origin and according to Şevket Süreyya Aydemir, she was of Yörük ancestry.

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