He was born in 1881 in Salonica, then an Ottoman city, now in Greece His father Ali Riza, a customs official turned lumber merchant, died when Mustafa was still a boy His mother Zubeyde, a devout and strongwilled woman, raised him and his sister First enrolled in a traditional religious school, Mustafa soon switched to a modern one In 1893, he entered a military high school where his mathematics teacher gave him the second name Kemal, which means perfection, in recognition of young Mustafa's superior achievement He was thereafter known as Mustafa Kemal
MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATURK
On a day of 1881, a male child was born in a pink house located at the district of Ahmet Subaşı, city of Salonika, which is inside Greek boundaries today
Father Ali Rıza whispered the name of the child to his ear MUSTAFA
Before Mustafa ,Zubeyde Hanım and Ali Rıza Bey had three children named Fatma,Omer and Ahmet When Mustafa was born none of those children were alive
Mother Zubeyde Hanım was a pretty Turkmen woman strictly devoted to religious beliefsThe ancestors of Zubeyde Hanım were known as a branch of Turkmen tribe They immigrated from Anatolia to Rumelia during the conquest of Rumelia by the Ottomans and settled in Sarıgol subdistrict located west of the Vodina district in west Makedonia It is thought that this tribe came there from Konya or Aydın provinces of Anatolia
Father Ali Rıza was a resident of Salonika and his father was Ahmet Efendi His uncle Hafız Ahmet Efendi, a teacher in the district school, was nicknamed as Red Hafız Efendibecause of his red beard
At the time, Father Ali Rıza was working as a customs officer Later, he quit and established a partnership with a timber trader Cafer Efendi He was also involved with brine trading for some time Ali Rıza passed away at the young age of 47 What were left from Ali Rıza Bey to Zubeyde was two mecidiyes (40 kuruş) widow salary,7 year old Mustafa and his sister Makbule