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On the centenary of the birth of the Turkish Republic, this film tells the unique journey of Atatürk, who is its founding father.

The work of Mustafa Kemal is unprecedented in the history of humanity. Builder of a nation and a people, he is Atatürk, the “father of the Turks”.

Built on the smoking rubble of the Ottoman Empire, Turkey was the first Muslim nation in the world to enshrine a secular identity on the marble stone of its Constitution. The only one still to this day. Against the Ottoman theocracy, against the Islam of the ulemas, against popular Islam, and even against the will of the majority, Mustafa Kemal imposed secularism. “Its” secularism: Lâïklik. An unprecedented approach whose scope still resonates in contemporary Turkey, between filiation and protest, and well beyond.

Beyond this political decision, he sets a “crazy” objective: to forge a new identity for his people. Adoption of the Latin alphabet, emancipation of women, clothing regulations with the ban on the traditional fez, education reform, organization of society and even of daily life… He imposed his vision and profoundly transformed his country on the move towards its westernization.

A 52min film
Written by Chantal de Rudder and Mickael Gamrasni
Directed by Mickael Gamrasni
Historical Advisor: Alexandre Jevakhoff
Produced by Simone Harari Baulieu and Ted Anspach – Effervescence Doc
With the participation of France Télévisions
and Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image animée of RTBF