HIS FAMILY & CHILDHOOD
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 strong-willed 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 ,Zübeyde Hanım and Ali Rıza Bey had three children named Fatma,Ömer and Ahmet. When Mustafa was born none of those children were alive.

Mother Zübeyde Hanım was a pretty Turkmen woman strictly devoted to religious beliefs.The ancestors of Zübeyde 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 Sarıgöl 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 Efendi" because 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 Zübeyde was two mecidiyes (40 kuruş) idow salary,7 year old Mustafa and his sister Makbule.
SCHOOL YEARS