Turkey marks 81st anniversary of Ataturk's demise

ANKARA, TURKEY - NOVEMBER 10: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Vice President Fuat Oktay, Parliament Speaker Mustafa Sentop, ministers, main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Good (IYI) Party leader Meral Aksener and senior government officials attend a wreath-laying ceremony at Anitkabir, the mausoleum of the founder of Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, during a commemorative ceremony to mark the 81st anniversary of Ataturk's demise on November 10, 2019 in Ankara, Turkey. Ataturk was born in 1881 in Thessaloniki, in what was then the Ottoman Empire. He made his mark in the military in 1915 when he led forces to repel the allied invasion in Canakkale, known in the West as the Dardanelles. Following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after the World War I, Ataturk led the Turkish War of Independence, which defeated European powers. When he became president, Ataturk transformed the former empire into a modern and secular country. Ataturk passed away in Istanbul on Nov. 10, 1938, at the age of 57. (Footage by Mutlu Soyucok/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)