Today’s Turkey, however, is starkly different from the secular, Westernized state envisioned by Ataturk 100 years ago. The Turkish republic as imagined by Ataturk was firmly rooted in the West and a quick succession of reforms sought to modernize a population decimated by war. People often express such justification through religion, Murat Somer, a professor of political science at Ozyegin University in Istanbul, told CNN. What Ataturk may have been most proud of in today’s Turkey, however, is its growing influence on the world stage, analysts say. In 1926, after an assassination plot against him was discovered, Ataturk told his new nation: “One day my mortal body will turn to dust, but the Turkish republic will stand forever.”

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Persons: Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Erdogan, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Ataturk, Hagia Sofia, Ataturk’s, weren’t, Ozel, Murat Somer, ”, Somer, “, Ayse, Ismet Inonu, Power, Ataturk “, ” Somer, Adem Altan, “ I’m, ” Zarakol, ” Ozel Organizations: CNN, Turks, Ataturk, Hagia, Ottomans, Hulton, International Relations, Kadir Has University, Ozyegin University, Republican People’s Party, University of Cambridge, Anitkabir, Sunday, Getty, NATO, East, Central Asia Locations: Istanbul, Turkish, Ottoman, Today’s Turkey, Ottoman Empire, Europe, Russia, Anatolia, Ankara, The Turkish, West, fez, Hagia Sofia, Turkey, Hagia, Kasimpasa, “, Ataturk, Turkish Republic, AFP, today’s Turkey, Ukraine, Central