A commemoration program was held at European University of Lefke (EUL) on the 86th anniversary of the passing of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey. The program took place at 9:05 a.m. in front of the Atatürk Bust on the EUL campus, where Prof. Dr. Oğuz Karakartal, a faculty member of the Dr. Fazıl Küçük Faculty of Education, delivered a speech on the significance of the day.

In addition to the commemoration, a conference titled “Raising a Leader” was held in the EUL Cinema Hall with a presentation by guest speaker Assoc. Prof. Dr. Neval Konuk Halaçoğlu. Halaçoğlu noted, “Atatürk saved his nation from ruin, established a national state, and led a synthesis with Western civilization through the innovations and reforms he introduced to revive a stagnating civilization.” She continued by sharing information about Atatürk’s family, stating, “Atatürk was raised in a family environment deeply rooted in Islamic traditions. His paternal great-grandfather, Ahmet Efendi, is known for his service in the military, while his grandfather, Mustafa Efendi, was a neighborhood school teacher and religious scholar. His father, Ali Rıza Efendi, initially worked as a customs officer before turning to trade. Atatürk’s mother, Zübeyde Hanım, came from a Yörük Turkoman family from the Aegean or Konya region who settled in Thessaloniki during the Ottoman rule in the Balkans. Atatürk’s family embodies the shared destiny of Turkish families, who are deeply connected to their faith, state, and traditions, and this family lived in Thessaloniki.”

Halaçoğlu also discussed Atatürk’s birthplace, the neighborhood he grew up in, the schools he attended in Thessaloniki and Manastır (now Bitola), and provided insights into the socio-cultural conditions of both cities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She also examined Sofia, where Atatürk served as a military attaché in 1909.