History of Turkey newly formed "Republic of Turkey" as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, and the republic was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923, in the new capital of Ankara. Mustafa Kemal became the republic's first President of Turkey and subsequently introduced many radical reforms with the aim of founding a new secular republic from the remnants of its Ottoman past. The Ottoman fez was abolished, full rights for women politically were established, and new writing system for Turkish based upon the Latin alphabet was created. According to the Law on Family Names, the Turkish parliament presented Mustafa Kemal with the
Name of Turkey Syria, Hejaz and Cyrenaica. The Icelandic word "Tyrkland", and the Hungarian word "Törökország", i.e. "Turk-land", use native forms of derivation. Name of Turkey The English name Turkey, now applied to the modern Republic of Turkey, is historically derived (via Old French ') from the Medieval Latin '. It is first recorded in Middle English (as "Turkye, Torke", later "Turkie, Turky"), attested in Chaucer, ca. 1369. The Ottoman Empire was commonly referred to as "Turkey" or the "Turkish Empire" among its contemporaries. The English name of Turkey (from Medieval Latin "Turchia"/"Turquia") means "land of the Turks". Middle English usage of "Turkye"