Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Parliament Speaker Ismet Yilmaz and other senior political figures also attended the commemoration ceremony at the mausoleum, known as Anitkabir.
The commemoration ceremonies are taking place across the country, but the center of attraction is the grand mausoleum complex that also houses a museum.
Daily life stopped for two minutes, beginning at 9.05 a.m., local time [07:05GMT] the time of Ataturk`s death. Sirens wailed throughout Turkey, and people observed two minutes of silence.
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 First World War, 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 on November 10, 1938, at the age of 57.
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