Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a Turkish field marshal and the founding father of the Republic of Turkey. Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in WWI, he led the Turkish National Movement in the War of Independence. As the first President, he embarked on a program of revolutionary social and political reforms to transform the former Ottoman Empire into a modern, secular, and democratic nation-state. He moved the capital to Ankara, replaced the Arabic script with a Latin-based alphabet, granted equal rights to women (including the right to vote in 1934), and closed religious courts. He famously abolished the Caliphate, separating religion from state affairs. His surname, Atatürk ('Father of the Turks'), was granted to him by the Parliament in 1934. His principles, known as Kemalism, continue to define the ideological foundation of the modern Turkish state.