Born in 1881 in Thessaloniki, then still a part of the Ottoman Empire, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is considered the father of modern Turkey, being the one who established the independent Republic of Turkey. Serving as the first President of state from 1923 until his death in 1938, Atatürk overhauled the country's legal system, basing the new one on the German, Italian and Swiss systems, ensuring that all citizens were equal before the law. He is credited with the creation of a secular state, which forbade, among other things, the wearing of religious headdresses, such as the fez for men and the veil for women, and closed religious schools and courts. His dream for Turkey was to be a contemporary, European nation and for this reason he instigated the adoption of the Gregorian calendar and of the substitution of the Arabic alphabet with the Latin one. Choosing Ankara as the capital of Turkey, Atatürk actually died in Istanbul; he is regarded as one of the most important political figures in Turkey to this day.