Ali Rıza Efendi

Who was Ali Rıza Efendi?

Ali Rıza Efendi was the father of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the husband of Zübeyde Hanım.

He was born in Salonica/Thessaloniki in present day Greek Macedonia but then the most important city in the Ottoman Empire in Europe after Constantinople/Istanbul. He worked as a customs official and died in 1888, when his son was 7 years old. He is thought to be of Albanian origin by some, although Falih Rıfkı Atay, journalist and close friend of Atatürk, holds that he descends from Turks of Söke, in Aydın Province. Historian and biographer Patrick Kinross writes that "this can only be a matter for surmise".

Ali Riza's family comes from the village Kodžadžik, Centar Župa Municipality, Macedonia, where there is a memorial house.