Museum dedicated to founder of republic is marking ‘improved’ relations between Greece and Turkey – and changes in Turkey itself

This autumn, Ozlem Karakus, her son Ali and cousin Cansu made the long drive from Ankara to Thessaloniki. Their three-day odyssey had a single goal: to get to the three-storey, Ottoman-style building on Apostolou Pavlou Street in the Greek port city where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish republic, was born and spent his early years. “He is our father,” Karakus said of the soldier-statesman who created the modern nation from the ruins of the Ottoman empire just over a century ago. “Atatürk is incredibly important to us. He is the best leader who ever came into this world.”

For the 43-year-old tax inspector, it was a “dream come true” to visit the house. “To come here and see his birthplace has meant so much,” she enthused. “It was wonderful even if I would have liked to have seen more from his childhood, a few more belongings, a few more personal effects.”