The signature of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Turkish army officer, founder of the Republic of Turkey was designed by Hagop Vahram Cherchiyan, a mathematician and calligrapher of Armenian descent, Ermenihaber reports, citing Haberler.com Turkish media outlet.
The Turkish news agency published an article, presenting the story of the origin of Ataturk’s signature, making use of the memories of Hagop’s son Tigran.
The source reports that after Mustafa Kemal took up a last name – Ataturk – under the Surname Law adopted in Turkey in 1934, the PMs of the Turkish parliament decided to present a nice signature to the latter.
At that time, a policeman came to Cherchiyan’s house with the proposal to design a signature.
Of Armenian descent, Hagop was a professor of mathematics, geography, and calligraphy at the Robert College of Istanbul. In 1920 he had travelled to the United States to study at the Palmer Method school, specializing himself in system of handwriting. He was known for teaching this method during his career as a professor.
Thus, Cherchyan designed five model signatures for the Turkish officer, who personally selected the fifth one of "K. Atatürk" depicted in the photo below.