Head of Atatürk left in a circle surrounded by the country name "Republic of Turkey".

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881–1938) was a Turkish army officer, revolutionary, and founder of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President from 1923 until his death in 1938. His surname, Atatürk (meaning "Father of the Turks"), was granted to him in 1934.

Value and date below, Kufic calligraphic, star and crescent (right) above.

Kufic is the oldest calligraphic form of the various Arabic scripts and consists of a modified form of the old Nabataean script. Kufic developed around the end of the 7th century in Kufa, Iraq, from which it takes its name, and other centres. Kufic is commonly seen on Seljuk coins and monuments and on early Ottoman coins. Its decorative character led to its use as a decorative element in several public and domestic buildings constructed prior to the Republican period in Turkey.

The star and crescent is an iconographic symbol used in various historical contexts but most well known today as a symbol of the former Ottoman Empire and, by popular extension, the Islamic world. The Republic of Turkey has no official national emblem, but the star and crescent (Turkish: ay-yıldız "crescent-star") design from the national flag is in use as de facto emblem, among other things printed on Turkish passports, on Turkish identity cards and diplomatic missions of Turkey.