​A review of Arabic publications on modern Turkey since the 1970s and their portrayal of the founder of the republic, MK Atatürk (1881-1938), reveals a rather negative image, and the reader is led to assume that this is the one and only image of Atatürk in Arab perceptions. In fact, however, the image of Atatürk conveyed in Arabic writings has by no means been static or homogeneous. If we examine these writings in their respective historical and political contexts, we encounter a variety of images of Ataturk, which have resulted from a dynamic interaction between the written word and its political, intellectual and social context. This paper investigates these images and perceptions as they appear in Arabic discourse, and the ways in which they have been employed in constructing the collective Arab memory.