These guards posted at the Anitkabir (Ataturk's Mausoleum)in Ankara that at first (and second and third) glance we thought were not alive. Ataturk is the founder of modern day Turkey. In 1923, after leading the War of Independence from the WW I allies who occupied the country (the Ottoman Empire sided with German), Ataturk abolished the caliphate, mandated education (both sexes), switched to the roman alphabet from arabic, and essentially dragged the country into "Europe". He is their George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and FDR rolled into one. His picture is everywhere.