Photo: Schoolgirls in Kale, Turkey

Ataturk instituted universal education in Turkey after he came to power and created a modern secular country where women have equal rights under the law. These girls enjoy a bright spring day full of sunshine after the rainy, cooler season along the Mediterranean Coast of Turkey known as the Turquoise Coast. It is so named due to its brilliant blue waters as well as the blue stones mined in the mountains nearby named for their origin in the land of the Turks.