This thesis examines the recent phenomenon of Atat&uuml / rk&rsquo / s tattoos through a twofold theoretical framework of body politics and secularism. Firstly, it examines the growing interest on the body in social sciences, which has focused on the body as a site of both docility and subversivity. Additionally, the body has been rediscovered as a fetish object through which selfhood and subjectivity are continually reconstructed and contested. These developments were simultaneously conditioned by and manifested themselves in an understanding of &lsquo / the body as a project&rsquo / . Secondly, the study explores Atat&uuml / rk&rsquo / s continued legacy in Turkish politics and for the nation-people. 73 years after his death, Atat&uuml / rk still remains the utmost personification of the secular Turkish nation state. An effort is made to demonstrate how &lsquo / the secular&rsquo / , representing the normative nation-identity, and &lsquo / the religious&rsquo / , representing its Other, have been made in Turkish history. In light of these theories, Atat&uuml / rk tattoo almost seems like an oxymoron: &lsquo / tattoo&rsquo / carrying controversial and rebellious, and &lsquo / Atat&uuml / rk&rsquo / statist and conformist undertones. The main ambition of this thesis is to explore this contradiction through an analysis of whether the Atat&uuml / rk tattoo is a spontaneous (body) politics on the side of &lsquo / the people&rsquo / or whether it is a symptom of Kemalism&rsquo / s current position in society and politics. Finally, to better understand the subject, field research has been conducted with tattoo artists and people with the Atat&uuml / rk tattoo, in 3 cities, through the summer and fall of 2010.