The sculpture was one of 8 Atatürk monuments erected after winning a competition initiated by a campaign of the Milliyet newspaper.

It was originally erected in a park in Uşak where Gürdal Duyars' Monument to the Unknown Soldier (1964) was also located.

[12] Gürdal Duyar was allocated to Uşak,[14][15][16] Nusret Suman to Bingöl, Hüseyin Gezer to Tunceli, Hüseyin Anka Özkan to Van, Şadi Çalık to Bitlis, İsmail Gökçe to Mardin, Zühtü Müridoğlu to Muş, and İsmail Gökçe to Giresun.

[17][18] The chosen sculptors then proceeded to travel to their allocated provinces to inspect the surroundings and environment of the locations that the sculptures were to be erected.

The proposals for Mardin (Gökçe), Bingöl (Suman), Bitlis (Çalık), Giresun (Atamulu) and Van (Özkan) were deemed inappropriate, and were given suggestions on what to improve.

[19] At the second gathering of the jury on 7 April 1965 the remaining proposals were passed, and all the sculptors were given the go-ahead to create the life sized versions of their sculpture designs.

[19] These life sized sculptures were gathered in the garden of the Galatasaray High School and were again inspected by a jury on 15 June 1965.

[14][15] The Uşak Atatürk Monument was Duyar's first major breakthrough on the road to gaining recognition as an established sculptor.