With both April 23rd Children ‘s Day and May 19 Youth Day coming, it is good to remember the meaning and importance of these days. These days are the important milestones in the Turkish Independence War 1919-1922 that led to Independence and the Turkish Republic.
THink back to 1918. World War I is over with Ottoman Empire on the losing side. The powers be – USA, Britain, France, Italy, etc- decide to divvy up the Turkish motherland and invade Anatolia including Istanbul from all sides. The British also encourage Greeks to invade Izmir. The Sultan in Istanbul – to save his post- cooperates with the invaders.
Mustafa Kemal, the hero of the Gallipoli campaign, goes to the heart of Anatolia to start an Independence War defying the Sultan. He lands in Samsun, a port on Black Sea, on May 19, 1919 the day recognized as the start of the Turkish Independence War. He travels throughout Anatolia building support for an Independence War, culminating in the establishment of the Turkish National Congress in Ankara on April 23, 1920. This new government -under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal- wages an all out war against all the invaders; liberates the motherland and draws the borders of modern Turkey.
Then follows the founding of the Turkish Republic on October 29, 1923, Mustafa Kemal is elected as the first President and gets re-elected until his death. Caliphate is abolished. The first 15 years of the Republic, Turkey establishes reforms concerning all aspects of social, educational and legal aspects to move the society towards a modern, secular democracy. Turkish Republic moves in the direction of Ataturk’s vision of a society with equal rights, equal protection under law, a well educated, enlightened people making rational decisions until his untimely death on November 10, 1938.
Ataturk believed that the eternal protection of Turkish Republic and Reforms can only be accomplished by the education of the next generations and by empowering them. He dedicated April 23rd to Children and May 19 to the Youth as a reminder that they should be proud they are the descendants of people who waged a near impossible war against all the big powers to win their country back and formed the only modern, secular, muslim democracy; and also to remind them that they are the protectors of this modern young Republic against all threats.
