92nd anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey
By Roy Lie A Tjam.
29 October 2015 marked the 92nd anniversary of the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey, spearheaded by the nation’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.
To celebrate the occasion, H.E Sadik Arslan, Ambassador of Turkey to the Netherlands, entertained fellow ambassadors, dignitaries, and friends with a reception at the Turkish Embassy in The Hague.
The following message from the Turkish President, H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, was read out to the guests:
”Today is the 92nd anniversary of our Republic, which we declared after winning the War of Independence, our nation’s last great struggle for freedom and future.
I celebrate the Republic Day of all our citizens, living in our 81 provinces and across the world. Today, we all mark the 92nd anniversary of our Republic, declared on October 29, 1923, with enthusiasm. Victims, the oppressed in the world as well as for our cognate and brotherly communities.
The disturbance, caused by our Republic’s progress, underlies the attacks against our unity, solidarity and brotherhood. We began our War of Independence under very difficult circumstances in 1919 and crowned our struggle by declaring the foundation of our new state in 1923.
We will also overcome the difficulties we face today and attain our 2023 goals. It is our common duty to uphold and protect our nation’s collective achievement, our Republic, and to work, to struggle and to sacrifice, if necessary, for our nation’s future.
Each and every single individual of the 78 million citizens of Turkey enjoy the same rights, share a common past and a common future. Those, who attempt to discriminate our citizens based on their origins, beliefs, sects, dispositions, cultures and appearances, are in betrayal to the essence and spirit of our Republic.
In recent years, we all built an era, during which Turkey advanced towards great goals in unity and solidarity. In the upcoming period, we must protect this legacy together along with our country’s all other achievements. I wholeheartedly believe that we will have achieved our 2023 goals and maximized our unity, solidarity and brotherhood by the time we mark the 100th anniversary of our Republic.
I commemorate the founder of our Republic, Gazi Mustafa Kemal and all our martyrs and veterans, who made these lands our homeland, with grace and gratitude. I celebrate the Republic Day.” End quote.
