Preparations are underway for a somber celebration of the 101st anniversary of the republic on Tuesday. Parades and other events will be the highlight of the occasion, which is also known as Republic Day.
This year’s events come in the aftermath of a deadly attack by the terrorist group PKK on Oct. 23 in the capital, Ankara.
Five people were killed when terrorists stormed the headquarters of Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) before both attackers were eliminated by security forces. The incident will not overshadow celebrations, though concerts planned for the occasion were canceled in some cities. On the contrary, authorities hoped this would be a chance to display the unity of the nation, which overcame challenges and went on to establish a republic that succeeded the collapsed Ottoman Empire.
Republic Day events will start with a ceremony at Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder and first president of the republic. Political leaders and other dignitaries are expected to attend the ceremony at Anıtkabir in the capital, Ankara. Ankara will also host a major military parade where the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) will showcase its might as one of the major armies of the NATO military alliance. Later, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is scheduled to host a reception at the Presidential Complex to exchange greetings for Republic Day.
Elsewhere, the Turkish Naval Forces Command will dispatch its 29 vessels to 29 ports across the country for public visits. In Istanbul, the Solotürk team will demonstrate aerial stunts, while in Izmir, where Atatürk’s forces drove off Greek occupiers during the War of Independence before the establishment of the republic, Turkish Stars, the army’s aerial stunt team, will perform. Military museums will offer free access to the public on the occasion. Turkish flags are already adorning the cities for Republic Day, and several events are expected to be held in each of the 81 provinces and towns to mark the day.
The republic, which replaced the collapsed Ottoman Empire, was declared a few months after an international treaty recognized the independence of the new state and the declaration of Ankara as its capital was made. Atatürk, a veteran Ottoman officer who launched the struggle for freedom when he secretly traveled to the northern province of Samsun in 1919, was the de facto leader of the new state. In the book "Nutuk" ("The Speech"), which compiled Atatürk's speeches between 1919 and 1923, the leader recounts the declaration of the republic as something that happened throughout a dinner with leading figures of the War of Independence. "During the dinner (on Oct. 28, 1923), I told them we would declare the republic tomorrow. All my colleagues agreed with me and we took a break from the dinner to discuss what to do next. I never felt the need to discuss the plan to declare the republic because I never doubted that they thought differently than me," he was quoted as saying. Atatürk, along with Ismet Inönü, who succeeded Atatürk as president, drafted a bill changing the 1921 constitution in which an amendment changed the State of Türkiye to the Republic of Türkiye and it was approved by Parliament the next day. Atatürk was officially declared the first president at the same session of Parliament, amid chants of "Long live the Republic!" by lawmakers and thunderous applause. Atatürk famously concluded his speech after the election as the first president of the republic with remarks, "The Republic of Türkiye will always be blissful, victorious and successful." National celebrations ensued after the declaration, but the first large-scale celebrations were on Oct. 29, 1924. In 1925, Parliament approved a proposal to declare the day a national holiday.
Building upon the legacy of a semi-parliamentarian system during the last years of the Ottoman Empire, the new republic introduced a wider democracy in which Atatürk is hailed as the great statesman credited with rebuilding a devastated country with new ideals. Over the following decades, the democracy born out of the republic was disrupted by multiple coup attempts. The first one was in 1960, about a decade after the first truly multiparty elections brought the Democrat Party to power. The last one was in 2016 when the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) tried to topple the democratically-elected government. Yet, at the end of the day, the republic's core values, most notably the sovereignty of the nation, overcame the odds.
Under incumbent President Erdoğan, Türkiye declared a new set of goals under the motto “Vision 2023” in reference to the centenary of the republic. Economically, the government plans to increase national income and exports, while other goals include a national health care system that covers every citizen, judiciary reforms, minimizing dependence on imports in defense and an active and efficient foreign policy.
