ANKARA
Commemorations to mark the 95th anniversary of the founding of Turkey’s Grand National Assembly, also designated National Sovereignty and Children's Day, took place on Thursday.
Anitkabir, the mausoleum of the republic’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, was the centerpiece for a ceremony to remember the birth of the nation.
Parliament Speaker Cemil Cicek; Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu; Republican People's Party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu; Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahceli; and ministers and lawmakers took part in the ceremony.
"Today is our most proud day,” Cicek said. “April 23, 1920 is a milestone in our history. A new historical era started with the opening of the assembly."
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Davutoglu received groups of children at their offices, with the children getting the chance to take the seats of the country’s two leaders.
Speaking on Wednesday, Erdogan said: "While working for a more livable, more prosperous, more peaceful and more powerful future, we will always protect the spirit of April 23, 1920.”
The Grand National Assembly met for the first time in Ankara on April 23, 1920, during the War of Independence, to lay the foundations for an independent, secular and modern republic from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
Ataturk dedicated the day to Turkey’s children to emphasize their role as the nation’s future.
