Imagine a day so important that the entirety of the population drops what they are doing and goes out to celebrate. There are festivals, and activities done all around the country. There is no work, no school, no nothing. If you are foreign to the country or this concept, you may be wondering what all the fuss is all about but special days like these are very important for the culture. Of course, I am talking about the 29th of October.
Celebrations were always a big part of Turkish people’s cultures. Even back in the ancient times, special events like Newruz (Nowruz), which is the event done to celebrate the arrival of spring, or like Hıdırellez, which is the celebration of the awakening of mother earth. Turkish celebrations go way back and some of them are still celebrated still, to this day. Some of the celebrations we do may not be as old the ones I mentioned, but the hype and excitemend around them is still, just as, or maybe even more than the ones that we have been celebrating for hundreds of years. In any celebration we do, you can see things like special dishes cooked just for the occasion, or special, traditional clothes worn just for that day. This still continues for the ones that are relatively new, like 23rd of April, which is the celebration day for the opening of the official parliament building, or like the 29th of October, like I mentioned.
In order to understand why 29th of October is celebrated with such passion and joy, we have to understand what events lead to this day being special. On 29th of October 1923 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his contemporaries changed some of the articles that were present in the 1921 constitution so it would say “The official form of government of the Turkish State is a republic.” This is a big deal because now, officially, democracy and republic were officially accepted by the government and was now being enforced. This also meant that with the acceptance of a new form of government for the country, the Republic of Turkey was officially born. This also means that we officially declared our independence.
Just like how it is in other countries like the United States, it is celebrated with fireworks, special shows, festivals, special dishes prepared just for the occasion… Thousands of people come from all across the world just to visit the old parliament buildings, and visit Anıtkabir. This, however, is not our most joyfully celebrated commemoration. In my opinion, that award goes to 23rd of April, the official opening of the parliament building of Turkey. On 23rd of April 1920, the parliament building legally opened, and it is celebrated so joyfully especially because Mustafa Kemal Atatürk gifted this day to not just children of Turkey, but to the children of the entire world. You would not see many leaders take an action like this.
These days that I mentioned are also important because the actions that lead to them being celebrations were not accomplished easily. Blood sweat and tears were given on this road to victory. Many men were injured, or even lost on the battlefield just for us to live a peaceful and happy life. These sacrifices that were given are what eventually allow us to live a life of this quantity. For example, in Çanakkale, if the British troops could not be stopped, they would go from our straits, which are Hellespont and Bosphorus, straight into the Black Sea region, where they would give troops and resources to the Russian army. This would lead to the Bolsheviks being unable to take over the country, and the USSR never being formed. This could have meant that Hitler’s Germany maybe could not be stopped and he could take over all of Europe, or in the worst case scenario, the whole world. These events would have had drastic consequences over the way we lived. We could be living in a totalitarian, fascist regime, but thanks to our troops in Hellespont, the British navy was pushed back, resulting in a victory not just for Turkey, but for the whole world.
In conlusion, Turks really appreciate their celebrations because there is a lot of effort put into achieving what those celebrations represent. Especially when blood is shed to achieve them.
