Everybody lives in a country. These countries represent home, belonging, and identity for each citizen. People identify themselves according to the countries they belong to.
People are constituents of their countries. But not every citizen of all countries feels similar things. Not all countries provide enough human rights, economic liberty, free mobility, the right to possess property, and equal rights in education and social life to their citizens. Your country should have the right kind of government style to provide you such rights.
Republic is one of those ideal government styles. In a republic, citizens have democratic rights. They vote for their future. They elect their leaders themselves and hope for the best.
The founder of the modern Turkish Republic, Atatürk, foresaw the fact that the republic would be a great government style for his country. And exactly a century ago on the 29th of October that year (1923), he proclaimed a republic as the official government style of the new country he founded.
In those years, Turkey’s literacy rate was slightly over 5%. Today, 97% of our population is literate. Turkey is among the 20 most developed economies. Its army is the 7th strongest army in the world. We enjoy the benefits of living in a free and independent country. We have a parliament to represent each vicinity. The deputies know that if they don’t function well they will not be elected during the following election. These are all results of a republican government style.
When compared to our western neighboring countries our republic and democracy are young ones. But compared to our eastern and southern neighboring countries we have unique examples of a functioning republic and democracy.
We owe all this to our great national leader Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Thanks to him this year we will happily and in great joy celebrate the centennial anniversary of our republic. As citizens of Turkey, we all know that the republic is the only suitable government style for our country and the Turkish Republic will stand strong forever.