German economist Fritz Neumark says “Turks are not aware so much but Eurapeans realise a fact that if Turks were taken out of history, there will be no such thing as history.” Wherever we look in a history book, we always see many traces of Turks with great successes. But one of the biggest accomplishments of Turks is the proclamation of the Republic of Türkiye.
The Turkish War of Independence (19 May 1919- 24 July 1923) was one of hardest wars for the Turkish people. There were limited resources of weapons, food, clothes and shelter. Also, the number of hostile soldiers was many times greater than the number of Turkish soldiers. Even though Turks had such bad conditions; with their courage, with their love of their country and with their desire for independence, they overcame every problem and won the biggest prize, which is their country.
After the war, there was only one question in everybody’s mind: “What will happen now?” Everybody was wondering if they are going to continue being ruled by a sultan, constitutionalism or something else? Actually the ruling system was already chosen by the start of the War of Independence. In the meetings in Erzurum, Samsun and Sivas; there was something underlined all the time. It was national sovereignty. Sovereignty is the supreme power or authority of a state to govern itself or another state. In national sovereignty, all this power belongs to the people who live in that state. Atatürk was thinking that national sovereignty was the most logical way to rule the new country that was going to be established. The first move taken by him for national sovereignty was to open the Grand National Assembly of Turkey in Ankara on 23 April 1920.
On 28 November 1923, Atatürk held a meeting with some of the prominent people to talk about some laws about Turkey. In that meeting he said “Gentlemen, we will declare the republic tomorrow!” and the other day, on 29 November 1923 he declared the republic.
Today is the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey. 100 years ago, some brave people gave everything they own, fought heroically and some of them even died in order to save our country. The ones who could survive became the first citizens of the Republic of Turkey. The only liability we have is to work hard and develop our country. As Atatürk said, “One day my mortal body will turn to dust, but the Turkish Republic will stand forever.”