International Focus Magazine Vol. 2, #11 | Page 12

seen on the scene
Turkish National Day Reception
Friday October 27th
Turkey had effectively been a republic from April 23, 1920 when the Grand
National Assembly was inaugurated in Ankara. When the Turkish parliament
held its first session in 1920, virtually every corner of the crumbling Ottoman
Empire was under the occupation of Allied powers. Exasperated by the Otto-
man government’s inability to fight the occupation, the nationwide resistance
movement gained momentum. With the Allied occupation of Istanbul, and
the dissolution of the Ottoman Parliament, Mustafa Kemal’s justification for
opening the resistance movement’s new legislative body was created.
With the opening of the Assembly, Ankara became the center of the Turkish
national struggle for liberation. The National War of Liberation culminated
in the emancipation of Anatolia from foreign occupation, the international
recognition of modern Turkey’s borders by the Treaty of Lausanne, and finally,
the founding of the Republic of Turkey on October 29, 1923. October 29-
or Republic Day- is an official Turkish holiday celebrated each year across
Turkey and by peoples of Turkish heritage world over.
12 iF Magazine | December 2017