Children replace politicians as Türkiye marks their day

Türkiye on Thursday celebrated National Sovereignty and Children’s Day, an occasion to mark the 106th anniversary of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TBMM), which was later declared as Children’s Day by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder and first president of the Republic of Türkiye.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the longest-serving leader since Atatürk, observed a tradition by handing over his duties to a child while his Cabinet ministers followed suit for a ceremony at the Presidential Complex. The fifth-grader Civan Boran Vargün took over as president at the meeting, fielding questions from journalists.

Mutlucan Korkmaz, one of the children burst into tears alongside Erdoğan as he recited a poem by Ziya Gökalp that led to the imprisonment of Erdoğan years ago while he was serving as Istanbul mayor. The President later gifted the children he hosted at the Presidential Complex bicycles.

Addressing the children, Erdoğan said he was delighted to host them in “the house of the nation.”

“We are doing everything to fulfill your dreams,” he told them, while dispensing advice to the children for future success.

“Have confidence in yourself and do not lack work discipline. The rest is a matter of time and patience,” he said.

Earlier, Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş led the ceremonies at the original building of the assembly and at Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Atatürk.

In a speech in the First Parliament, a historic building in the capital, Kurtulmuş said sovereignty mattered more at a time when the sovereignty of other countries was trampled upon and the strong imposed their will on anyone, “a time where the international system is not functioning properly,” he said, in thinly veiled remarks criticizing Israel’s genocide in Gaza and attacks on Iran.

The TBMM 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.

Parliament is the brainchild of Atatürk, who led the epic War of Independence that secured the country’s survival after a period of occupation by Allied forces in the aftermath of World War I.

Atatürk, then known only as Mustafa Kemal, a high-ranking Ottoman officer, launched the campaign of independence on May 19, 1919, when he landed in Samsun, a northern Turkish province that would be his first stopover in a tour of Anatolia to mobilize the disillusioned public against occupiers. Through conventions in Amasya, Erzurum and Sivas, Atatürk paved the way for a new future for Türkiye where “sovereignty of the nation could only be secured by the nation itself.”

The Ottoman Empire, in its death throes, had its own Parliament when Atatürk left for Samsun, but the occupation of Istanbul, the capital of the empire, rendered the Parliament dysfunctional. Soon, members of this Ottoman Parliament started departing for Ankara, the future capital of the Republic of Türkiye, and joined Atatürk’s movement for independence.

In March 1920, Atatürk declared the impending convening of a Parliament with emergency authority. On April 22, 1920, Atatürk announced the new Parliament that would be the “highest authority over the nation, all civilian and military authorities.” One day later, Parliament was opened in its first building, formerly a club of the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), of which Atatürk was once a member.

Since its opening, Parliament has endured multiple challenges, including several coups that led to the imprisonment of politicians and the appointment of powerful generals as “senators.” On July 15, 2016, Parliament faced another shock when officers linked to the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) launched airstrikes on the building during a coup attempt. Lawmakers defied the attacks that inflicted substantial damage on the building and convened an emergency session on the night of the coup attempt to pledge to defend democracy against putschists. The coup attempt was ultimately quelled by a strong public resistance.

Speaking at a special session at Parliament’s general assembly, Kurtulmuş said the day was an occasion to remember the association between the republic and democracy. “The republic means governing in the name of the people and democracy is an effort to reflect the public’s will in governance in the most efficient way,” he said.

“A strong republic can be sustained with a strong parliament,” he added.

“On this occasion, we once again affirm and declare our commitment to our full independence, sovereignty, national will and democracy. April 23 is the day the will of the nation took its place on the stage of history. The will that produced national legitimacy out of occupation, disunity and deprivation was transformed into strong representation in Ankara. As the foundations of our state were being laid, the voice of our nation also found its platform. As is known, the republic was proclaimed later, but the first steps of the idea of the republic were taken within our assembly from the very first day. A political ethic that does not seek the source of sovereignty in privilege or in narrow elites is the essence of the spirit of April 23. Parliament is where the collective wisdom of the nation operates,” Kurtulmuş said.

“Whenever our society has felt constrained, it has turned toward the assembly. During coup periods, tutelary attempts, internal tensions or external pressures, the address for solutions has always been this supreme institution, the institutional roof of the national will. The nation has sought its voice here, delivered its message here, amplified its objections here, and matured its compromises here,” he added.

DAILYSABAH