National Sovereignty Day

Despite the fact that there are a lot of holidays in Turkey - even though they never celebrate with too much splendour - one of them is the most important. We talk about the Turkish National Sovereignty Day. In Turkey, it is celebrated on April 23...

History

Despite the fact Turkey is located on the territory once called Byzantium and later the Ottoman Empire, it is a different country. Although the people inhabiting the Ottoman Empire had remained, Turkey is more dynamic, modern, advanced... It was after the collapse of the empire in 1918. The Ottoman Empire participated in the First World War on the side of Germany. In full accordance with the principle of "woe to the vanquished", the Ottoman Empire was divided into several occupation zones. They wanted to leave the Turks only Asia Minor, and everything else - give to Greece, Armenia, Bulgaria and countries of the Entente. Of course, the Turks have rebelled and started a war for independence, headed by the head of the Turkish Republic - Ataturk. The Ottoman Empire was unable to defend itself and had to go in the past...

Celebration

The Turks are great patriots. They hang the flags of the country from the balconies of their apartments. Turkish flag is the most popular souvenir in the country. Red flags with a crescent moon are flying everywhere, the Turks know the national anthem by heart and are very enthusiastic about their state. Therefore, April 23 is a truly national holiday. They make triumphal processions, fireworks, concerts, shows... But they don’t have the tradition to organize banquets in Turkey yet. They are usually organized only during religious festivals.

Man of celebration

There is no exaggeration to say that April 23 in Turkey is also a day of Ataturk. The man - without him it would be impossible to imagine the Turkish Republic - looks at citizens from everywhere. There are many monuments of Ataturk in Turkey, and where they are not, the grateful Turks hang huge portraits of "Father of the Nation". During the day of memory of Ataturk the whole country stops for a few minutes. This is a truly majestic show...

Public institutions

Despite the fact that April 23 is a big holiday, all the country’s public institutions and schools are working. They have vacation only during religious festivals (hospitals, police and fire service are working without holidays and weekends).