Istanbul - FiMED

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan affirmed that Türkiye has paid a heavy price for its republic, stressing continued work to achieve the goals of the "Century of Türkiye", which he described as a national cause.

This came in a message Erdoğan wrote in the guestbook at the mausoleum of the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, during his visit to Anıtkabir in the capital Ankara on the occasion of the 103rd anniversary of the founding of the Republic, which falls on 29 October each year.

The ceremony began with Erdoğan and senior state officials walking along the "Road of Lions" leading to the mausoleum, before moving to the National Pact Tower, where the president signed the guestbook.

Erdoğan wrote: "Dear Atatürk, today we celebrate the 103rd anniversary of the founding of our republic, for which we have paid a heavy price. On this important day that set a new course for our history, we remember with all gratitude your person, your comrades-in-arms and our heroic martyrs".

He added that Türkiye is waging an "intense struggle" to lead the Turkish Republic, state and people alike, toward a prosperous and victorious future, affirming that his country will continue to work with determination until the goal of the "Century of Türkiye" is achieved.

Erdoğan cited words of Atatürk from his speech to the Grand National Assembly on 1 March 1922, in which he said that "no means or force imaginable could dissuade us from pursuing our national cause", adding that this cause represents the life of the nation.

 

Every year on 29 October, Türkiye celebrates Republic Day, commemorating the proclamation of the Turkish Republic on 29 October 1923, when the Grand National Assembly approved the republican system and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was elected the country's first president.

The proclamation of the Republic crowned a historic phase that witnessed the Turkish War of Independence between 1919 and 1922, which ended with the victory of the national movement led by Atatürk, and then the founding of the modern Turkish state on the ruins of the Ottoman state. On 3 March 1924, the Ottoman Caliphate was abolished, as part of the political and institutional transformations that accompanied the building of the republican system.

Republic Day is one of the most prominent national occasions in Türkiye, as Turkish cities witness official and popular celebrations, the raising of flags, and ceremonies commemorating the founder of the Republic. Traditionally, the celebration programme is headed by the laying of a wreath at Atatürk's mausoleum, Anıtkabir, in the capital Ankara, with the participation of the president and senior state officials.

The anniversary gains symbolic importance this year with the passage of 103 years since the founding of the Republic, while President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan links the occasion to his government's vision known as the "Century of Türkiye", which Ankara presents as a framework for its future goals in the fields of development, economy, defence and foreign policy.