The Great National Assembly of Turkey (VNST, Parliament), which laid the foundation for the liberation struggle of the Turkish people, has been a symbol of national sovereignty for 105 years.
The opening of the VNST, which played a key role in making important decisions on the way to the proclamation of the republic, took place on April 23, 1920. The discovery of VNST has become one of the most important milestones in the liberation struggle.
Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War and the beginning of the occupation of the country, contrary to the conditions of the Mudosk truce, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk landed in Samsun on May 19, 1919, laying the beginning of the national liberation movement.
On March 19, Ataturk, who was in Ankara, sent a circular telegram to all the governors and military commander, in which he proposed to take part in the “forming of the Assembly, which will be provided with exceptional power on behalf of the nation, in order to develop and implement measures to ensure the independence of the people and save the state.”
So, 84 deputies, previously part of the disusable Ottoman Medzhlisa-I-Mobusan and elected in the elections, arrived in Ankara and became part of the first convocation of VSST. Officially, Ataturk announced the opening of VSST on April 22, 1920.
April 23, 1920, after Friday prayer in the Hajja Bayram mosque, the first meeting of VNST was held in a building originally built as the Ittihate and Earth Boil Club (Unity and Progress).
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The opening of the great National Assembly of Turkey on April 23 105 years ago was one of the key stages in the struggle for liberation and played a decisive role in the adoption of fateful steps on the way to the proclamation of the republic.
The first chairman of the parliament Mustafa Kemal Ataturk emphasized the importance of this role in his speech at the opening of the fourth parliamentary session. “Gentlemen, before the nation, before its well-deserved independence, before its desire for development and renewal, all power can only exist if it is obeyed by the will and goals of the people. Those who do not follow the will and goals of the nation, there is a fate of failure and collapse,” said the founder of the Turkish Republic.
April 23, already 98 years old, has been celebrated as a day of sovereignty and children
April 23, it began to be celebrated as a national holiday of sovereignty and the Children’s Day, starting in 1921. The Law “On recognition on April 23 by the national holiday” was adopted a year after the opening of the first VSST – April 23, 1921, and entered into force on May 2, 1921.
In 1979, the holiday was first celebrated with international participation. In solemn events in Turkey, children from six countries took part then. Turkey is the first country to give children its own holiday, and remains the only country where at the state level the Children’s Day is celebrated.