Anıtkabir April 23 Children's Day visit

Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş led a state delegation to Anıtkabir in Ankara on Thursday for April 23 ceremonies marking National Sovereignty and Children’s Day. (hurriyet.com.tr) The visit marked the 106th anniversary of the opening of the Turkish Grand National Assembly on April 23, 1920. Reports from Ankara said Kurtulmuş laid a wreath at Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s mausoleum, observed a moment of silence and joined in the national anthem. (hurriyet.com.tr) After the ceremony at the mausoleum, Kurtulmuş went to the Misak-ı Milli Tower and signed the memorial book. Video and wire coverage published Thursday also showed Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz attending the visit. (sabah.com.tr, reutersconnect.com) April 23 is a public holiday in Türkiye because it marks the first sitting of parliament during the War of Independence. The day later took on a second role as a children’s holiday, giving the annual Anıtkabir ceremony both a state and civic meaning. (dailysabah.com, wikipedia.org) Anıtkabir is the mausoleum of Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, and it remains the central site for major national commemorations in Ankara. The official Anıtkabir and tourism sites describe it as both a memorial complex and a museum space tied to the republic’s founding story. (anitkabir.tsk.tr, ktb.gov.tr) State visits there on April 23 follow a set pattern in Turkish public life: senior officials pay respects at Atatürk’s tomb before the day’s other ceremonies move to parliament and public celebrations. Turkey’s parliament website on Thursday highlighted Kurtulmuş’s April 23 schedule alongside children’s events at the assembly. (tbmm.gov.tr, haberler.com) Kurtulmuş used this year’s visit to tie the holiday’s symbolism to the present, saying in remarks published Thursday that the goal was a country where every child can live in safety and develop freely. The ceremony began, as it does every year, at the place where the republic’s founding memory is most visibly staged. (sabah.com.tr, en.yenisafak.com)