Turkey celebrates Youth and Sports Day

Turkey marked Youth and Sports Day yesterday, the anniversary of the day Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, landed in Samsun 91 years ago to launch the fight for national independence, with celebrations held throughout Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). The day began with a gun salute to mark the hour of Ataturk’s arrival in Samsun. Public Works Minister Mustafa Demir and Samsun Governor Hasan Basri Guzeloglu as well as various other senior bureaucrats and representatives of civil society organizations joined the ceremony there. Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Ahmet Yeni, Samsun Garrison Commander Gen. Omer Bayrakli, Mayor Yusuf Ziya Yilmaz, Ondokuz Mayis University Rector Huseyin Akan, district mayors as well as a large number of ordinary citizens joined the ceremony in Samsun. The first ceremony in Ankara was held in the early morning at Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Ataturk. State officials led by President Abdullah Gul visited the mausoleum. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Deputy Parliament Speaker Nevzat Pakdil, Constitutional Court President Hasim Kilic, Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug, Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Onur Oymen, Supreme Court of Appeals President Hasan Gerceker, Council of State President Mustafa Birden, Court of Accounts President Recai Akyel, Cabinet members, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli, Higher Education Board (YOK) head Yusuf Ziya Ozcan, Ankara Governor Kemal Onal, Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek, force commanders, deputies and various other public and military bureaucrats joined the ceremony there. Gul laid a wreath of red and white carnations in front of Ataturk’s tomb, followed by a minute of silence and the singing of the national anthem.