President Erdoğan speaks at the October 29 Republic Day Special Program: Starting with Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made important statements at the October 29 Republic Day Special Program.

Here are the highlights from Erdoğan's statements:

Welcome to our Presidential Complex, the home of the nation, this veteran venue; you have honored us. In your person, I send my greetings and love to our 86 million citizens, the Turkish Cypriot people, members of the Turkish diaspora around the world, and our brothers and sisters in our spiritual geography. Together with our guests here, I congratulate all my citizens on the October 29 Republic Day.

Happy 102nd anniversary of our Republic. I commemorate with gratitude all the members of our Grand National Assembly, starting with Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who managed the national struggle and crowned the spirit of the Kuva-i Milliye with the Republic.

I commemorate with the utmost respect all the martyrs and veterans of our War of Independence who ran from front to front amidst such scarcity. I also pray for God's mercy upon our martyrs and veterans who fell to the ground as if entering a rose garden, from our first raids in Anatolia to the conquest of Istanbul, from the Cyprus Peace Operation to the epic of July 15.

"WE ARE MEMBERS OF A NATION IN LOVE WITH ITS INDEPENDENCE"

I would like to express this truth once again today. We are members of a nation that has never bowed to captivity, never consented to oppression, and is in love with its independence in any period of our thousands of years of history.

We saw our nation's passion for freedom most recently in the national struggle. We saw it in Sütçü İmam, who said, "Maraş will not become a rose garden for the enemy until it becomes a grave for us"; in Antepli Şahin Bey, who said, "The Turk has warmed up in these lands. Not just you, but even if the whole world comes together, they cannot separate us from these lands"; in Mufti Ahmet Hulusi Efendi, who addressed the public in front of the Grand Mosque in Denizli on the day the invaders landed in İzmir, saying, "We will achieve victory at the end of our struggle with the love of independence, love of country, and the faith in our hearts." And the national struggle, which rose on the shoulders of many other heroes who wrote epics with their blood and lives, is a sign of a sacred and magnificent resistance.

Distinguished guests, look at the words with which our national anthem poet, the late Mehmet Akif Ersoy, awakened the national consciousness in the sermon he gave in Kastamonu: "They say, 'Stretch your neck and bow your head.' Since the proposal is so heavy, no one can accept it anymore; inevitably, one struggles with tooth and nail, strives, and looks to defend oneself to the limit of one's ability. O Muslim congregation, what they want from us today is not this province or that district; it is directly our head, our neck, our life, our existence, our state, our religion, and our faith."

"THEY MARCHED TO VICTORY TOGETHER TO PROTECT THE HONOR OF THE HOMELAND"

Let us cast aside ambition and discord, and embrace determination and unity. The Almighty is with those who possess determination and faith and step into the field on the path of truth. Oh Lord, send us Your guidance, show the nation which is the right path. With this foresight, with this determination and courage, our brave soldiers at the front, our self-sacrificing mothers behind the front, our Red Crescent, and every member of our dear nation, from young to old, have carried the banner of independence with pride.

They became one body and marched to victory together to protect the honor of the homeland and to prevent the boots of humiliation from stepping on the sacred sanctuary of the country. The sufferings endured for the sake of independence and the future heralded the birth of the Republic of Turkey, a new page in our history. We must also always keep this point in mind: The Republic of Turkey is the latest link in our ancient state tradition based on the principle of continuity. Our Republic, proclaimed 102 years ago, is the rise of the national will with the principle, 'Sovereignty belongs unconditionally to the nation.'

Let us not forget, democracy is an integral part of the Republic. Although the journey of crowning the Republic with the people and democracy was interrupted during the single-party years and coup periods, it has managed to overcome these obstacles and reach today. This struggle continues with the same determination and resolve. Our most important support in our cause to strengthen Turkey and Turkish democracy for the last 23 years is the unshakeable will of our nation. Hopefully, as long as this will of ours stands firm, and as long as this nation embraces each other with affection as it has for thousands of years, there is no internal or external focus that can block Turkey's blessed journey.

"TODAY WE ARE AT A VERY DIFFERENT POINT THAN 102 YEARS AGO"

My dear friends, as a nation, we possess a very special quality that is an example to humanity. We are a loyal nation that lives with its past, enriches the legacy it receives from the past, carries it to the future, and protects the trust of our ancestors like the apple of our eye. We see our homeland not only as the trust of our dear martyrs and veterans but also as the trust of our Lord. That is exactly why we are waging an intense struggle to keep our state standing forever and to make our nation grapple with its century-old dreams. Thank God, today we are at a very different point than 102 years ago. We are in a mobilization of development in every field, from the defense industry to the economy, from transportation to education, from trade to health, to foreign policy, technology, and tourism, to an extent that cannot even be compared with the past. Without paying attention to the slogan-republicans who try to reduce the Republic to halls and cadres, we demonstrate with the massive investments we have brought to our 81 provinces that the true service to the Republic is through works and services.