Reclaiming the Republic...

The Republic… Sovereignty was taken from the sultan and the caliph and given to the nation… 

The Republic… was the protector of the unprotected… 

The Republic… was the collective will of the people against one-man rule… 

The Republic… was equality, enlightenment, and justice…

The Republic… was children and women.

The Republic… was the nation-state, brotherhood, and peace…

The Republic… was secularism.

The Republic… was equal opportunity, it was hope… 

The Republic, founded and proclaimed 101 years ago by our great leader Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, was the greatest step of an Atatürk-era Turkey that aimed for modernity, production, hard work, education, economic independence, prosperity, and happiness for all its citizens in the light of science. 

Today, we must reflect on what remains of the Republic…

A government that is a coalition of sects and religious communities..

A country in the grip of a reactionary, collaborative mentality that has targeted all the gains of the Republic…

Large and unhappy masses hungry for justice, law, democracy, and bread… 

Young people whose hopes have been stolen and who seek their future abroad.

Women and children left in the darkness of the Middle Ages… 

We are going through years where we need Atatürk’s light and his enlightenment revolutions more than ever. 

On the 101st anniversary of our Republic, we must be in the struggle to reclaim the Republic. A struggle in every field, without fear, without wavering, and without falling into despair…