Turkey celebrates National Day

The Turkish Embassy in Delhi marked 85th anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish Republic with a reception hosted recently by His Excellency Ambassador and his spouse at their residence.

On October 29, 1923, the national assembly, which was formed in 1920, declared Turkey as a republic and since then October 29 is being observed as Turkey’s National Day. This year, considering the Diwali rush and the absence of people because of it, they decided to hold the celebrations a few days in advance.
 Being observed as the most important day, the national day is also a national holiday in Turkey. Official ceremonies take place in Hippodrome while vibrant parades take place in the four corners of the country. Special ceremonies in the evenings along with dazzling lights, orchestra and fireworks mark the streets of almost all cities of Turkey. The main street of every city looks its best on October 29 every year. Not only that, every school and every university celebrate this day as well.

Celebrations that took place in New Delhi had high profile guests and lot other people from the Turkish Embassy. His Excellency Mr. Levent Bilman along with the chief guests Mr. Anand Sharma, Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr. R. N. Prasad - Joint Secretary (Central Europe) - Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. R S Jassal - New Indian Ambassador to Turkey, Mr. C. R. Ghare Khan-Special Envoy for West Asia and Middle East Peace Process-Ministry of External Affaire graced the occasion. Accompanying them was the diplomatic society in New Delhi along with high level businessmen, media people and academicians. There were nearly 1100 attendees at the event. Delicious Turkish cuisine and cocktails were doing the rounds while the popular hazelnuts from the country were a perfect icing on the cake. National Anthems of both the nations added a patriotic touch to the event.

 The evening concluded with a lucky draw that was sponsored by Turkish Airlines for two return tickets to Turkey for a couple.

This year’s event is special not only for marking 85th year of the Republic, but also for Turkey’s election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the term 2009-2010. At the recently held elections in New York on October 17, 2008, Turkey obtained 151 votes from the 192-member General Assembly, which stands as one of the highest number of votes received in a three way contested election, with 80% of the votes cast in favour.