CHILDREN FROM TURKEY AND THE WORLD HAND IN HAND
The word bayram comes from Oguz Turkish and means
'day of joy and celebration'. The public holiday which best fits
this definition is National Sovereignty and Children's Day, because
children enter into the spirit of celebrations with far more joy
and exuberance than adults.
When was Children's Day first instituted, and what is the connection
with national sovereignty? I have to admit that the latter is unclear.
During the Turkish War of Independence, two years before the proclamation
of the Turkish Republic in 1923, the Turkish Grand National Assembly
declared 23 April, the day the assembly had first opened, to be
a national holiday known as National Sovereignty Day.
Until Republic Day, marking the establishment of
the Turkish Republic on 29 October 1923, was declared in 1925, National
Sover- eignty Day was the coutry'sd only national holiday. Several
years later, two more national holidays were instituted: Youth and
Sports Day on 19 May, and Victory Day on 30 August.
In 1929, the Society for the Protection of Children
initiated a childrn'st festival to be held on National Sovereignty
Day. Its aim was to bring happiness to all children, but above all
orphans, on one day of the year at least.
Those first celebrations were called Children's Week and lasted
from 23 to 29 April, the first day being proclaimed the Children's
Bayram. Local branches of the Society for the Protection of Children
in every province organised festivities to celebrate the occasion,
and in Ankara hundreds of children boarded decorated cars and buses
in front of the Parliament Building, and singing songs and marches,
drove through the streets of the capital. The same day a childrn'se
ball and tea party was held at Ankara Palas Hotel in the city. This
event was attended by parliamentary speaker Kazim Özalp, prime
minister Ismet Inönü, and several government ministers
with their wives and children. The children performed plays and
dances, recited monologues and poetry, and a childrn'su choir sang.
Toys were presented to all the children.
Those first celebrations were called Children's
Week and lasted from 23 to 29 April, the first day being proclaimed
the Children's Bayram. Local branches of the Society for the Protection
of Children in every province organised festivities to celebrate
the occasion, and in Ankara hundreds of children boarded decorated
cars and buses in front of the Parliament Building, and singing
songs and marches, drove through the streets of the capital. The
same day a childrn'se ball and tea party was held at Ankara Palas
Hotel in the city. This event was attended by parliamentary speaker
Kazim Özalp, prime minister Ismet Inönü, and several
government ministers with their wives and children. The children
performed plays and dances, recited monologues and poetry, and a
childrn'su choir sang. Toys were presented to all the children.
In Istanbul children gathered around the monument
in Taksim Square and drove around the city in a procession of cars
accompanied by the Naval Band.
Plays were performed for the children at Tepebasi
Theatre and other entertainments were laid on in the grounds. One
of the children who attended this event, Burhanettin, later sent
a telegram to President Gazi Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk):
'All of we children of Turkey are overjoyed that on National Sovereignty
Day the sovereignty of children too has been recognised, and wish
to thank you.'
This new holiday was symbolic of the importance
attached to children by the Republic, and in 1935 National Sovereignty
Day was officially renamed National Sovereignty and Children's Day.
In 1986 the holiday was given an international dimension, when groups
of children from other countries around the world were invited to
join in the celebrations and competitions for the first time, with
the object of encouraging friendship and understanding between children
of all nations. The first international childrn'st festival was
held that year in Samsun on the Black Sea coast.
National Sovereignty and Children's Day is the Turkish
Republic and Turkish peopls's most significant contribution to world
amity. A poem by Hasan Ali Yücel, who served as minister of
education between 1938 and 1946 summed up the meaning of this day
in a poem entitled '23 April':
'... May you, my child / Protect your country / Forge the future.
/ You are small today / But will grow tomorrow / May you, my child
/ Excel in everything. / Work and learn / May you, my child / Know
everything / Trust in your country.' l
* Necdet Sakaoglu is a writer
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