ANKARA
Turkish people celebrated the National Sovereignty and Children's Day Thursday across the country and major cities of the world with fervor.
Turkish Education Minister Nabi Avci and his delegation paid a visit to Anitkabir, the mausoleum of the republic’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
“We came into Ataturk’s presence to celebrate the 95th anniversary of our national sovereignty and to share our excitement of the National Sovereignty and Children's Day with our children who are the guarantee of our future,” Avci said.
Turkish people in Azerbaijani capital of Baku and Kyrgyzstan’s capital of Bishkek also celebrated April 23 with special programs being held at Turkish embassies.
At least 95 Turkish- German schoolchildren were received by the German Bundestag, the national Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany, in Berlin where they too celebrated April 23 as children’s day.
Each year Turkey celebrates the foundation of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, which was founded in Ankara on April 23, 1920.
Ataturk, who was the first speaker of the Turkish Assembly, had dedicated the day to the children of the world.
The Grand National Assembly met for the first time in Ankara on April 23, 1920, during the War of Independence, to lay the foundations for an independent, secular and modern republic from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
