10/29/2023 11:10 pm (current 10/29/2023 11:20 pm)
Sea of flags in front of Ataturk’s mausoleum ©APA/AFP
On the 100th anniversary of the founding of Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to confront “imperialist” forces. “We will remain successful and victorious. No imperialist power can stop this,” Erdogan said on Sunday night. The president also harshly attacked Israel and the West during celebrations of the state’s founding.
Erdogan continued that his country helps “all those who have no one”. This also corresponds to the wishes of the founder of the republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. “We are trying to help the people of the Gaza Strip by remaining stubborn in our position in relation to Palestine and the Gaza Strip,” said the head of state, referring to the war in the Middle East. The day before, he had already described Israel as a “war criminal” and the West as “mainly responsible for the massacres in the Gaza Strip”.
“Our republic is safe and in good hands, as it has never been before,” said the head of state after laying a wreath at Ataturk’s mausoleum, in the capital, Ankara. “Rest in peace.”
Official Mustafa Kemal Atatürk proclaimed the republic on October 29, 1923, thus establishing modern Turkey as the successor to the Ottoman Empire. His far-reaching reforms included the separation of religion and state, women’s empowerment and a new alphabet.
In honor of the date, Erdogan made his address to the nation at 7:23 pm (local time). The founding of the republic had already been celebrated with military parades in front of the parliament in Ankara and Istanbul. This was followed by a convoy of ships on the Bosphorus, drone maneuvers, fireworks and the lighting of important buildings such as the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. Atatürk once turned Hagia Sophia into a museum, but Erdogan converted it back into a mosque in 2020.
On the eve of the celebrations, Erdogan’s ruling Islamic conservative party AKP organized a large demonstration “in support of Palestine” at Istanbul’s old Ataturk airport. The head of state has already taken advantage of this demonstration in front of hundreds of thousands of participants to launch violent attacks against Israel and the West and clearly supported the Palestinian radical Islamic organization Hamas, which governs in the Gaza Strip.
“Israel, in front of the entire world, we declare you a war criminal,” Erdogan shouted. “What is happening in Gaza is not self-defense, but a massacre.” Israel then withdrew its diplomatic staff from Turkey and said relations would now be reassessed.
Addressing Western politicians, the Turkish head of state told the rally: “You mourned the children killed in Ukraine, why are you silent in the face of the children killed in the Gaza Strip?” The West is “the main culprit for the massacres in the Gaza Strip”. Everyone knows that Israel cannot take any steps without the West, Erdogan continued, accusing Western states of wanting to create “an atmosphere of crusade” against Muslims.
In the first weeks after Hamas’ major attack on Israel on October 7, Erdogan initially backed down. A few days ago, however, he said of Hamas, which emerged from the Muslim Brotherhood, that it was not a terrorist organization but a group of “liberators” who fought for their own country.
Expert Soli Özel from Istanbul’s Kadir Has University raised the question of why the rally was scheduled the day before Ataturk’s memorial. “Wouldn’t that happen until next week?” he asked. Özel interpreted this as a sign that Erdogan does not want to give too much honor to Atatürk because he is fighting against his secular legacy on several points.