Istanbul.- The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, highlighted this Sunday in his congratulatory message for the first centenary of the Republic of Turkey the “tradition of 2,200 years of State” that, in his opinion, his country has, at the same time which has underlined the importance of its own management in the past two decades.
“The Republic of Turkey, whose centenary we celebrate today with great joy, is the last of our States founded on this land,” Erdogan stressed in the message published on the Presidency website.
“Our nation’s long journey from the past to the future has reached the present day, passing from the Seljuks (of the 12th century) to the Ottomans and the Republic of Turkey,” the president wrote.
“The Republic is the owner of all the State tradition accumulated in 2,200 years, expressed in the 16 stars of the presidential shield,” he added.
According to the official interpretation, these 16 stars represent as many “States” attributed to Asian peoples, from the federations of Xiongnu nomads in Mongolia in the 3rd century BC, to the European Huns under Attila in the 5th century, and the Khazars and Avars in the Middle Ages, despite the fact that in many cases there is no scientific evidence of links with Turkic ethnic groups.
“At this point in our noble history, I commemorate all the heroes who have pioneered the founding of our new State, starting with the creator of the Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk,” Erdogan wrote.
But he immediately highlighted the “historic reforms” carried out since the victory of his party, the Islamist AKP, in 2002, in “all areas, from democracy to the economy, from security to justice, from education to health.” ».
«In the last 22 years we have promoted our country from success to success, from triumph to triumph. “We have taken steps to elevate our Republic to the level of modern civilizations,” said the president.
Erdogan began the centenary celebrations today with a visit to Atatürk’s mausoleum in Ankara, which was followed by a reception by civil and military authorities at the opening of a painting exhibition at the presidential palace.
This afternoon, the president will give a speech in Istanbul, which will be followed by fireworks that will end a day, the highlights of which will be a naval parade of 100 military ships along the Bosphorus and exhibition flights by the Air Force in Istanbul and Ankara. EFE