Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the victory of the Ottomans in the Battle of Canak Qala 107 years ago is a victory for all oppressed peoples, praising the martyrs of the battle from distant cities that were under the authority of the Ottoman Empire, during the celebration of the anniversary of the battle today, Friday.
In a speech he delivered in the province of Çanakkale (west), Erdogan said that by looking at the tombstones in Çanakkale, it can be confirmed that the glorious victory in the battle, which took place during the First World War in 1915, is a victory for all the oppressed, as much as it is a victory for Turkey and its people. as described.
Erdogan added that Çanakkale is a land in which martyrs from Sarajevo (the capital of Bosnia), Gomoljina (now in Greece), Batumi (Georgia), Aleppo (Syria), Skopje (the capital of Macedonia), and Baku (the capital of Azerbaijan), and from Gaza and Jerusalem, rose as they lay next to Martyrs from Istanbul, Ankara, Gorum, Yozgat, Gaziantep, Mardin and Edirne (Turkish).
The Turkish president stressed that the battle of Çanakkale was "an epic of great heroism for the nation."
In turn, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said in a statement, "The spirit of struggle that appeared in Çanakkale against those who want to colonize our homeland, rule our nation on Earth and erase it from the stage of history, is the condition of our existence today as it was yesterday."
As for the Speaker of the Turkish Parliament, Mustafa Shantop, he said, "This land, in whose sky the flag with a star and a crescent flutters freely, is our eternal homeland."
On March 18 of each year, Turkey commemorates the anniversary of the victory of the Ottoman Empire in Çanakkale against the Allies, when British, French, New Zealand and Australian forces tried to occupy Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire at the time, and failed.
The celebrations begin every year by laying a wreath in front of the statue of the founder of the republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and a warship launches 21 artillery shells, then the attendees stand a minute of silence in honor of the martyrs with the playing of the national anthem.