December 27, 1919.
It may look like an ordinary date on a calendar. However, this is the day when the destiny of a nation began to be rewritten. Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's arrival in Ankara was not just the arrival in a city; it was the embodiment of the will for independence in the heart of Anatolia.
While Istanbul was under occupation, the palace was silent, the nation was tired and hopeless, Ankara was still a humble steppe town. However, that step taken by Atatürk turned Ankara into a center, a headquarters, a hope. Because it was not only Mustafa Kemal who came to Ankara that day; it was the nation's determination to claim its destiny.
The choice of Ankara was no coincidence. Geographically, it was in the middle of Anatolia, safe and accessible. But more importantly, it was a place that had the pulse of Anatolia and carried the spirit of resistance of the people. Atatürk knew very well that the struggle should rise from within the nation, not from Istanbul.
The people of Ankara welcomed him with segmen. That welcome was not a protocol; it was a commitment, a contract. It was a meeting between the people who said “We are with you” and a leader who said “I am with the nation”.
If Ankara is the capital of the Republic of Turkey today, December 27, 1919 is at the heart of it. The step taken on that day was the beginning of the road to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the War of Independence and ultimately the Republic.
Atatürk's arrival in Ankara reminds us of this:
Salvation does not come from palaces; it comes from the people, from faith and from decisive leadership.
And history never forgets those who stand in the right place at the right time.
Exactly 106 years ago, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk entered Ankara with his delegation.
I commemorate Atatürk and his comrades-in-arms with gratitude, respect and thanksgiving on the anniversary of their arrival in Ankara.