National Sovereignty and Children’s Day in Turkey By TR Marshmallow
On April 23rd 1920, during the War of Independence, the Grand National Assembly, the nation's parliament, met in Ankara to begin to lay the foundations of the new Turkish Republic after the end of the Ottoman Empire.
Since 1927 it has also become Children's Day, when the founder of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal AtatĂźrk, dedicated April 23rd to the children of Turkey to recognise that children are the future of the nation.
In 1979, UNICEF recognised this important national day as an international event. In the years since 1979, Turkey has hosted thousands of children from 150 different countries on Children's Day.