The International Children’s Festival is in Turkey.
Turkey is celebrating International Children’s Festival on April 23rd, and the lovely city of Marmaris is getting in on the fun! 23 April is such a special day – it’s the only holiday that’s celebrated all over Turkey! It’s a beautiful symbol of the country’s deep love and care for its children.
National Sovereignty and Children’s Day
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey first opened its doors on 23 April 1920. It was a symbol of the Turkish people’s will and their right to self-rule. The wonderful Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk decided that the 23rd of April should be celebrated as a holiday, and this has been a source of great joy for many people ever since!
All children and their families come to the stadium in the centre of Marmaris or gather in their school yards, where the children participate actively by reading poems, singing and dancing. This festival is something really special, and it’s not just a local event – it’s something everyone in Turkey and around the world can get involved in and enjoy. In many of Turkey’s lovely, big cities, lots of international children of school age have the amazing opportunity to spend a week with a Turkish family, learning about their culture and making new friends.
The 23rd of April is a day like no other in Turkey, as it celebrates National Sovereignty and Children’s Day. The founder of the Turkish Republic, the wonderful Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, dedicated April 23 to the children of the country to emphasise that they are the future of the new nation. It was on April 23, 1920, during the War of Independence, that the Grand National Assembly met in Ankara and laid down the foundations of a new, independent, secular, and modern republic from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire.
After the Allies were defeated on 9 September 1922 and the Treaty of Lausanne was signed on 24 July 1923, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk started his task of establishing the institutions of the new state. Over the next eight years, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his followers made some big changes to create a modern Turkey, leaving behind her Ottoman past. In a really special moment, he chose to dedicate the day of sovereignty to the children, and he asked the youth to look after this sovereignty and independence.
