Ercan, Stanley & ElleA few days ago Turkey celebrated its 85th birthday with a party for 15 million in Istanbul. While the culture of Asia Minor is one of the oldest on the planet, the Republic of Turkey was established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on October 29th, 1923.
Even today Ataturk is revered by Turks as their founder and the man who saved the country from being absorbed by the allies at the end of WWI. It is illegal to even say anything negative about him...his legacy grows constantly. The truth is that without Mustafa Kemal, there would be no nation of Turkey today.
Wednesday night we headed down the street a few blocks where millions of Istanbulus had gathered to celebrate...it was mayhem. We have never witnessed the love of a country the way the Turks expressed it. It was the most nationalistic display I have ever witnessed. We had an amazing time celebrating with neighbors, friends, our Turkish family and total strangers. Here are a few vignettes from the evening...
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk Remembered
Reyhan & Ann
1 comment:
What a delight to see this again. I just went to it because I knew I would really miss it when you could not blog - sorta hoping maybe it would be there. I do hope you can keep blogging again. It is wonderful to 'see' country even though I'm not there.
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