Turkey today commemorated the 88th anniversary of the death of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, hero of the Turkish War of Independence and first president of the Republic, with solemn ceremonies and events held across the country, which came to a standstill at 9.05 am in his memory.
As every year, at 09:05 on 10 November – the exact time at which Atatürk died in 1938 – people on the streets and motorists came to a complete standstill and observed a moment of silence as a mark of respect. This moving moment was even captured from the air by drones flying over the 15 July Martyrs’ Bridge, the main bridge spanning the Bosphorus in Istanbul and connecting Europe with Asia, according to the Turkish news agency DHA.
Thousands of Turks visit Atatürk’s mausoleum in Ankara
Meanwhile, in Ankara, the capital of Türkiye, Anıtkabir, the mausoleum where the remains of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk rest, welcomed thousands of people to mark the anniversary of his death. The monumental complex opened its doors to the public following an official ceremony held in the morning, attended by representatives of the main state institutions.
People from all corners of Turkey and even from abroad travelled to Ankara to pay their respects to the man regarded by the Turkish people as the “father of the nation”; the large crowds, which began to gather early in the morning, swelled considerably by midday. Many citizens, carrying Turkish flags and portraits of Atatürk, laid carnations at his tomb; some were visibly moved and had tears in their eyes.
At 09:05, coinciding with the tributes held across the rest of the country to mark the exact time of his death in 1938, traffic on the streets of Ankara also came to a complete standstill and citizens, standing respectfully, observed a minute’s silence in his honour.
Atatürk, the Father of the Turks
Mustafa Kemal – later officially named ‘Atatürk’ (Father of the Turks) – led the War of Independence that brought an end to the occupation of the remnants of the Ottoman Empire following defeat in the First World War, laying the foundations for the new Republic of Turkey.
On 29 October 1923, he became its first president, and during his term in office he spearheaded far-reaching reforms in the political, legal, educational, social and economic spheres to modernise the country; notable among these were the abolition of the sultanate and the caliphate, the introduction of the Latin alphabet – until then, Ottoman Turkish had been written using Arabic script – and the expansion of women’s rights.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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