President Erdoğan: Sivas is the first center of our national struggle and the republic
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered a speech at the 100th anniversary celebrations of the Sivas Congress.
“I pray the Lord that the 100th anniversary of the Sivas Congress, one of the most critical milestones of our War of Independence, lead to auspicious outcomes for our country, nation and future,” said President Erdoğan, and added: “I remember with respect Ghazi Mustafa Kemal, the commander-in-chief of our War of Independence and the founder of our Republic, and his comrades-in-arms.”
President Erdoğan stated: “The Sivas Congress and the date of 4 September 1919, one of the turning points of our War of Independence, has a very important place in the memory of our august nation. That is so because it was in Sivas where the signal flare of the national struggle was lit and the preparations for the War of Independence were carried out since no other location safer than it could be found given the circumstances of the era. In other words, Sivas is the first center of our national struggle and the Republic.”
Underscoring that the decisions taken at the Sivas Congress represent the independence manifesto the Turkish nation declared to the entire world in its most difficult times, President Erdoğan said: “A century later, we once again say that mandate and tutelage are totally unacceptable; within the national borders, our homeland is a whole and cannot be divided.”
