The Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day ( tr, Atatürk'ü Anma, Gençlik ve Spor Bayramı), is an annual Turkish national holiday celebrated on May 19 to commemorate

Mustafa Kemal Mustafa ( ar, مصطفى , Muṣṭafā) is one of the names of Prophet Muhammad, and the name means "chosen, selected, appointed, preferred", used as an Arabic given name and surname. Mustafa is a common name in the Muslim world. Given name ...

's landing at

Samsun Samsun, historically known as Sampsounta ( gr, Σαμψούντα) and Amisos (Ancient Greek: Αμισός), is a city on the north coast of Turkey and is a major Black Sea port. In 2021, Samsun recorded a population of 710,000 people. The cit ...

on May 19, 1919, which is regarded as the beginning of the

Turkish War of Independence The Turkish War of Independence "War of Liberation", also known figuratively as ''İstiklâl Harbi'' "Independence War" or ''Millî Mücadele'' "National Struggle" (19 May 1919 – 24 July 1923) was a series of military campaigns waged by th ...

in the official

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

History

Gymnastics Festival

The first "Gymnastics Festival" (''İdman Bayramı'') was held at the sport meadow of Kadıköy İttihad Sports (Union Club until 1915) by Erkek Muallim Mektebi (Teachers' College for Boys) with personal enterprise of Selim Sirri Bey (Tarcan), who was the Inspector of the Ministry of Education of the Ottoman Empire at the time. According to some sources, it was held on May 12, 1916, as to Faik Reşit Unat, in May 1916, as to Selim Sırrı Tarcan himself, on April 29, 1916. Selim Sirri Bey had brought a score of the Swedish folk music titled '' Tre trallande jäntor'' ("Three carolling girls") and collected by Felix Körling. This folk music became "Dağ Başını Duman Almış" marşı with Turkish lyrics written by Ali Ulvi Bey (Elöve) in 1917Seyit Kemal Karaalioğlu, ''Resimli Türk Edebiyatçılar Sözlüğü'', İnkılâp ve Aka, 1982, p. 128. and sung in this festival for the first time.

Mustafa Kemal's landing in Samsun

Fahrî Yâver-i Hazret-i Şehriyâri"Honorary Aide-de-camp to His Majesty Sultan",

Mirliva ''Mirliva'' or ''Mîr-i livâ'' was a military rank of the Ottoman Army and Navy. It corresponds to a brigadier general (modern Turkish: ''Tuğgeneral'') in the modern Turkish Army. ''Mirliva'' is a compound word composed of ''Mir'' ( commander) ...

Mustafa Kemal Pasha Mustafa ( ar, مصطفى , Muṣṭafā) is one of the names of Prophet Muhammad, and the name means "chosen, selected, appointed, preferred", used as an Arabic given name and surname. Mustafa is a common name in the Muslim world. Given name Mou ...

was assigned as the inspector of the Ninth Army Troops Inspectorate on April 30, 1919, tasked to oversee the disbanding the Ottoman Army required by the

Treaty of Sèvres The Treaty of Sèvres (french: Traité de Sèvres) was a 1920 treaty signed between the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire. The treaty ceded large parts of Ottoman territory to France, the United Kingdom, Greece and Italy, as well ...

, and left Istanbul with his staff aboard steamer SS Bandırma for

. After landing in Samsun on May 19, Mustafa Kemal started the

Turkish National Movement The Turkish National Movement ( tr, Türk Ulusal Hareketi) encompasses the political and military activities of the Turkish revolutionaries that resulted in the creation and shaping of the modern Republic of Turkey, as a consequence of the def ...

in contravention to his orders, an act that would lead to the

and ultimately the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. Mustafa Kemal and his staff left Samsun on May 24 for transferring their headquarters to the village of Karageçmiş in Havza district. According to Hamza Eroğlu, they sang the march ''Dağ Başını Duman Almış'' while marching from Samsun to Havza, and according to

Şevket Süreyya Aydemir Şevket Süreyya Aydemir (1897–25 March 1976) was a Turkish writer, intellectual, economist, historian, and one of the founders, publisher and a key theorist of ''Kadro'' ("Cadre"). ''Kadro'' was an influential left-wing political journal publi ...

, they also sang this song after leaving Havza to go to

Amasya Amasya () is a city in northern Turkey and is the capital of Amasya Province, in the Black Sea Region. It was called Amaseia or Amasia in antiquity."Amasya" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ...

Atatürk's later years

According to İsmet Bozdağ, his best friend

Şükrü Kaya Şükrü Kaya (1883 – 10 January 1959) was a Turkish people, Turkish civil servant and politician, who served as government minister, Minister of Interior and List of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Minister of Foreign affairs in s ...

, who was the

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

at the time, told him that: :On May 19, 1936, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk made a conversation with his close friends Şükrü Kaya, Ruşen Eşref Ünaydın, Kılıç Ali,

Salih Bozok Salih Bozok (1881 – April 25, 1941) was an officer of the Ottoman Army, later the Turkish Army and a politician of the Republic of Turkey. He was the chief aide-de-camp of Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), the founder of modern Turkey.Türk Parlament ...

, Mehmet Seydan and

Nuri Conker Mehmet Nuri Conker (September 20, 1882 – January 11, 1937) was a Turkish politician and an officer of the Ottoman Army and the Turkish Army The Turkish Land Forces ( tr, Türk Kara Kuvvetleri), or Turkish Army (Turkish: ), is the main branch ...

at the

Dolmabahçe Palace Dolmabahçe Palace ( tr, Dolmabahçe Sarayı, ) located in the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul, Turkey, on the European coast of the Bosporus strait, served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1856 to 1887 and from 1909 t ...

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

. Atatürk asked them ''"Do you know what today is?"'' They replied, ''"the third day of the

occupation of Izmir The city of Smyrna (modern-day İzmir) and surrounding areas were under Greek military occupation from 15 May 1919 until 9 September 1922. The Allied Powers authorized the occupation and creation of the Zone of Smyrna ( el, Ζώνη Σμύρν� ...

"'', ''"Ankara meeting"'', ''" Ismet Pasha telegraphed from

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

"'', ''" Golden Horn Conference"'', ''"Turco-British negotiations over Iraq"'', ''" Progressive Republican Party was banned"'' ... even Atatürk's close friends couldn't remember Mustafa Kemal's landing in Samsun.Mustafa Armağan
"19 Mayıs'ın bilinmeyen tarihi" (Unknown history of "May 19")
''

Yeni Şafak ''Yeni Şafak'' ("New Dawn") is a conservative, Islamist Turkish daily newspaper. The newspaper is known for its hardline support of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the AK Party and has a very close relationship with the Turkish governmen ...

'', May 19, 1999. :Atatürk then said ''"It is a day about the liberation of our country."'' Still, his friends couldn't identify the correct event. Some time later, Şükrü Kaya said ''"Was this the day when you left Istanbul?"'', and Atatürk replied ''"You came closer... It was the day that we landed in Samsun."'' Atatürk went on to say ''"This day will be a festival that we'll celebrate."'' Next year, "May 19" was celebrated with Şükrü Kaya's arrangement. Until then, "May 19" was not given any special meaning, besides Atatürk's expression ''"Gentlemen, I landed in Samsun on the nineteenth day of May of the year 1919"''Turkish: ''"Efendiler, 1335 senesi Mayısının 19. günü Samsun'a çıktım."'' (''

Nutuk ''Nutuk'' (known as ''A Speech'' or ''The Speech'' in English) was a speech delivered by Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 15 to 20 October 1927, at the second congress of Republican People's Party. The speech covered the events between the start of t ...

'', Chapter: "Vaziyet ve Manzara-i Umumiye"). in his book, ''

''. With the Law No. 3466 dated June 20, 1938, "May 19" was officialized as the ''Festival of Youth and Sports''. The march ''Dağ Başını Duman Almış'' was announced as the ''Gençlik ve Spor Bayramı Marşı'' (March of the Festival of Youth and Sports, popularly known as the ''Gençlik Marşı'').

Practice

Youths sing the national anthem, visit Anıtkabir, recite poems, make parades and sports and realise cultural activities like performing folk dances and play epic drama to commemorate Atatürk and his companions' beginning of the national struggle in 1919 that would lead to the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, in 1923. The

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, ''KKTC''), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. Reco ...

also commemorates this day as a national holiday.Resmi Tatil Günleri
in the official website of K.K.T.C. Başbakanlık Personel Dairesi Müdürlüğü.

Atatürk's birthday

Atatürk was born in 1881. But his birth date is not known. In one of his speeches, he declared that he considers his birthday as May 19, in clear reference to the beginning of the national struggle in 1919.

Media

Footnotes

Sources

External links

* http://www.paragrapher.net/19-mayis-ataturku-anma-genclik-ve-spor-bayrami
"Turkey celebrates May 19th Youth & Sports Day", ''World Bulletin''
Tuesday, 19 May 2009 10:16 *Turgay Tuna
"Dağ Başını Duman Almış"lı Günlerden Cumhuriyetimizin 81. Yıldönümündeki Genç Kızlarımıza...
''Kimlik'', Sayı: 8, October 2004.
19 mayıs: Ata'nın 'Doğum günüm' dediği tarih...
''

Ortadoğu ''Ortadoğu'' ( Turkish: ) is a Turkish political news website which began as a daily newspaper on 3 May 1972. ''Ortadoğu'' is often associated with the Nationalist Movement Party The Nationalist Movement Party (alternatively translated as Na ...

'', May 19, 2010. {{DEFAULTSORT:Commemoration Of Ataturk, Youth And Sports Day Public holidays in Turkey Remembrance days Mustafa Kemal Atatürk May observances Youth in Turkey Annual events in Turkey Youth festivals Spring (season) events in Turkey