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| Hello, and welcome to the Culture Class- Holidays in Turkey Series at TurkishClass101.com. In this series, we’re exploring the traditions behind Turkish holidays and observances. I’m Michael, and you're listening to Season 1, Lesson 5. Commemoration of Ataturk Youth and Sports Day. In Turkish, it’s called Atatürk'ü Anma Gençlik ve Spor Bayramı. |
| Commemoration of Ataturk Youth and Sports Day is Ataturk's gift to the Turkish youth. First celebrated on May 19, 1919, it's a remembrance of the beginning of the Turkish War for Independence, as it was the day of Ataturk’s arrival in Samsun. |
| In this episode, you will learn about the historical importance of May 19 for the Republic of Turkey and about the activities that take place during Youth and Sports Day. |
| Now, before we go into more detail, we’ve got a question for you- |
| After which sporting event was the May 19 Commemoration of Ataturk Youth and Sports Day declared a sport festival? |
| If you don't already know, you’ll find out a bit later. Keep listening. |
| After the First World War, the allied states such as France and England started to occupy the Ottoman lands. With this colonization movement, most of Anatolia was occupied. Ataturk, who was a very successful Ottoman Pasha in those times, quit the Ottoman army and left for Samsun to initiate the modern national struggle and to organize Anatolia. Therefore, Youth and Sports Day is the starting point of the Turkish independence movement, or Türk bağımsızlık hareketi. |
| Every year, this special day is celebrated in every part of Turkey and particularly in Ankara with sports demonstrations and ceremonies. These ceremonies start with the national anthem, called İstiklal Marşı, which in English is Independence March, and a moment of silence. This is followed by secondary school and high school students' brass band shows and other musical and sports performances. As this day is an official holiday, schools, banks and government offices are not open, but private corporations apply their own policies and for most of them, May 19 is a business day. |
| One of the most important symbols of this day is the "Love Flag", or sevgi bayrağı, with "To the President With our Love to Ataturk of Youth" written on it, which in Turkish is said as Gençlikten Atatürk Sevgisiyle Cumhurbaşkanı’na. Young participants in the parade carry a large flag on their shoulders and give it to the governor of Samsun, the place where Ataturk first began the national struggle. |
| The name of the ship that transported Ataturk and his friends to Samsun was Bandırma vapuru, which means SS Bandırma. This ship was built in Scotland and sold to Greece and then to the Ottomans. It was scrapped in 1925 but a copy in its original dimensions was built and turned into a museum ship in 2003. |
| Now it's time to answer our quiz question- |
| After which sporting event was the May 19 Commemoration of Ataturk Youth and Sports Day declared a sport festival? |
| Youth and Sports Day was celebrated as "Ataturk Day" but on May 19, 1935 by the initiative of the soccer club, called Besiktas, it was turned into a sports festival at the stadium of Fenerbahce, in Istanbul. This improvised event was accepted in congress and became a law. |
| So listeners, how was this lesson? Did you learn anything interesting? |
| Are there any such youth and sports day celebrations like this in your country? |
| Leave us a comment letting us know at TurkishClass101.com. And we'll see you in the next lesson! |
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