Turkish Republic Day: The Most Beautiful Spoiler in Turkish History
For a reader in a hurry: 29 Ekim Cumhuriyet Bayramı, Turkish Republic Day, is the anniversary of 29 October 1923, when the Assembly in Ankara amended the constitution to name the Turkish state a republic and elected Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) as its first president. The holiday begins at 13:00 on 28 October and the evening fills with lantern processions and flags. Its most quoted sentence, "Yarın Cumhuriyet ilân edeceğiz," is a spoiler that Atatürk himself published four years after the ending. Below you will find the story behind that sentence and the Turkish you will hear on the street, including how to say "Happy Republic Day."
29 Ekim Cumhuriyet Bayramı, Turkish Republic Day, is still one of my favorite holidays.
I grew up listening to stories about my ancestors who lost their lives during the Balkan Wars.
When people talk about history, they usually talk about states, empires, and the people who governed them. When the Ottoman Empire comes up, especially in the Balkans, the conversation often turns bitter. Yet the Ottoman ruling establishment itself included people of different backgrounds, including Balkan-born men who rose through the devşirme system.
Peoples and the governments that rule them are not the same thing. And whether people belong to a powerful state or live under its rule, it is often ordinary people who suffer the most.
My ancestors were among those people. Some lost their lives in the wars. Others gathered whatever they could carry and fled their homes, hoping to find safety elsewhere. Then the places where they had sought refuge were occupied as well.
By the end of the First World War, people across Anatolia had been worn down by years of war, hunger, and poverty. Many had already lost their homes or loved ones. Yet, in the face of occupation, an exhausted population found the strength to resist and fight for independence.
The Republic grew out of that struggle. For me, its founding is not simply the story of a new form of government. It is also the story of ordinary people who had suffered through years of war and displacement, yet fought for the right to determine their own future.
And that still moves me.
On the evening of 28 October 1923, as he would later recall in Nutuk, Mustafa Kemal told his dinner guests:
"Yarın Cumhuriyet ilân edeceğiz."
Tomorrow, we will proclaim the Republic.
From an Empire to an Assembly
In the Balkan Wars of 1912 and 1913, the Ottoman Empire, ruled by a sultan in Istanbul, lost most of its remaining territory in Europe, and large numbers of Muslim families from the region fled toward Istanbul and Anatolia. In 1914 the empire entered the First World War, and it ended the war on the losing side. After the armistice of October 1918, Allied forces moved into Istanbul and other parts of the empire, and in May 1919 a Greek army landed at İzmir.
Mustafa Kemal was an Ottoman army officer who had made his name defending Gallipoli in 1915. In May 1919 he landed at Samsun on the Black Sea coast and began organizing resistance in Anatolia. On 23 April 1920 a new parliament, the Grand National Assembly, opened in Ankara, then a modest town in central Anatolia, and claimed to govern in the name of the nation while the sultan's government remained in occupied Istanbul. In January 1921 the Assembly adopted a short constitution whose first article declared that sovereignty belongs to the nation. The War of Independence ended with the Assembly's victory in the late summer of 1922.
One small note on names: Mustafa Kemal took the surname Atatürk only in 1934. In 1923 he was still Mustafa Kemal Paşa.
The Night Before the Republic
By the autumn of 1923, the Treaty of Lausanne, which recognized the new state internationally, had been signed, and the Ottoman sultanate had been abolished almost a year earlier. Yet the new state was still struggling to establish a stable government. Under the 1921 constitution, the Grand National Assembly elected ministers individually, a system that had become increasingly difficult to manage. In the final days of October, disagreements over ministerial appointments led to the government's resignation. Attempts to form a new cabinet failed, leaving Ankara in a political crisis.
Several prominent figures from the War of Independence were away from Ankara at the time. Some would later criticize the proclamation of the Republic as premature.
Atatürk told what happened next four years later, in Nutuk, the speech he delivered over six days to his party's congress in October 1927. He writes that on the evening of 28 October he kept some friends for dinner at Çankaya, his residence in Ankara, told them during the meal that the Republic would be proclaimed the next day, and that they agreed with him at once. After dinner, by his account, he and his close associate İsmet Paşa prepared the draft of a constitutional amendment that would declare the republic. The sources I worked with for this post offer no second account of the evening, so every retelling of the dinner, this one included, goes back to Nutuk.
On 29 October, again by his account, his party's deputies were still deadlocked over who should form a government. He asked for an hour and came back with the amendment. By evening it was before the Assembly.
In Istanbul, much of the press called the proclamation premature, and many there feared that a republic would mean the end of the caliphate, the office of religious leadership the Ottoman dynasty still held after the sultanate was gone. The caliphate was abolished a few months later, in March 1924.
The sentence itself has grown in retelling. The version repeated every October, "Efendiler, yarın Cumhuriyeti ilan edeceğiz," is longer than the passage in Nutuk, which begins simply with Yarın.
Read Nutuk
The account of 28 October 1923 comes from Nutuk, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's 1927 speech on the War of Independence and the founding of the Republic. If you would like to read it in Turkish or in English, you can start with the books below.
Fotoğraflarla Nutuk
A Turkish edition of Nutuk adapted for younger readers, featuring historical photographs that bring Atatürk's account of the War of Independence and the founding of the Republic to life.
The Great Speech (Nutuk)
An English translation of Atatürk's historic speech, offering international readers a firsthand account of the War of Independence and the political events that shaped modern Türkiye.
The evening of 29 October
The amendment changed several articles of the 1921 constitution, formally naming the state's form of government Cumhuriyet, republic, and creating the office of president.
The session minutes record that some deputies argued the government had already been republican in practice and was now receiving its proper name. After Article 1 was accepted, the minutes note long applause and cries of "Yaşasın Cumhuriyet!"
The text of 1921 explains why they could say this. Its first article already read "Hâkimiyet bilâ-kayd u şart milletindir." Hâkimiyet is sovereignty, bilâ is the Arabic "without," kayd and şart are restriction and condition, and the small u between them means "and." In contemporary Turkish the sentence is commonly rendered as "Egemenlik kayıtsız şartsız milletindir," with Turkish egemenlik for sovereignty and the suffix -sız, "without," attached twice. It is the sentence behind 23 Nisan, National Sovereignty and Children's Day, which remembers the opening of the Assembly in 1920. Sovereignty had belonged to the nation on paper since 1921. What 29 October added was the name of the regime and the office of president. My post Democracy Did Not Begin in 1923 looks at the older Ottoman roots of these reforms.
Then came the presidential election. The minutes record that 158 members took part, and all 158 voted for Mustafa Kemal, the deputy for Ankara. The Assembly also accepted motions for a 101-gun salute that night in honor of the proclamation.
Atatürk’s Tenth Anniversary Speech (1933): Full Turkish Text
On 29 October 1933, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk addressed the nation at the Ankara Hippodrome to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Republic of Türkiye. His speech, known as the Onuncu Yıl Nutku, reflected on the achievements of the young Republic and the work that still lay ahead.
One of its most memorable lines is:
“Az zamanda çok ve büyük işler yaptık.”
“We accomplished many great things in a short time.”
Atatürk spoke about rebuilding the country, raising living standards, advancing national culture, and the importance of science and the arts. His words expressed both pride in the Republic's first decade and confidence in its future.
Onuncu Yıl Nutku: Türkçe Tam Metin
Türk Milleti!
Kurtuluş Savaşı'na başladığımızın 15'inci yılındayız. Bugün Cumhuriyetimizin onuncu yılını doldurduğu en büyük bayramdır.
Kutlu olsun!
Bu anda, büyük Türk milletinin bir ferdi olarak, bu kutlu güne kavuşmanın en derin sevinci ve heyecanı içindeyim.
Yurttaşlarım!
Az zamanda çok ve büyük işler yaptık. Bu işlerin en büyüğü, temeli Türk kahramanlığı ve yüksek Türk kültürü olan Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'dir.
Bundaki muvaffakiyeti Türk milletinin ve onun değerli ordusunun bir ve beraber olarak azimkârane yürümesine borçluyuz.
Fakat yaptıklarımızı asla kâfi göremeyiz. Çünkü daha çok ve daha büyük işler yapmak mecburiyetinde ve azmindeyiz.
Yurdumuzu dünyanın en mamur ve en medeni memleketleri seviyesine çıkaracağız. Milletimizi en geniş refah vasıta ve kaynaklarına sahip kılacağız. Millî kültürümüzü muasır medeniyet seviyesinin üstüne çıkaracağız.
Bunun için, bizce zaman ölçüsü geçmiş asırların gevşetici zihniyetine göre değil, asrımızın sürat ve hareket mefhumuna göre düşünülmelidir.
Geçen zamana nispetle daha çok çalışacağız. Daha az zamanda daha büyük işler başaracağız. Bunda da muvaffak olacağımıza şüphem yoktur. Çünkü Türk milletinin karakteri yüksektir. Türk milleti çalışkandır. Türk milleti zekidir.
Çünkü Türk milleti millî birlik ve beraberlikle güçlükleri yenmesini bilmiştir. Ve çünkü Türk milletinin yürümekte olduğu terakki ve medeniyet yolunda elinde ve kafasında tuttuğu meşale müspet ilimdir.
Şunu da ehemmiyetle tebarüz ettirmeliyim ki, yüksek bir insan cemiyeti olan Türk milletinin tarihî bir vasfı da güzel sanatları sevmek ve onda yükselmektir.
Bunun içindir ki milletimizin yüksek karakterini, yorulmaz çalışkanlığını, fıtrî zekâsını, ilme bağlılığını, güzel sanatlara sevgisini ve millî birlik duygusunu mütemadiyen ve her türlü vasıta ve tedbirlerle besleyerek inkişaf ettirmek millî ülkümüzdür.
Türk milletine çok yaraşan bu ülkü, onu bütün beşeriyete hakiki huzurun temini yolunda kendine düşen medeni vazifeyi yapmakta muvaffak kılacaktır.
Büyük Türk Milleti!
On beş yıldan beri giriştiğimiz işlerde muvaffakiyet vadeden sözlerimin hiçbirinde milletimin hakkımdaki itimadını sarsacak bir isabetsizliğe uğramadım.
Bugün aynı iman ve katiyetle söylüyorum ki millî ülküye tam bir bütünlükle yürümekte olan Türk milletinin büyük millet olduğunu bütün medeni âlem az zamanda bir kere daha tanıyacaktır.
Asla şüphem yoktur ki Türklüğün unutulmuş büyük medeni vasfı ve büyük medeni kabiliyeti bundan sonraki inkişafıyla atinin yüksek medeniyet ufkunda yeni bir güneş gibi doğacaktır.
Türk Milleti!
Ebediyete akıp giden her on senede bu büyük millet bayramını daha büyük şereflerle, saadetlerle, huzur ve refah içinde kutlamanı gönülden dilerim.
Ne mutlu Türküm diyene!
Listen to Atatürk’s Original Speech
You can hear Mustafa Kemal Atatürk delivering the Onuncu Yıl Nutku in his own voice in this historical recording from 29 October 1933.
Cumhur, a crowd
Cumhuriyet is derived from the Arabic cumhur, which Ottoman Turkish used for the people, the populace, a large crowd.
In the 1923 minutes the new office appears as Reisicumhur, "head of the cumhur," with reis, the head, at the front. Modern Turkish uses Cumhurbaşkanı, a compound of cumhur and başkan, with the head at the end. If you enjoy following words like this one, my post on Turkish loan words has many more.
A bayram among bayrams
Turkish uses one word, bayram, for the religious feasts and for the national holidays. Ramazan Bayramı and Kurban Bayramı move through the calendar with the lunar year, and Cumhuriyet Bayramı stays on 29 October. Scholars have long disagreed about whether the word came into Turkish from Persian or traveled in the opposite direction.
The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi treats the question as unresolved, although it considers a Persian origin probable.
The holidays that remember the national struggle follow the years 1919 to 1923 in order. 19 Mayıs remembers Mustafa Kemal's landing at Samsun in 1919, 23 Nisan the opening of the Assembly in 1920, 30 Ağustos Zafer Bayramı the decisive victory of 1922, and 29 October the name the state took in 1923.
The first anniversary, in 1924, was celebrated with a ceremony but without any law behind it. A law of 1925 made 29 October a Millî Bayram. Ten years later, a 1935 law used a different word and declared: "Ulusal Bayram yalnız Cumhuriyetin ilân edildiği 29 ilkteşrin günüdür," the national holiday is only the day of 29 October, when the Republic was proclaimed. The same law listed the other public holidays separately.
The 1925 law says Millî Bayram (from Arabic millet), the 1935 law says Ulusal Bayram (from Turkish ulus), and the month appears as ilkteşrin, a name later replaced by Ekim. The holiday ran for two and a half days then. The law in force today, from 1981, starts it at 13:00 on 28 October and ends it with 29 October. It still keeps the old categories apart: 29 October is the Ulusal Bayram, 23 Nisan, 19 Mayıs and 30 Ağustos are resmî bayramlar, and Ramazan and Kurban Bayramı are dinî bayramlar.
What you will hear on 28 and 29 October
This year, Türkiye celebrates the 103rd anniversary of the Republic, Cumhuriyetin 103. yılı. The holiday officially begins at 13:00 on 28 October, but preparations often start earlier. Turkish flags appear on balconies, schools prepare their ceremonies, and public squares are decorated for the celebrations. In the evening, many towns and cities organize a fener alayı, a lantern procession in which people walk together through the streets, often accompanied by music.
You will hear “Cumhuriyet Bayramınız kutlu olsun!”, the familiar way to wish someone a happy Republic Day. “Cumhuriyet Bayramımız kutlu olsun!” is equally common, especially in public messages, where the speaker includes everyone in the celebration.
Music has always been part of Republic Day. One of the best-known songs is the Onuncu Yıl Marşı, the Tenth Anniversary March, written for the Republic's tenth birthday in 1933. Its words celebrate what the young country had achieved in its first decade and express confidence in its future. The song has remained part of school ceremonies and public celebrations ever since. Generations of Turkish people have grown up singing it, and you will almost certainly hear it around 29 October.
Another familiar expression comes from Atatürk's speech on that same tenth anniversary, known as the Onuncu Yıl Nutku. He ended it with the words “Ne mutlu Türküm diyene!”, commonly translated as “How happy is the one who says, ‘I am a Turk!’”
The sentence remains closely associated with Republic Day and appears on banners and in commemorative speeches.
The centennial in 2023 inspired dozens of new songs celebrating the Republic's hundredth anniversary. One of the most loved was Parla, written and performed by Turkish rapper Norm Ender. People across the country were invited to film themselves singing the song and send in their recordings, which were brought together in the official music video. It became a celebration made with the people who were singing it, capturing something of the excitement and affection surrounding the Republic's hundredth birthday.
More than a hundred years later, we still celebrate 29 Ekim with flags on our balconies, songs in the streets, and lantern processions in the evening. I often think about the ordinary people who lived through those terrible years, people like my ancestors, and what it must have felt like to finally have hope after so much suffering.
Whenever I feel hopeless, I remind myself that I come from a nation that managed to rebuild itself when almost everything seemed lost. If you have spent time with Turkish people, perhaps you have seen something of that spirit. We have never entirely forgotten the hardship of those years. We may disagree about a million things and argue endlessly among ourselves, but when it comes to survival, somehow we still know how to stand together.
Vocabulary
Cumhuriyet – republic; from Arabic
cumhur – the public, the populace (Ottoman Turkish)
Cumhurbaşkanı – president of the republic
yarın – tomorrow
ilan etmek – to proclaim, to announce
egemenlik – sovereignty
bayram – holiday, feast
fener alayı – lantern procession; an evening walk with lanterns and music, already part of the tenth-anniversary programs of 1933
kutlu olsun – may it be blessed; the usual wish for national days, as in
Cumhuriyet Bayramınız kutlu olsun Yaşasın! – Long live!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: What is 29 Ekim Cumhuriyet Bayramı?
A: It is Turkish Republic Day, the anniversary of 29 October 1923, when the Grand National Assembly in Ankara amended the constitution to name the state a republic and elected Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) as its first president. It is the only holiday Turkish law calls the Ulusal Bayram.
Q: Did Atatürk really say "Efendiler, yarın Cumhuriyeti ilan edeceğiz"?
A: The source for the sentence is Atatürk's own speech Nutuk, given in 1927. There he writes that he told his dinner guests, "Yarın Cumhuriyet ilân edeceğiz." The popular version adds "Efendiler" and the accusative ending, and those additions appear in later retellings.
Q: Was Türkiye already independent before the Republic was proclaimed?
A: Yes, in practice. The War of Independence had ended in 1922, and the Treaty of Lausanne was signed on 24 July 1923. The proclamation in October named the form of government of a state that already existed.
Q: How do you say "Happy Republic Day" in Turkish?
A: Say "Cumhuriyet Bayramınız kutlu olsun!" to the person you are speaking to, or "Cumhuriyet Bayramımız kutlu olsun!" when you include yourself. Posts and messages often add the year: "Cumhuriyetimizin 103. yılı kutlu olsun!"
Q: Is 28 October a holiday in Türkiye?
A: Half of it. Under the 1981 holiday law, the holiday begins at 13:00 on 28 October, so public offices and schools close in the afternoon, and the whole of 29 October is a holiday.
Sources
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Nutuk (1927), passage on 28 and 29 October 1923, online transcription used for this post: https://bianet.org/haber/yarin-cumhuriyet-ilan-edecegiz-110515
Türkiye Büyük Millet Meclisi, Zabıt Ceridesi, Devre II, Cilt 3, Kırküçüncü İçtima, 29 Teşrinievvel 1339 (29 October 1923), TBMM Açık Erişim: https://acikerisim.tbmm.gov.tr/items/afe9a1ab-454b-46ca-b257-35b794ecb0e6
Murat Alper Parlak (ed.), 1921 Teşkîlât-ı Esâsîye Kanunu ve Makaleler (Ankara: Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi, 2022): https://atam.gov.tr/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/1921-TESKILAT-I-ESASIYE-KANUNU-VE-MAKALELER-1.pdf
Law No. 2739, Ulusal Bayram ve Genel Tatiller Hakkında Kanun, adopted 27 May 1935, Resmî Gazete, 1 June 1935, TBMM: https://tbmm.gov.tr/files/anayasa/docs/ictuzuk/4-1927_D.N/1927-7/2739sayılıKanun_27.5.1935.pdf
Law No. 2429, Ulusal Bayram ve Genel Tatiller Hakkında Kanun, adopted 17 March 1981, Resmî Gazete, 19 March 1981, no. 17284: https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=2429&MevzuatTur=1&MevzuatTertip=5
Erik Jan Zürcher, Turkey: A Modern History (London: I.B. Tauris), chapter 10
Neşe Çetinoğlu, "Cumhuriyet Kavramı ve Atatürk'ün Cumhuriyet Anlayışı," Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Dergisi, no. 36: https://atamdergi.gov.tr/tam-metin-pdf/1002/tur
Erdem Çanak, "İçel'de Cumhuriyet'in Onuncu Yıl Kutlamaları ve Kutlamalar Sırasında Yaşanan Müessif Bir Hadise: Çomuzade Davası," Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Dergisi 34, no. 97 (2018), pp. 199–240: https://atamdergi.gov.tr/tam-metin-pdf/18/tur
Erdem Çanak, "Adana'da Cumhuriyet'in Onuncu Yılı Kutlamaları," Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi Dergisi, no. 86 (2013): https://atamdergi.gov.tr/tam-metin-pdf/64/tur
Sargon Erdem, "Bayram," TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (1992): https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/bayram
Esin Övet, "Parla, 100 yaşındasın," Habertürk, 27 October 2023: https://www.haberturk.com/ozel-icerikler/esin-ovet-1064/3632758-parla-100-yasindasin
Atatürk Ansiklopedisi, "10. Yıl Marşı": https://ataturkansiklopedisi.gov.tr/bilgi/10-yil-marsi/?pdf=3248
T.C. Aile ve Sosyal Hizmetler Bakanlığı, Edirne İl Müdürlüğü, 29 Ekim 2024: https://aile.gov.tr/edirne/haberler/29ekim2024/
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The story of your ancestors breaks my heart, and moves me deeply. Long before I came to Türkiye the first time I loved reading about Mustafa Kemal, he was the hero of my later life. Don’t get me wrong, I am very proud of the “founding fathers” of the U.S. who brilliantly wrote the Constitution and led the republic through its early years. But there were about 30 devoted men who did this job, whereas Mustafa Kemal did it all by himself, alone as alone can be. To this day, his selfless, far-seeing achievements - even including language and culture - take my breath away.