The ceremony that was held in Gözetepe began with the leaving a wreath by Rector Prof. Erol Özvar in front of the Atatürk monument. After a moment of silence and Turkish National Anthem, the programme of the ceremony was announced by the Atatürk Faculty of Education, Head of Music Teaching Prof. Dr. Mustafa Uslu.
The first speech of the ceremony was made by Assoc.Prof. Ali Satan, Lecturer of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Department of History. Saying he remembered Atatürk, Commander In Chef of the Independence War, with respect, gratitude and mercy, Assoc.Prof. Ali Satan emphasized Atatürk is one of the rare leaders to get reach today with his ideal, vision and mission. Assoc.Prof. Ali Satan said Atatürk’s success comes from the fact that he left us a legacy of the mind, science and critical thinking in lieu of the strict and ideological thinkings. Assoc. Prof. Ali Satan, saying it is a sad truth that Atatürk’s biography has still not been introduced into internationale literature because it is not translated into foreign languages, continued to his speech talking about Ataturk’s leadership qualifications by the samples on his life.
Our Rector said in his speech “Mustafa Kemal Atatürk is a great commander which he revealed the new nation and state from an empire being at the point of becoming history. This is the great success that is rarely encountered in the world history. Today, Ghazi mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his fellow fighters left us the world’s most unique, precious and distinguished homeland. The Republic of Turkey is an unforeseen consequence of the first world war for invaders. The builder of this consequence is the Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his fellow fighters. The imperialists and invaders wanted to get rid of a nation living in this land for centuries but Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his fellow fighters performed an expected thing for them. They established again this country, this state. This honor is not only belonged to us, this success is also a value shared by the nations who struggled against invasive states and declared an independence war. Our main goal is to better understand this inheritance and forward it to the next generations. I remember with gratitute all military mans who laid down their life for our homeland”.
