May 19 Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day Celebrated with Various Activities at PAU

The first of the events was the e-conference on "May 19 in the Context of the National Struggle" organized by Prof. Dr. Ercan Haytoğlu, Lecturer at the Department of History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Pamukkale University.


In the conference organized by Prof. Dr. Ercan Haytoğlu on the 104th anniversary of Atatürk's landing in Samsun, the importance of May 19 Atatürk's landing in Samsun in the context of the National Struggle and how May 19 became a holiday were discussed.  


"On May 19, 1919, Atatürk landed in Samsun and took the first step in the National Struggle"


At the beginning of the conference, Prof. Dr. Haytoğlu talked about how May 19 was a holiday and what was the main argument: "When we look at our history, we see that there are national holidays as well as religious holidays. As a matter of fact, we know that in the Ottoman Empire, a Freedom Day was celebrated with the proclamation of the Constitutional Monarchy on July 23, 1908, on the other hand, we know that we have holidays such as Training Day on April 29, 1916 and Children's Day on May 2, 1916. When we come to the Republican Period, after the establishment of the Republic, we have dates such as October 29, April 23 and August 30. October 29 Republic Day, August 30 Victory Day, April 23 National Sovereignty and Children's Day, May 19 Commemoration of Atatürk Youth and Sports Day are important national holidays. On May 19, 1919, Atatürk landed in Samsun and took the first step in the National Struggle. This date was then started to be celebrated locally in Samsun from 1926. Until 1935, it continued to be celebrated locally. In 1935, the celebrations in Samsun were reported in newspapers and these news drew attention to the date of May 19. In 1935, it was celebrated in Izmir, Istanbul and a few other cities. Efforts to make May 19 an official holiday increased and eventually it was recognized as an official holiday in June 1938, six months before Mustafa Kemal Atatürk passed away. Until 1980, May 19 was celebrated as Youth and Sports Day. In 1982, the name of the holiday was changed to May 19 Commemoration of Atatürk Youth and Sports Day. There have been different dates related to Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's birthday. 

With Atatürk becoming the President of the Republic, it became obvious that there was a need for the date of the Founder of the Republic's birthday celebration. In this process, many requests came to the agenda, such as Aydın People's House's request for the date of the President's birthday in order to celebrate his birthday, and on the other hand, King Edward VIII of England's request for the date of his birth after he stated that he would publish a message for his birthday celebration. It is very meaningful that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk said "why not May 19th?" to these demands. In other words, Atatürk's departure to Samsun on May 19, in a sense, the historical first step on the road to the Republic, is important for Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to be the date of his birth. The Nutuk (Declamation) is an important work written by Atatürk with the responsibility of accountability to the Turkish nation for what happened during the National Struggle and the Founding Period of the Republic. At the beginning of this work, which is written with documents, there is the following statement: "The 19th of May 1919, Vaziyet ve Manzara-i Umumiye, in other words, for the general view of the country, the departure to Samsun on May 19, 1919 was expressed as the milestone of the National Struggle. This is another feature that makes this date important."

In the continuation of the conference, Prof. Dr. Haytoğlu talked about how it came to May 19 in the historical process and what this history has changed: "After the successful processes of the Ottoman Empire in its historical flow, a process in which it gradually regressed against Austria and Russia began. From the 18th century onwards, it gradually reached a serious pressure on the Ottoman Empire. In the early 19th century, the Ottoman Empire began to be seen as a problem. The 1815 Congress of Vienna constituted the first important dates that would open the door to the developments in the form of liberating the minorities in the Ottoman Empire from the Ottoman Empire, which would be referred to as the Eastern Question. After these processes, we know that the Ottoman Empire's wars such as the Ottoman-Russian War of 1828-1829, the Crimean War of 1854-1856, and the Ottoman-Russian War of 1877-1878 had an impact on the development, change and shaping of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman-Russian War of 1828-1829 and the effects of Greece's gaining its independence, the Crimean War of 1854-1856, which led to developments such as the Edict of Reform, and the Ottoman-Russian War of 1877-1878, which led to the transition of the developments related to Armenians from the Russian to the British, led to processes in which the problems for Turkey gradually grew. For European Imperialism, the Ottoman Empire was now seen as a 'sick man'. Three important links brought this process to an end: The first ring was the Tripoli War, the second ring was the Balkan Wars and the third ring was World War I. During these wars, the Ottoman Empire gradually lost power, and there were developments that showed that the historical process was coming to an end as a state. On October 30, 1918, the Armistice of Mondros was signed. With this armistice, Articles 7 and 24 signaled that the remaining territories of the Ottoman Empire could no longer remain as a whole."

In the last part of the conference, Prof. Dr. Haytoğlu talked about the developments that prepared Atatürk's departure to Samsun: "With the occupation of Izmir on May 15, 1919, it was one of the most important developments that excited the Turkish people in a sense and influenced them to take action for the National Struggle. When Mustafa Kemal Atatürk arrived in Istanbul on November 13, the ships of the Allied Powers had entered the Bosphorus. In Anatolia, we know that Antep, Maras, Urfa were occupied by the British; Adana and Iskenderun by the French; Antalya, Konya and Isparta by the Italians; Samsun and Merzifon by the British; Zonguldak by the French; and Istanbul was occupied by the British, French and Italian troops. In other words, our country was actually under a de facto occupation. Mustafa Kemal Pasha envisioned that liberation would come from Anatolia, not from Istanbul. As a first step, he accepted his friends Kazım Karabekir as the Commander of the 15th Corps and Ali Fuat Cebesoy as the Commander of the 12th Corps and encouraged and supported them to go to Anatolia. Mustafa Kemal Pasha was against Enver Pasha. Mustafa Kemal Pasha did not have a favorable opinion about entering the war on the side of Germany in World War I. He was of the opinion that the Ottoman Empire should not enter the war, or if it did, not rush into it, and stay out of the war for at least two years. It is important to note that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk parted ways with the Unionists with the Salonika Congress of 1908 and as of 1909 he was no longer recognized as a Unionist. Hürriyet and Ententeists were also in favor of a charismatic figure like Mustafa Kemal being sent to Anatolia by a government close to them. The name Mustafa Kemal was emphasized due to the fact that Mustafa Kemal Pasha was known as the hero of the Gallipoli War and the hero of Anafartalar and the positive effects he had on the soldiers. Eventually, on the morning of May 19, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, accompanied by a delegation, would rise like the sun in Samsun. "