EUL Faculty of Education Dean Karakartal made a statement on the anniversary of the acceptance of the March 12 National Anthem.

European University of Lefke (EUL) Dr. Fazıl Küçük Faculty of Education Dean Prof. Dr. Oğuz Karakartal made a statement due to the 100th anniversary of the acceptance of the Turkish National Anthem.

Karakartal expressed that, Turkey’s Grand National Assembly (Parliament), declared the 2021 “Anthem year “. The National Anthem which reached to its  100 years on March 12, 2021 is the national anthem of the Republic of Turkey and our government TRNC is the one of the two major symbols along with Ataturk. He stated that there are actually three big names in the birth of the Turkish National Anthem, whose words were written by Mehmet Akif Ersoy, ”and stated these names as İsmet Pasha, Hamdullah Suphi Tanrıöver and Mehmet Akif.

Karakartal continued his words as follows; “During the Turkish War of Independence, in 1920, while the struggle for existence was fought against the British, French, Italian and Greek occupation forces, İsmet Pasha informed the then Parliament Education Minister Hamdullah Suphi Tanrıöver to have a national anthem like other nations to give morale to the Mehmetçiks and the army. He also opened a competition in Ankara and at the last moment Mehmet Akif Ersoy was convinced and his poem “Independence March” won the contest.  Three finalist poems were listened to Mehmetçiks, and when they cheered the most in Akif’s Turkish National Anthem, on March 12, 1921, the Turkish Grand National Assembly accepted Mehmet Akif’s National Anthem as the national anthem. Mehmet Akif gifted him to Mehmetçiks with the phrase “our hero army” on the edge of the Turkish National Anthem. The Turkish National Anthem, which was played with several different compositions until 1930, takes its current form and composition with the official acceptance of Zeki Üngör’s composition after that date. ”

“Although Mehmet Akif’s Independence Anthem was written in two days in Ankara during the Turkish War of Independence, his establishment as a seed in the poet’s mind, heart, and the disasters of 1911 Italian, 1912 Balkan and 1914-1918 World War I Karakartal said that Akif accomplished something very difficult, and wrote a fluent poem-anthem without falling into monotony with plain rhyme.

“While in the national anthems of some countries of the world – for example, England, Japan, Jordan, Saudi Arabia – it is written that the royal and the king (queen) are the things that are glorified and should be preserved, in our anthem these values are” homeland, nation and flag “Karakartal continued his explanations as, “In Cyprus, the“ Independence Anthem ”was published as a text in the Turkish Cypriot magazine İrşat 15-20 days after its acceptance in Ankara on March 12, 1921, and the people whistled it despite the British ban. It was always read publicly after the 1950s when the pressure of the colonial administration eased.

Karakartal mentioned that in newly established post-1983 TRNC state, two national anthem contests were opened and in this contest the winners were chosen, but due to the familiarity to the Turkish National Anthem, and common soul-share impact with Turkey the Turkish National Anthem continued to be used as the “TRNC’S National Anthem”.