Low-key celebrations mark Turkey’s 100th anniversary as secular republic

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government has opted for a low-key celebration as it comes just months after a devastating earthquake killed 50,000 people, and coincides with the Israeli-Hamas war that has roiled the Middle East.

The subdued affair, however, has caused dismay among many in Turkey who believe Mr Erdogan’s government is trying to undermine the legacy of the republic’s founding father, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

They see the lack of pomp and fanfare as an attempt by the government, which finds its roots in Turkey’s Islamic movement, to erase Ataturk’s memory.

Mr Erdogan on Sunday observed the traditional protocol of laying a wreath at Ataturk’s mausoleum in the capital. He is later scheduled to travel to Istanbul to watch a procession of military ships on the Bosporus, followed by a drones and fireworks show. In his speech marking the occasion, he is expected to highlight his government’s achievements in the past 20 years.

Earlier this year, Mr Erdogan invited a slew of foreign leaders to celebrate his re-election for a third term as president, but he will not be hosting a reception to mark the republic’s major milestone. State broadcaster TRT announced it was cancelling special centennial programmes due to the war in Gaza.

Many in Turkey are holding their own private celebrations or parties in restaurants or homes. Municipalities run by opposition parties are organising concerts and parades. Pop star Tarkan and classical pianist Fazil Say are among artists that have composed marches to mark the centennial.

Gul Erbil, a 66-year-old retired film director who will be toasting the centennial at a restaurant with friends, said: “The government did its best to make these celebrations forgotten and to trivialise them.

“The sad thing is… it’s (their) republic too. It’s something that gave (them) freedom, too.”

Meral Aksener, the leader of the centre-right opposition IYI Party, accused the government of taking the opportunity to ensure the “100th year (celebration) falls flat”.

She added: “There are those who still have a problem with our republic 100 years later.”

She and others believe a mass pro-Palestinian rally on Saturday during which Mr Erdogan escalated his criticism of Israel’s military actions in Gaza was specially organised to overshadow the centennial celebration.

But Ahmet Hakan, columnist for the pro-government Hurriyet newspaper, says the scaled-back celebration became “inevitable” due to Israel’s actions in Gaza, which have triggered a wave of protests particularly in Muslim-majority countries, in response to Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7.

A First World War hero who went on to lead a war of independence against occupying forces, Ataturk proclaimed the Turkish Republic on October 29, 1923.

He embarked on a series of radical reforms aimed at turning the majority Muslim nation into a secular, Western-style democracy. He abolished the caliphate, replaced the Arabic script with the Latin alphabet and gave women the right to vote.

Ataturk is still held in high regard in the country where his portraits hang on walls of schools, offices and homes. Traffic comes to a standstill as thousands observe a minute of silence on the anniversary of his death.

On Sunday, music, including a march that was written to mark the republic’s 10th anniversary, blared from cars adorned with Turkish flags. Many wore red and white – the colours of the flag.

But not all sections of society were on board with Ataturk’s reforms. Mr Erdogan and his religious support base take pride in Turkey’s Ottoman and Islamic past. He pays homage to Ataturk’s military achievements as an officer of the Ottoman Empire, but rarely praises his republican era.

The Turkish leader speaks of ushering in a new era he has dubbed “The Century of Turkey”, with a new constitution that would uphold conservative family values and would have no room for what he has called “deviant” LGBTQ+ rights.

“As an administration that has brought historic investment drives to Turkey, we are determined to crown the second century of the Republic with the Century of Turkey,” Mr Erdogan wrote in a visitors’ book at Ataturk’s mausoleum.

Critics say Mr Erdogan has already moved Turkey further away from Ataturk’s vision.

Official functions today often begin with prayers. The Directorate of Religious Affairs has been given a large budget that dwarfs most other ministries, and the number of religious schools has increased in line with Mr Erdogan’s stated goal of creating a “pious generation”.

In 2020, Mr Erdogan converted the former Byzantine-era church Hagia Sophia – which was turned into a mosque with the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul – back into a functioning mosque. Ataturk had transformed the structure into a museum in a nod to its Christian and Muslim legacy.