Today is an important day for Turkey: it is the Cumhuriyet Bayram. This is a Republic bayram as opposed to last week's bayram, which was a religious one. The Cumhuriyet Bayram marks the 83rd year of Turkey's independence. On this day in 1923, Atatürk proclaimed this day as the first day of the Turkish Republic.
There were ceremonies this morning and all day long there have been parades on TV. I thought that today would be a fitting day to talk about the incredible patriotism of the Turkish people.
When you walk into my school, the first thing you see is a huge picture of Atatürk and the İstiklâl Marşı (the national anthem). Hanging on the wall in every classroom, is a picture of Atatürk with the İstiklâl Marşı on one side and his most famous speech (his advice to the youth of Turkey) on the other side. In all of my school books, there is a picture of Atatürk with the national anthem and the same speech. Many businesses have pictures of Atatürk hanging outside them as well. In my room and in Can's room, there are more pictures of Atatürk and his speech hanging on the walls. During the holidays (such as right now) the city is decorated with Turkish flags. It's pretty neat how proud the Turks are of their country and of their first president.

Well, I hope everyone had a good weekend and happy early Halloween!