Turkey has world's only children's holiday, PM says

ANKARA

Turkey’s Children’s Day is the world’s only holiday dedicated to children, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Saturday.

Addressing a special session of the Turkish parliament on National Sovereignty and Children’s Day, Davutoglu said: “23 April is the only children's holiday in the world.”

Every year, Turks mark April 23 as the day in 1920 the first parliament of the republic was held. The country’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk said the day should be focused on children as the representatives of Turkey’s future.

Celebrating the 96th anniversary of the first Grand National Assembly, Davutoglu said: “Let's stand shoulder to shoulder for this country's future.”

He added: “We have a common historical story that binds us. We should never forget this historical story that enables [us] looking together at the future which binds us.”

The leader of the main opposition party Kemal Kilicdaroglu said the day was the “only and the first holiday that was dedicated to world's children.” Kilicdaroglu, who heads the Republican People’s Party, said Turkey’s parliament was among the oldest in the world.

Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahceli said: “The first parliament was the sign of hope and a declaration of the existence of the Turkish people.”

Caglar Demirel, deputy chairman of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, also spoke during the special parliamentary session.