News
MAYOR MANDALİNCİ MARKS 104TH ANNIVERSARY OF VICTORY DAY
29.08.2026
Mayor Tamer Mandalinci has issued a message marking 30 August Victory Day, underlining that the Great Victory was not only a military achievement, but also the expression of a nation’s will to defend its independence and future.
Mayor Mandalinci said:
“30 August is far more than a great victory recorded on a page of our history. It is the day a nation rejected the fate others sought to impose upon it, and resolved to build its future through its own will.
More than a century later, when we look back on 30 August, we see not only a great military success on the battlefield, but also an extraordinary determination. We see a people, despite deprivation, refusing to lose hope; we see Anatolia united around the same ideal of independence; and we see a nation, under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, claiming its own future.
The Battle of Dumlupınar, won on 30 August 1922 following the Great Offensive, became a turning point in the march of an occupied country towards freedom, and paved the way for the Republic that would be founded a few years later. What was won was not merely a piece of land. A nation was defending its right to speak for itself, to make its own decisions and to live with dignity in its own country.
For this reason, to understand 30 August is not only to honour the past, but also to remember the responsibility we carry today.
The greatest legacy left to us by Atatürk and his comrades-in-arms is the courage and will to build the future. This is where the Republic finds its deepest meaning: the ideal of a country where people can think freely and trust in the rule of law; where children’s dreams are not limited by the circumstances into which they are born; where women are equal and strong in every sphere of life; and where young people are not forced to seek their future elsewhere.
Our duty today is not only to commemorate this great victory through ceremonies, but to strengthen the responsibility it represents in everyday life. Protecting our cities and shared values, safeguarding the public interest, seeing nature and our living spaces as a trust to be passed on to future generations, and never abandoning justice or equality are the present-day expressions of that responsibility.
As those serving in local government, we know that the Republic grows stronger to the extent that people can have a voice in the street, neighbourhood and city in which they live. The spirit of the Republic is present when a child has access to good education; when a retired resident can take part in urban life with dignity; when a woman feels safe; when a young person has a say in the future of the city they live in; and when we protect the right to life of the animals with whom we share our streets, seeing them not as a burden on the city, but as lives entrusted to us.
30 August also reminds us of another essential truth: even in the most difficult times of a country, despair is not destiny.
Because on these lands, at a moment when many said ‘it is no longer possible’, a nation rose and changed the limits of what was possible. Today, as the children of the Republic, what befits us is to never lose hope, however difficult the circumstances may be; to never depart from the path of reason and science; to never give up on one another; and to continue believing in the future of this country.
I commemorate with respect and gratitude the Great Leader Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, all the heroes of our struggle for independence, our cherished martyrs and our veterans.
We shall continue to carry into the future the courage of those who left us a free homeland, the values of our Republic and our responsibility to this country.
Happy 30 August Victory Day.”
News Photos
