Erdoğan hails Turkish youth in May 19 message

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has marked the Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day, highlighting the vital role of Turkish youth in shaping the country’s future.

His message shared by the Communications Directorate via X noted the historical significance of May 19, a national holiday that marks the beginning of Türkiye's War of Independence.

"We are protecting the homeland and the Republic — sacred legacies entrusted to us by our ancestors — and we are taking steps to advance and elevate the Turkis republic, which will endure forever, in every field," the president said.

Erdoğan said he sees Turkish youth "not only as the architects of the future, but also as a driving force of change," saying he "truly" believes that with their energy, determination and dreams, the Turkish youth will "leave a defining mark on our era as the Century of Türkiye."

In the construction of Türkiye's future, "we solve and permanently eliminate" any problem that will waste the energy of Turkish youth and the country's resources with "fruitless discussions," he said.

"We work with all our might to fulfill our promise to leave our youth a peaceful and serene, high-tech and prosperous country.

"We offer opportunities for our youth to discover their potential in every field, from science to art, sports to agriculture, diplomacy to nuclear technologies, and we walk hand in hand and arm in arm with our youth to realize our ideal of a great and powerful Türkiye," the president noted.

He said the government will continue to support "Turkish youth who work tirelessly to achieve their goals, never give up and want to further glorify the civilizational heritage" they inherited from their forefathers.

The president said his administration will always maintain the determination to work harder and achieve more for the Turkish youth by crediting them for every success of Türkiye, "which has become a central country as it grows stronger and has strengthened its position with the steps we have taken."

Erdoğan also commemorated "all the heroes of our War of Independence, [modern Türkiye founder] Gazi Mustafa Kemal [Atatürk] in particular."

May 19, 1919, was the day when Atatürk arrived in the northern city of Samsun from Istanbul to launch the war that four years later transformed the nation into modern Türkiye.

In 1938, Atatürk dedicated May 19 to the youth of the Turkish nation. It has become a national holiday that sees young people take part in sporting and cultural activities with official ceremonies across the country.