April 23 enthusiasm at Izmir Book Fair

IZKITAP Fest – Izmir Book Fair, hosted by Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and held in an open area in Kültürpark this year, witnessed great enthusiasm on April 23 National Sovereignty and Children’s Day. Children who came to Kültürpark with their parents showed great interest in the Children’s Festival, which included many activities from concerts and workshops to magician and dance shows, from puppets to street plays. Historian and writer Prof. Dr. İlber Ortaylı also met with the people of Izmir at the meeting.

İZKITAP Fest – İzmir Book Fair, hosted by Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and organized with the main theme of “Children’s Literature” in cooperation with İZFAŞ and SNS Fuarcılık, provided an unforgettable experience for book lovers and children in Izmir with the Evrencan and Aliens concert, special events and interviews for children on April 23. İZKITAP Fest, which is the largest book fair held outdoors, offers the opportunity to visit nearly 300 publishing houses, nearly 50 second-hand booksellers, institutions and non-governmental organization stands every day between 10.00-21.00 until April 28, as well as a signing day, It also provides the opportunity to participate in interviews and different events.

It was gathered under a Turkish name for the first time since the Gokturks.

İZKITAP Fest’s special guest on April 23 is historian and writer Prof. Dr. He became İlber Ortaylı. Meeting with book lovers from Izmir at the Atatürk Open Air Theatre, Prof. Dr. Ortaylı emphasized that Turkish democracy is based on solid foundations. İlber Ortaylı said, “April 23 is a very important event. The Turkish Grand National Assembly and the public administration convened under a Turkish name for the first time since the Gokturks. In Turkey, it is the government in Ankara that came to power by popular vote. It is a country that has been occupied and conditions have completely turned against it, but the independence of the state has not completely ended. According to Sèvres, it is a country where heavy occupation provisions were intended to be implemented after the war. They have reduced their borders, troops have entered, and the Allied Powers are occupying the regions they could not enter, according to Sevres. This is what was opposed. They are demobilizing an army, but those who were not demobilized were organized, people, various classes came together in towns and cities, this is very important! This movement was carried out with a sharp policy and a sharp political view. Even among the staff running the parliamentary government, there was not always 100 percent harmony, but there was a will attached to a certain ideal, morality and discipline. The people in this parliament came by election. Different ideas are resolved within the debate etiquette of the Parliament. It is an Assembly where the differences of the people gathered together are very sharp and their world views are different, but they are working to save the country from enemy invasion and the provisions of Sevres. The First Parliament is a conventional system in which democracy is established in Turkey. It elects the government, governs the state, and works in harmony by controlling extraordinary war powers. “It is a period in both the history of Türkiye and the history of the region when the tradition of democracy, consensus and debate emerged in Turkey,” he said.

Turkish citizenship is not an easy thing to obtain, you have to own it.

Addressing young people who want to go abroad, Prof. Dr. Ortaylı underlined that Turkey should immediately return to the citizenship system of the last 10 years, saying, “If the young people we raised with great difficulty in our country remain in foreign hands, it will disrupt Turkey.” Ortaylı said, “Turkish citizenship is not an easy thing to obtain, you have to protect it. Behind; There are painful migrations from the Balkans and the Caucasus. What lies? Grandfathers who died in Çanakkale, the War of Independence, and the First World War lie in distant deserts. There are cemeteries all the way from Gaza to the border, so that’s what you can visit. There is a mass of people who painfully used domestic goods for many years, lived based on inflation, and agreed to live in inflation so that the dam could be built. It is not a skill to sell the irrigated lands there for this and that. This is a place owned by an extremely privileged citizenry. The USA is not like some European states. “Everyone should have their citizenship and citizenship,” he said.

“This nation votes at the ballot box. I don’t remember anything other than thinking I’m 77 years old. Therefore, in such a democracy, there is no need to disgrace people by listening to some pessimistic, pessimistic and destructive comments,” said İlber Ortaylı, adding: “Participate in the municipal elections, it is impossible not to participate. If the people you don’t like are candidates, you can replace them with new ones and everyone will understand. There is no point in being offended when you don’t like it. Then the rabbit becomes angry with the mountain. The vote will be given. “It’s a very important thing,” he said.