Turkey Celebrates Ataturk Military Victory

On August 30th, Turkey officially celebrated the 84th anniversary of Ataturk's military victory over the Greek army in 1922. This event was the culmination of Turkey's "War of Independence" and led to the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne between the Allies and Turkey.

The largest of the celebrations was held in Ankara where General Yasar Buyukanit, the newly appointed Chief of the Armed Forces, laid a wreath at the tomb of Mustafa Kemal. Also in attendance were Turkey's President, Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and other military and political leaders.

(Pokr Mher adds: Amongst all the celebrations there was no mention of Turkey's invasion of the Republic of Armenia in 1920, the expulsion of Armenians , Assyrians and others from Cilicia in 1921, the destruction of the Pontic Greeks in 1922, the burning and looting of Smyrna in 1922, etc.. These too were consequences of Turkey's "War of Independence".)