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Photograph of Founder of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in Front of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Displayed in Fenerbahçe Stadium

23 April 2020 Thursday 11:18

Fenerbahçe celebrated the 100th anniversary of the 23 April National Sovereignty and Children's Day, a gift of the founder of the Republic of Turkey Mustafa Kemal Atatürk to all the world's children, in a very special and meaningful way.

With a width of 95 meters, a height of 35 meters, and weighing 520 kg, a huge photograph of Atatürk in front of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was unfurled from the top of the Marathon Tribune Ülker Stadium Fenerbahçe Şükrü Saracoğlu Sports Complex.

This special photo recorded as the largest banner displayed in our stadium

A video for the 23 April National Sovereignty and Children's Day was taken with President Ali Koç and Fenerbahçe College students Can Yığman (9) and Zeynep Canpolat (7) in front of the photo that took 48 hours to produce and stitch, 24 hours to print, and 8 hours to be hung in our stadium with the help of a team of 6 mountaineers.

Zeynep called out to Atatürk in the video shoot, saying “O Great Atatürk! Today is the 23 April! We, the children of today, are the elders that will shape tomorrow's future. In your light, our eyes look to the future with hope!”

Can expressed his feelings to the founder of Turkey, declaring “We are here as the future of our club Fenerbahçe and our country to celebrate this unique holiday of ours and the 100th anniversary of the opening of our assembly in the world you have given us!”

In his part of the video, club president Ali Koç announced “Today, we came to our stadium to celebrate our holiday. And we have millions of hearts with us! What a great honor and pride this is… This photo shows the day of the opening of our parliament under the leadership of our Atatürk, the cornerstone of an independent Turkish state, the symbol of our national sovereignty… He did everything for the Republic of Turkey to live forever and to leave our children a unique future. We are grateful for what he did for us, for our country. My Atatürk! The future of our beautiful country that you left us is entrusted to our children, the face of our illumination; and our children are entrusted to us!”

The trio finished their speeches by saying “We follow your footsteps, now and forever.” At the end of the video, a collage of 3338 videos celebrating the 23 April sent to our club from 61 different cities in 8 different countries over a week was featured.

The giant banner of the photograph of Atatürk, which we displayed in our stadium for the 23 April, will be a symbol of Atatürk's devotion that Fenerbahçe will proudly bequeath to future generations.


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