Turkey marks the Republic's 103rd anniversary today, celebrating the proclamation of 29 October 1923 and the promise that sovereignty belongs to the people.
By the Editorial Team of TLF
29 October 2026 · Editorial
As Turkey's parliament records, the republic founded under Mustafa Kemal Atatürk came out of war and the collapse of empire. It gave the country a new basis for independence, citizenship and political modernisation.
The constitutional story starts earlier. Nineteenth-century reforms laid the groundwork, and the first real parliamentary experiment came in 1876, amid a coup, the deposition and death of Sultan Abdülaziz, and the removal of Murad V. Under Abdülhamid II, the first Ottoman constitution created a parliament but left the sultan with wide powers.
Nearly 150 years on, Turks are still working out a stable system of representative government. That takes accountable institutions, independent courts, and freedoms that outlast the government of the day.
The record since then includes parliamentary gains, military coups, repression and repeated constitutional crises. Political movements that promised salvation too often demanded obedience instead of protecting pluralism.
For The Levant Files, the anniversary comes with one wish: a constitutional settlement that guarantees every citizen's rights, limits arbitrary power and protects dissent, whatever a person's identity, faith or party.
Happy birthday, Republic of Turkey. We wish you democracy.