Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day

On 19 May 1919 Mustafa Kemal Pasha landed at Samsun aboard the steamer Bandırma. The step marked the start of Anatolia's National Struggle against occupation: the Amasya Circular and the Erzurum and Sivas congresses followed, and in 1920 the Grand National Assembly opened in Ankara.

Atatürk later told those who asked his birthday that it was "19 May 1919". The Address to the Youth at the end of his 1927 Great Speech (Nutuk) speaks to the young people of Türkiye: "O Turkish youth! Your first duty is to preserve and defend Turkish independence and the Turkish Republic forever."

Youth Day

19 May has been celebrated as Youth and Sports Day since 1938, and since 1981 as the Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day. Young people carry the Youth Flag from Samsun to Ankara, and stadiums host sports displays while towns hold torchlight processions and concerts.