Happy National Sovereignty and Children’s Day!
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan celebrated the 101st anniversary of the nation’s parliament as well as National Sovereignty and Children’s Day.
April 23 is the day that the Grand National Assembly of Turkey was founded in 1920. The national council denounced the government of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed VI and announced a temporary constitution.
This national day, the April 23 Children’s Day, in the country is a unique event. The ‘founding father’ of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, presented April 23 as a claimed national holiday for children, despite the holiday being entirely localized in Turkey.
The National Sovereignty and Children’s Day is not only celebrated in the country, but also in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the Republic of Kosovo as the ‘Memorial Day of Kosovo Turks’.
Under normal conditions, celebrations often take place outdoors. Schools participate in week-long ceremonies marked by performances in all fields in large stadiums watched by the entire nation. Among the activities on this day, the children send their representatives to replace state officials and high-ranking civil servants in their offices. The President, the cabinet ministers, provincial governors, and mayors all turn over their positions to children’s representatives. These children, in turn, sign executive orders relating to educational and environmental policies. Of course, all of them are ceremonial.
But under the COVID-19 conditions, these activities cannot be performed. Moreover, this weekend’s curfew has been extended to three days including today…
Even if the rise in COVID-19 cases in the country is slowing down considering figures, the risk is still high. The number of daily coronavirus cases fell by 7,176 from 61,967 to 54,791 in a day. However, the relation between restrictions and decrease in figures is not clear yet.
On the other hand, citizens’ suspicion towards vaccines seem to continue, while side effects of vaccines are globally discussed. The Ministry of Health has brought ‘persuasion crews’ into play in provinces after it was revealed that majority of citizens who are identified to be vaccinated broke their appointments.
These persuasion crews run a call center that checks on citizens who refuse to be vaccinated and they try to change their minds in addition to visiting citizens at their homes. They also bring some doses of vaccines during their visits in case the citizens they visit can change their minds.
The country currently uses Sinovac and BioNTech vaccines. Moreover, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced that Sputnik V will come into play soon.
Looking at the money market today, USD/TRY appreciates at 8.34, while EUR/TRY slightly exceeds 10.00.
