Turkish leaders use April 23 to deliver messages on their primary issues

As the entire country celebrated National Sovereignty and Children's Day on April 23 with various activities, the day which has a highly symbolic importance for the foundation of the Republic of Turkey offered a unique opportunity for political leaders to deliver messages on their primary issues.

Ceremonial celebrations in the Turkish capital city of Ankara began with a visit to An?tkabir, the mausoleum of the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

Later in the day, parliament convened with a special agenda dedicated to the day which marked the opening of the first national assembly of the country on April 23, 1920, amid the War of Independence, and which later declared the founding of the Republic of Turkey on Oct. 29, 1923.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu, leader of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader Kemal K?l?çdaro?lu, Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli and Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Deputy Parliamentary Group Chair ?dris Baluken took to the rostrum respectively after Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek opened the special session.

The mass killings of Anatolian Armenians in 1915, which will be commemorated on its 100th anniversary on April 24 with Armenia readying to host world leaders in Yerevan to honor the victims of killings which it terms as "genocide," was a key theme of the speeches delivered in parliament.

Speaking on recent declarations by world leaders labeling the 1915 events "genocide," Çiçek said it was, "a slandering and defamation campaign against the Turkish nation launched by the Armenian diaspora and powers behind them."

He warned that such moves to recognize the killings as "genocide" by...