The 102nd Anniversary of Our Republic Was Celebrated at ITU

ITU members gathered at the Rectorate Atatürk Monument to celebrate our Republic Day with great enthusiasm.

The 102nd anniversary of the Republic of Türkiye was celebrated with great enthusiasm at a ceremony held at the Rectorate Atatürk Monument on October 28, 2025. The ceremony was attended by students, academics, and administrative staff.

The ceremony, hosted by Ela Akyazı, a student from ITU Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, began with our Vice Rector Prof. Dr. İpek Akın Karadayı laying a wreath at the Atatürk Monument. This was followed by a moment of silence in memory of the Great Leader Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, his comrades-in-arms, all martyrs who sacrificed their lives for our homeland, and the ITU members we have lost. The National Anthem was then sung.

Students Çınar Küçük and Süveyda Köksal from the ITU Turkish Music State Conservatory’s Music Middle School took part in the celebration, accompanied by their teacher Cem Demirbaş, and recited poems expressing their feelings about this special day.

On behalf of Istanbul Technical University students, Sümeyra Arasovalı, an undergraduate student from the ITU Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Department of Aeronautical Engineering and Captain of the ATA Team, delivered the Republic Day message: “The Republic marks the rebirth of a nation from its ashes, the beginning of an era guided by reason, science, and freedom. It is the gateway to rising again — to liberty, knowledge, and equality. Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk combined the will of the Turkish nation with his innovative vision and gifted it to us not only as a commander but also as a leader who believed in the power of thought. He aimed to make the victories won on the battlefield permanent through education, art, and science. Even before the Republic was proclaimed, he charted our path with the words, ‘The truest guide in life is science.’ The legacy he left us is not limited to the Republic. It is also a youth that thinks, questions, works, and produces. We are the present-day representatives of that youth. As the ATA Team, ‘ATA’ is more than an abbreviation to us — it is a responsibility. The pride we feel in carrying that name gives us the determination each day to advance along the path Atatürk showed us. His saying, ‘The future is in the skies,’ refers not only to aviation but to an enlightened mindset that looks forward. Guided by those words, we reach for the skies and build our future by progressing along the bright path of the Republic. When Atatürk said, ‘All my hope is in the youth,’ he gave us not just hope, but a duty. This duty is not only to protect the Republic, but to carry it forward with labor, the light of science, and courage — to understand the trust placed in us. We are the Turkish youth who have pledged to be worthy of that trust, and who will continue to keep our Founding Father’s ideas alive in classrooms, workshops, and the skies as we walk in the footsteps of the Republic. Happy 102nd anniversary of our Republic.”

Our Vice Rector Prof. Dr. İpek Akın Karadayı delivered a speech to the ITU Family as part of the ceremony. Prof. Dr. Karadayı said, “Today, we have come together to celebrate the 102nd anniversary of our Republic, which is the guarantee of our independence. For us, the Republic represents struggle, sovereignty, freedom, determination, and the meaning of being an independent nation. As the Istanbul Technical University Family, with our long-established history and our approach of developing and succeeding together in science and technology, we work harder each day than the last with the aim of elevating our country above the level of contemporary civilization. One of our top priorities is to make our university an academic center for scientific output, together with all its stakeholders. Through the projects produced by our students and academics, and the collaborations they establish, we will continue to place science at the heart of life. On behalf of the ITU Family, we commemorate with respect and gratitude our heroic martyrs, especially the founder of our country Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his comrades-in-arms, who proclaimed the Republic 102 years ago as a symbol of our independence and who contributed to bringing our Republic to this day. Happy Republic Day.”

ITU members commemorated the 102nd anniversary of our Republic with a group photo.