Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) commemorated Çanakkale Martyrs in a panel titled “Çanakkale and Martyrs Memorial Program” which was organized at at Mustafa Afşin Ersoy Hall at 10:30 a.m., on the 17th of March 2017.
EMU Atatürk Research and Application Center (ATATUM) Chair Assist. Prof. Dr. Hasan Cicioğlu, EMU ATATUM academic staff members Dr. Turgay Bülent Göktürk and Süheyla Göktürk and EMU Atatürk Ideology Club President M. Çağatay Kır, delivered presentations at the panel where students showed great interest. The panel which commenced with a Moment of Silence and National Anthem, continued with a concert about Çanakkale War and presentation of archived photos of soldiers who battled in Çanakkale War with Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Kutlay Ön, student of EMU Faculty of Education, Department of Fine Arts Education, also read his poem titled “18 March”.
The panel also hosted EMU ATATUM Chair Assist. Prof. Dr. Hasan Cicioğlu’s speech titled “The Causes and Outcomes of Çanakkale War”. Assist. Prof. Dr. Cicioğlu stated that Çanakkale War is recorded as the battle where the most martyrs and bullets per square meter were calculated as approximately 250 thousand people perished. In his speech, Assist. Prof. Dr. Cicioğlu explained why Çanakkale War started and gave detailed information about what was experienced during the war. Assist. Prof. Dr. Cicioğlu advised the young students to stay in the bonding trace of Atatürk.
EMU ATATUM academic staff member Dr. Turgay Bülent Göktürk also delivered a presentation titled “The Political and Military Observation of Çanakkale Combats”. Dr. Göktürk gave detailed information about the historical facts from Çanakkale war and underlined that the war leaded to Atatürk’s birth as a respected soldier, statesman and a world leader. After Dr. Göktürk’s speech, EMU ATATUM academic staff member Süheyla Göktürk gave a poetic presentation titled “Çanakkale and Mustafa Kemal”.
In his speech titled “Çanakkale and Turkish Youth”, EMU Atatürk Ideology Club President M. Çağatay Kır stated that Çanakkale War could also be referred to as “Youth Defense”. Kır said that a lot of martyrs who lost their lives in Çanakkale war were under the age of 18 and most of the high school students who voluntarily fought at the war could not return. Kır stated that a lot of high schools that gave 60 to 80 graduates per year from all parts of Anatolia were not able to graduate any of their students during the said war.
Çanakkale and Martyrs’ Memorial Program ended after the screening of a 10 minute documentary titled “Çanakkale Cannot Be Passed”. After the panel, the Student Council operating under EMU Social and Cultural Activities Directorate distributed wheat soup and compote at EMU Atatürk Square at 1:30 p.m. as part of the 18th of March Çanakkale Victory and Martyrs’ Commemoration Day.
