REVIEW - Children Gain Power in Turkey for 1 Day
On National Sovereignty Day and Children's Day, which Turkey celebrates on April 23, high-ranking officials, including the president, give up their seats to children for the day, an annual tradition that started with Turkey's first president, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk
The Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the nation's unicameral parliament, was founded on April 23, 1920. A year later this day became the young republic's first national holiday. Ataturk, who often spoke of children as the future and country's foundation, made it so that this day would be celebrated as the National Sovereignty Day and Children's Day, a tradition that has now been ongoing since 1927. As such, April 23 is dedicated to both Turkey's independence and the children who will run the country, preserving and multiplying what was achieved by previous generations.
A new tradition was established in 1933 when Ataturk invited children to meet with to him. Shortly afterward, a "children's parliament" was formed, with kids from all over the country becoming its members. Since then, children specifically orphans and children from poor families with educational achievements have been replacing governors, city mayors and deputies for one day out of the year.
It is through this tradition that children have a chance to try out how it would feel to be future leaders. Even the highest-ranking officials such as the president temporarily give up their seats to the youth, all of which is broadcast on live tv.
Interestingly, some of the kids who occupy seats of power as part of this holiday end up in leadership positions down the road. For example, the mayor of the city of Avanos, Celal Alper Ibas, who was elected on March 31, was mayor for a day when he was an elementary school student.
The annual "transfer of presidential powers" takes place in the presidential palace and is not typically very exciting, but funny and touching moments do unexpectedly happen, especially when the children go off script.
Once, a little president could not remember what to say, so he asked the real leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who was sitting next to him, for some help.
"Well, you probably need to welcome everyone first, and then ask the journalists to give you some questions," Erdogan answered quietly.
Although journalists usually ask questions about children's topics, questions concerning political issues sometimes come up. For example, a journalist asked a girl sitting in the president's chair in 2016 how she felt about the idea of switching to a presidential system of government, which the Turkish leader was promoting at the time.
The girl, not the least bit disturbed by Erdgoan's presence nearby, declared that Ataturk, while creating Turkey, had chosen the best system for the republic and that there was, therefore, no need to change it. However, her opinion did not prevent Erdogan from initiating a constitutional referendum in 2017 and introducing the presidential system a year later as a result.
In 2015, then-Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu acted as an assistant to the "prime minister," whose place was taken by an elementary school student. He offered the girl to hear statements from her ministers, who were played by her peers.
"There is a problem with electricity in our country. The Russians built their first nuclear power plant in 1954, and we still do not have any. In this context, not everything is right in our country," the young energy minister said.
Commenting on this statement, Davutoglu recalled that the groundbreaking ceremony for the future Akkuyu nuclear power plant, a joint project with Russia, had taken place shortly before that day.
SIXTH GRADER IN ERDOGAN'S CHAIR
As per the annual tradition, Erdogan invited children to his office on Tuesday. A sixth grade student became the lucky kid to sit in the president's chair and answered questions from journalists, who addressed him as "dear Mr. President."
The journalists were interested in whether the "president" intended to fight the domination of video games, to which the temporary leader expressed his concern and promised to "definitely review this matter with my cabinet and take the necessary measures."
Asked whether he was satisfied with the presidential system in the country, the sixth grader replied "yes, I am the president after all, and this is my cabinet."
"The system works well, there are no problems," the kid added.
Erdogan, who was sitting next to the boy, laughed and said that he would have answered that question the same way.
The journalists tried to find out the young president's opinion on the request to invalidate the outcome of the mayor's election in Istanbul, in which the ruling party was defeated.
"I work as president only today, therefore I cannot answer for what happens tomorrow," the temporary leader said.
Some of the journalists tried to address questions to Erdogan himself, but he dodged the questions.
"Today I am not the president, so I cannot answer the questions," Erdogan remarked.
Official ceremonies, concerts and festive events are taking place throughout Turkey on Tuesday, a day when the country's smallest citizens receive toys and sweets as gifts from their parents.