Happy Children's Day............April 23rd is a National Turkish Holiday Honoring Children

Today is National Children's Day in Turkey, a National Holiday established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey, formed in 1923, after a devastating period of wars including World War One and Turkey-Greece War of 1922.

The photos here are of Turkish children from 1) Edirne 2) Konya, 3) Gaziantep (Syrian refugee children), 4) Izmir 5) Izmir (Syrian children) and 6) Izmit/Sakarya.

Blogging in 3.5 Minutes (or less.........) Turkey's six largest cities

Hmmm..............trying to post a blog entry in 3.5 minutes, which is also the same length as the Elvis Costello anthem "Peace, Love and Understanding," is always a challenge.

First, let's say hello to our fans in Latvia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic, three countries which didn't exist when I was born in 1970!

Also, in order to arbitrarily increase hits today, we will mention Selma Blair, Anna Paquin and Miss Utah (alas with this compressed amount of time we don't have time to ask Google for her name!).

Here are the six largest cities in Turkey, my late father's country, which is in many times my country as well. We also like to take a moment to dedicate his entry to Duran Adam/The Standing Man (yes, we don't have to ask Bing what his name is as well) :

1. Istanbul (pictured) 13 million

2. Ankara (the capital) 4.5 million

3. Izmir 3.3 million

4. Bursa 1.9 million

5. Adana 1.57 million

6. Gaziantep 1.5 million


http://www.turkey.org

http://www.tourismturkey.org

April 23 was Children's Day in Turkey

Today was Children's Day in Turkey. The day is actually a federal holiday day and schools are closed throughout Turkey.

I once marched in a Children's Day parade when I was eight years old in 1978 in Black Sea Eregli, Turkey, and it may have been the only time I was ever in a parade in my life.

Nine years later, I was watching the Homecoming Day Parade for Glenvar High School in Salem, Va., which many of my friends participated in. It was fun to watch the float with the cheerleaders and have them wave at me:)

This footage is from Children's Day festivities in the resort town of Kushadasi, which is about one hour south of Izmir, which is Turkey's third largest city. The ruins of Ephesus are also in close proximity to Kushadasi as is the Greek island of Samos.