30 August Victory Day Celebrated with a Performance by Mabel Matiz
30 August Victory Day Celebrated with a Performance by Mabel Matiz
Beşiktaş Municipality celebrated 30 August Victory Day with a concert by Mabel Matiz, the beloved figure of pop music. Mayor of Beşiktaş Rıza Akpolat also attended the concert held in Barbarossa Square and celebrated the Victory Day.
The 102nd anniversary of 30 August Victory Day was celebrated with enthusiasm in Beşiktaş with different events as in the whole country. The celebrations started in the morning with a formal ceremony at Beşiktaş Anatolian High School. Then, in the neighbourhoods of Beşiktaş, the marching band of Beşiktaş Municipality played the favourite marches of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and made the citizens experience the Victory Day enthusiasm to the fullest. At 20:00, DJ Lapstekin took the stage in Barbarossa Square and gave a unique performance to the citizens of Beşiktaş and Istanbul.
Prior to the Mabel Matiz concert, as part of the joint Victory Day celebrations in Beşiktaş, Beyoğlu, and Şişli under the theme “On the Victory Road, We are Proud”, the three mayors appeared on stage at Barbarossa Square to address to the public. On 30 August, Beyoğlu Municipality organized an event at Hasköy Park with Oğuzhan Koç, while Şişli Municipality organized a performance by Fatma Turgut at Maçka Park for the public.
At the end of the night in Beşiktaş, Mabel Matiz was on the stage. The famous musician, who sang his popular songs for Beşiktaş residents on this special day, celebrated the 30 August Victory Day and expressed his gratitude to Beşiktaş Municipality for the organisation. During the concert, the plaque of the sapling donation made by Beşiktaş Municipality to the Tema Foundation on behalf of Mabel Matiz was also presented to the artist.
Beşiktaş Mayor Rıza Akpolat, made the following statements in his speech on the stage:
“Today is Victory Day. The 102nd anniversary of the day when the road to liberation was crowned with victory. May it be happy for all of us. Celebrate it with full enthusiasm, in a manner befitting national holidays. We are together with three mayors today. This has a meaning. We are now in Beşiktaş. From Beşiktaş, we will go to Şişli, then to Beyoğlu. The Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk made all the plans for the War of Independence in this region. He developed the idea of the republic in this region. When the enemy ships came in front of Dolmabahçe, here is the place where he said, ‘As they have come, so they will go!’. On 15 May 1919, he left his home in Şişli, received his mother’s blessing in Akaretler, boarded the Kartal Steamship in Galata to board the Bandırma Ferry and started the War of Independence. He entrusted his family and loved ones to these three districts. Therefore, we, as the mayors of these three districts, start our day with this in our minds; we carry out our work with this sense of responsibility in our hearts. We will continue to follow in his footsteps, to live and cherish his principles as long as we exist. Despitefully those who ban our national holidays and try to discredit them, celebrate these holidays to the fullest. Happy Victory Day.”
Şişli Mayor Resul Emrah Şahan expressed his feelings as follows: “Beşiktaş, you look wonderful. Happy Victory Day. I bring lots of love and greetings from Şişli. We will work for the second century of our republic and better days for a bright Türkiye, where we celebrate more beautiful national holidays together. Thank you all very much. Likewise, I would like to thank Mr. Akpolat and Mr. Güney. This solidarity will follow the path of our great leader, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk for the bright future of Türkiye.”
The Mayor of Beyoğlu, İnan Güney, who took the floor lastly, stated: “I bring greetings to you all from Beyoğlu. I hereby commemorate all our martyrs, especially Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his brothers-in-arms, who sacrificed a great deal for the sake of the republic, who founded our nation with half a bowl of soup and a slice of bread, who gave their lives for the sake of independence rather than living as a colony under another country, who said ‘Either Freedom or Death’. Today I read a Victory Day celebration message of a state institution. There was no name of Atatürk or the republic in it. They do not see this: The more they ignored him, the more Mustafa Kemal Atatürk became great. The more they ignored him, the more people protected his ideas. They will continue to ignore, and we will continue to keep the republic alive in the streets. Happy Victory Day to all of us.”
