Today in History – 21 April

Proclamation of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey

As the Chairman of the Council of Representatives, Mustafa Kemal Pasha made the following announcement to all army corps, governorships, National Defense centers, and municipalities on April 21, 1920, two days before the inauguration of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey:

With the grace of God, the Grand National Assembly will be opened in Ankara on Friday, April 23rd after the Friday prayer.

By coinciding the inauguration of the Grand National Assembly, which will undertake vital tasks such as the independence of the nation, as well as the abolition of the caliphate and sultanate, we shall benefit from the sanctity of that way and perform Friday prayer with all the deputies at the Mosque of Hacı Bayram Veli to draw inspiration for the light of prayer. After the prayer, we shall take the sacred relics Sakal-ı Şerif (Beard of Muhammad) and Sancak-ı Şerif (Sacred Standard of Muhammad) and head over to the place where the Assembly will be gathered.

Prayers will be recited and sacrifices will be slaughtered before entering the Assembly building. Military units of the corps will assume a special ceremonial line up from the Mosque until the Assembly building.

Although the inauguration of the Assembly was originally scheduled for April 21st, it was deliberately moved to Friday to refute Sheikh-ul Islam Dürrizade Abdullah Efendi’s claims of blasphemy in his fatwa of April 10, 1920.