Today on 18 March 2021, we commemorate the 106th anniversary of the Çanakkale Victory with great proud and excitement.

This victory was achieved through faith and resolution, led to the strengthening of the spirit of struggle that would achieve victory in our War of Independence. The torch lighted in Çanakkale brightened our path during our fight for independence and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey.

On 18 March, we also commemorate our Martyrs’ Day. We remember with respect all our martyrs, including our diplomats and their families who have fallen in various countries while they were representing our flag and our nation.

Since the 1970s, Turkish Foreign Ministryhas lost more than 40 members in the attacks carried out by terrorist organizations such as the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), the Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide (JCAG), the Armenian Revolutionary Army (ARA) and 17 November.

The heinous terrorist attacks against Turkish diplomats and other innocent people took place all around the world, including Los Angeles, Vienna, Sydney, Ottawa, the Hague, Lisbon, Paris and Geneva.

Among the fallen members of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, Mr. Mehmet Savaş Yergüz, Secretary at the Consulate-General of Turkey in Geneva, was assassinated by the Armenian terrorist organization ASALA in 1981 at the corner of Ferdinand Hodler Street and Boulevard Helvetique in Geneva.

A ceremony to commemorate our assassinated diplomats was held today at the Martyrs’ Cemetery of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ankara as well as in our foreign missions all around the world.

On this occasion, we once more bow respectfully before the sacred memories of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey and all of our martyrs. May they rest in peace.