Republic Day (Turkey) Republic Day (Turkey) The Republic Day of Turkey () is one of the public holidays in Turkey commemorating the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923. It lasts 35 hours, starting each year at 1:00 pm on 28 October. The holiday commemorates the events of 29 October 1923, when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk declared that Turkey was henceforth a republic. Turkey had "de facto" been a republic since 23 April 1920, the date of the establishment of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, but the official confirmation of this fact came only three-and-a-half years later. On 29 October 1923, the
Name of Turkey Name of Turkey The English name Turkey, now applied to the modern Republic of Turkey, is historically derived (via Old French ') from the Medieval Latin '. It is first recorded in Middle English (as "Turkye, Torke", later "Turkie, Turky"), attested in Chaucer, ca. 1369. The Ottoman Empire was commonly referred to as "Turkey" or the "Turkish Empire" among its contemporaries. The English name of Turkey (from Medieval Latin "Turchia"/"Turquia") means "land of the Turks". Middle English usage of "Turkye" is attested to in an early work by Chaucer called "The Book of the Duchess" (c. 1369). The phrase "land