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
Turkey Turkey Turkey ( ), officially the Republic of Turkey ( ), is a transcontinental country located mainly in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. East Thrace, located in Europe, is separated from Anatolia by the Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorous strait and the Dardanelles (collectively called the Turkish Straits). Turkey is bordered by Greece and Bulgaria to its northwest; Georgia to its northeast; Armenia, the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the south. Ankara is its capital but Istanbul is the country's largest city. Approximately