The Presidential reception held to commemorate the 92nd anniversary of the Republic of Turkey took place in a dramatically different atmosphere with the attendance of ordinary citizens from across 81 provinces throughout the country for the first time, rather than the usual military and state officials.
The reception welcomed ordinary citizens who displayed heroic and beneficial deeds.
Addressing the guests, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that the presidential palace and presidency are no longer distant from the nation.
"In the past, the Office of Presidency had been dominated by a monolithic ideology," Erdoğan said, referring to the strictly official nature of previous presidential receptions, when ordinary citizens could not imagine entering the presidential compound.
The president claimed that the concept of republic was used by pro-tutelage administrators to exploit democracy, freedoms and the law, as a means to attack values belonging to the Turkish nation.
Among the attendees was Recep Evran, a fisherman who saved the 18-month-old Syrian toddler in the Aegean Sea, and street cleaner Şükrü Deniz, who saved the life of a 4-year-old girl as she fell from the seventh floor of an apartment building. Kids and the elderly also attended the reception.
Second grade student Ömer Faruk, who rushed an injured dog to the hospital in the Yozgat province, and three other students who kissed and raised the Turkish flag lowered by PKK terrorists in Bağlar Public School in southeastern Diyarbakır province were also invited by President Erdoğan to attend the reception.
74 year-old Süleyman Aksu from the Kahramanmaraş province, who applied to the Turkish Armed Forces to serve in the army against PKK terrorists, was also in attendance.
President Erdoğan has consistently underscored that the presidential palace belongs to the nation.
The Presidential Palace complex in Ankara was opened in July to keep the highest office in the country closer to the public and to broaden the presidency's appeal to the public by making the presidential palace more accessible to everyone.
Erdoğan, in October 2014, moved into the new palace compound from Çankaya, the iconic presidential mansion in the eponymous district of the capital. The complex is located in Atatürk Forest Farm, a vast protected forested area hosting a large farm founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey.
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"In the past, the Office of Presidency had been dominated by a monolithic ideology," Erdoğan said, referring to the strictly official nature of previous presidential receptions, when ordinary citizens could not imagine entering the presidential compound.
Second grade student Ömer Faruk, who rushed an injured dog to the hospital in the Yozgat province, and three other students who kissed and raised the Turkish flag lowered by PKK terrorists in Bağlar Public School in southeastern Diyarbakır province were also invited by President Erdoğan to attend the reception.
