Zubair Qureshi
The Embassy of Türkiye in Islamabad Tuesday evening hosted a reception to mark the 100th anniversary of the country’s Victory Day.
Dr Mehmet Paçaci, Ambassador of the Republic of Türkiye read out the message of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the occasion paid rich tributes to the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and the brave soldiers who laid down great sacrifices for the people of Türkiye to live an independent, peaceful, happy and prosperous life.
Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Nadeem Raza was the chief guest on the occasion. Since it was a ‘victory day,’ and co-hosted by Turkish Defence Attaché Brigadier Mehemt Süha Öztekin one could see quite a good number of military attaches of various missions apart from Pakistan’s serving and retired army officers.
Senator Dr Shahzad Waseem, Air Marshal Waqas A Sulehri, HI (M), Vice Admiral Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Amir Hayat, Ambassador of Azerbaijan Khazar Farhadov, Representative of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Dilsad Senol were among the guests of honour.
Besides, the newly-arrived ambassadors of Germany, Belgium and Spain Alfred Grannas, Charles Delogne and Jose Antonia de Ory Peral, the Indonesian ambassador Adam Tugio, Kazakhstan ambassador Yerzhan Kistafin, High Commissioner of Canada Wendy Gilmour ambassador of Romania Nicolas Goia, DHM France Yves Manville and Azerbaijan’s Defence Attaché Colonel Mehman Novruzov were among the noted guests who had turned up to attend the reception and greet the Turkish ambassador, the defence attaché and the nationals of the country on the historic day i.e. 100th anniversary of the Victory Day.
Dr. Mehmet Paçaci on the occasion read out President Tayyip Erdogan’s message: “We are living the rightful pride of reaching the 100 anniversary of the Great Victory. I congratulate our brothers and sisters in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) and all of our citizens living all across the world on August 30, Victory Day.”
The message goes on as, “Our nation, whose history is full of glorious victories, ended the liberation struggle, which it waged despite every kind of poverty and deprivation, with a clear and indisputable victory on August 30, 1922. It was once again registered with the Great Victory that the lands on which we today live freely are our eternal homeland. The August 30 serves as the clearest evidence of what the Turkish nation can achieve and what it can sacrifice when forced to choose between slavery and liberty.”
Ambassador Mehmet concluded the message by quoting President Tayyip Erdogan: “The year 2023 when we celebrate the 100 years of our Republic, will inshallah mark a new milestone that will pave the way to build the great and powerful Türkiye.”
