Rear Admiral Jeannette Morang,

Rear Admiral Wolter Smitt,

Representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense,

Distinguished Military Attachés,

Our dear friend Carmen Hanım, distinguished spouse of my good counterpart Ambassador Joep Bey in Ankara,

Damen en Haren, welkom,

Thank you for joining us to celebrate the 102nd anniversary of our Victory Day, a very important turning point in contemporary Turkish history.

Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the First World War, Anatolia and the Turkish nation were ravaged as the nation was at war since the Balkan Wars of 1911-1912. Contrary to the Armistice of Mudros of 1918, the Turkish nation was faced with the illegal occupation of Anatolia by the victors of the World War.

Turkish people started resistance and leaders of the resistance movement brought the people together through congresses in Anatolia, which garnered popular support of the masses to the resistance, and where it was decided that the future of the nation can only be determined by the Turkish people. As such, the Turkish War of Independence, under the leadership of Commander-in-Chief Mustafa Kemal was carried out with every man and woman, young and elderly to save the remaining land.

The tide turned, again in August, in 1921, at the Battle of Sakarya, which took place so close to the seat of the newly established Turkish Parliament in Ankara so that the sounds of artillery fire could be heard from the city. One year later, an operation started on 26 August1922, culminated on 30 August and ended on 9 September with Turkish victory in İzmir which paved the way to the foundation of the Republic of Türkiye in 1923.

Distinguished Guests,

This August we are also celebrating two other significant anniversaries in terms of Turkish-Dutch relations.

First; 100^th anniversary of the signature of the Friendship Treaty between the newly established Republic of Türkiye and the Kingdom of the Netherlands on 16 August 1924. The Netherlands was one of the first seven nations recognising the Republic, thus signing one of the first Friendship Treaties. I believe it was not a coincidence. As a neutral country, the Netherlands had an interest section in its Embassy in Athens to protect Turkish interests. Likewise, it has facilitated the return of Turkish POWs from China, may be Canada and may be elsewhere. Second; this August we also observed the 60^thanniversary of the signature of the Turkish-Dutch Labor Agreement on 19 August 1964.

Turkish-Dutch contemporary friendship is 100 years old this year, but Turkish and Dutch people have been in contact with each other for almost five centuries. Relations have come a long way in 100 years. Today, together with the Netherlands, Türkiye attaches special importance to international peace and security. Our countries have always worked for resolution of conflicts through diplomacy. As staunch NATO allies, we are working together on challenges and threats to peace and security. This understanding has also led Türkiye and the Netherlands to send troops to Korea in 1950 under the UN mandate. Incidentally, we are honored to have today Ms. Yasemin Sözer, daughter of one of our Korean War veterans. We also have Major Ekrem Karadeniz from the Royal Netherlands Army whose father served in Korea and his great-grandfather was a Independence War veteran.

Today we all are living in a geography prone to conflicts. That is why, Türkiye has always attached importance to self-reliance and effective deterrence. We are proud to say that the national production of our defense industry has come to an exemplary level. As the second biggest army in NATO and with more than 2 % of its budget allocated to defense, we utilize our national defense industry in combating instabilities and international terrorism in a difficult neighborhood. That is why, we have today only a portion our officers serving at the NATO base in Brunssum. While being prepared for every eventuality, we give priority to diplomacy. As announced by President Erdoğan this will be our course in the Second Turkish Century.

Today, we remember once again with deep gratitude, the founding leader and first President of the Republic of Türkiye, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and his comrades-in-arms, all fallen heroes and those who fought during that period.

Danke wel. Fijne dag van de overwinning!

Değerli Misafirlerimiz,

Bugün şanlı tarihimizde çok önemli bir dönüm noktasının yıldönümünü idrak ediyoruz. Malazgirt Zaferi, Cumhuriyetimizin ilanı, Kıbrıs Barış Harekatı, 15 Temmuz hain darbe girişimine karşı milletimizin direnişi gibi hayati dönüm noktaları arasında 30 Ağustos da bizim için çok önemli bir tarihtir. Tüm zorluklar karşısında yürütülen Kurtuluş Savaşımızın şahikasıdır.

Bugün devletimizin ve milletimizin eriştiği milli ve yerli savunma imkanları, vatanımızın kurtulmasına yol açan o savaşçı kuşağın içinde bulunduğu yokluk ve imkansızlıklar ile kıyaslanamaz. O kuşak bugünkü milli yeteneklerimizle eminim ki gurur duyardı.

Bu vesileyle, İstiklal Savaşımızın önderi ve Türkiye Cumhuriyeti'nin banisi Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ve silah arkadaşları başta olmak üzere, bizim bugün bu kutlamayı yapabilmemizi sağlayan, yurdumuzun her köşesinde bilinen ya da bilinmeyen mezarlarında vatana karışmış şehitlerimizi, gazilerimizi, üniformalı veya üniformasız olarak vatan hizmetine giren, can alıp can veren tüm kahramanlarımızı saygı, minnet ve rahmetle anıyoruz.

Gazilerimizi anarken, bugün aramızda kıymetli bir Kore Savaşı Gazimizin kızı Sayın Yasemin Sözer ile büyük dedesi İstiklal Harbi Gazisi, dedesi ise Kore Gazisi olan, Hollanda Kraliyet Kara Kuvvetleri’nde Binbaşı Ekrem Karadeniz’in de bulunuyor olmasından memnuniyet duyuyoruz.

Zafer Bayramımız kutlu olsun!