The commemoration event supported by the Turkish Embassy in Prague, Consulate General of Czechia in Istanbul & Charles University was held at Charles University of Prague on January 16, 2019 with the participation of the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey in Prague Ahmet Necati Bigalı, some staff of the embassy, Pavel Sladek, the head of the Institute of Near Eastern and African Studies of Charles University, Jitka Maleckova, the head of the Turkology Department of Charles University, some academicians, and students.
The event started with a moment of silence in remembrance of the fallen soldiers of Turkey and Czechoslovakia in World War I. Afterwards, Turkish Ambassador and the head of the Institute of Near Eastern and African Studies of Charles University delivered their speeches concerning the event respectively.
Following the speeches, “In the flower of its youth” movie about the fallen students & teachers of the Turkish schools during the wars was screened with English subtitles. The cast of the movie is comprised of the students and teachers of Kabatas High School.
Then the music teacher of our school Ali Salih Köse and the students Selin Ünal, Deniz Chousein and Nil Arıca performed five songs as follows;
1. “Çanakkale içinde vurdular beni” song was be sung in remembrance of the fallen students, teachers and soldiers of Turkey at the Battle of Gallipoli, Battle of Galicia and the other battles of World War I
2. “You are not alone” and “Heal the world” songs by Michael Jackson were sung in memory of the fallen soldiers & people of Czechoslovakia and Turkey during the Battle of Galicia & the other battles of World War I.
3. “Bir başkadır benim memleketim” song was sung for a better and more peaceful world.
4. “Ach synku synku” song was sung in memory of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk ,the founder and first president of Czechoslovak Republic, and soldiers & people of Czechoslovakia who lost their lives in World War I.
On the occasion of the event, tree donations made in memory of the fallen soldiers of Czechoslovakia & Turkey were presented to the Ambassador of Turkey in Prague Ahmet Necati Bigalı, Pavel Sladek, the head of the Institute of Near Eastern and African Studies of Charles University and Zdenek Hrib, the Mayor of Prague
As the students and teachers of Kabatas High School, we will always remember the fallen heroic soldiers of Czechoslovakia and Turkey in World War I with respect.
NOTE: The members of the Project had difficulties in finding sponsors for the trips to Czechia, Hungary and Poland in remembrance of the fallen soldiers of these countries and Turkey in World War I.
President of the Republic of Turkey Honourable Recep Tayyip Erdoğan paid a visit to our school along with the Minister of Education Honourable Ziya Selçuk for marking the start of the new school year on September 18, 2018. The president delivered a speech at the ceremony held at our school as well.
Our students requested the support of the President for the trips to Czechia, Hungary and Poland in memory of the fallen soldiers of the mentioned countries in World War I. The President granted the request of our students and in accordance with the verbal order of the President, Turkish Airlines, Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality became the official sponsors of our initiative.
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk
(7 March 1850 – 14 September 1937) Czechoslovak statesman, President 1918 - 1935
Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk was born as the eldest son to Terezie and Josef Masaryk on 7 March 1850. His father Josef came from an old and large Slovak family from Kopčany. His family was poor as his father labored as a carter and later as a steward while his German-Moravian mother toiled as a cook. He had a brilliant career at school that enabled him to attend the universities of Leipzig and Vienna. In 1882, he became professor of philosophy at Prague University, a post he held until
His ability to unite Czechs and Slovak was demonstrated by his leading role in the creation of a common Czech and Slovaks national council in 1915. He helped organize a Czechoslovak legion in Russia to fight against Austria-Hungary in 1917, and promoted unity among Czech and Slovak emigrant associations in the USA. He had thus become a pivotal figure in the events leading to Czechoslovakia's independence as a unitary state. As President, the open-minded intellectual epitomized the sophistication, liberal individualism, toleration, cosmopolitanism, concern for justice, and modernity of the country's political elite, and of the self-image of the state as a whole. On 14 December 1935 Masaryk resigned from his post due to health reasons; he died on 14 September 1937.
Masaryk used to say that care for educatedness and moral aspects of the society, care for spiritual climate of a society, ability to rise above partial interests are inseparably linked to democracy. When Karel Čapek asked him to formulate the most important reason of his for democracy, Masaryk answered: "The deepest argument for democracy – belief in human being, in his or her value, spirituality and immortal soul; that is the genuine metaphysical equality. Democracy is ethically justified as a political realization of love for a neighbour." Then he specified his attitude: "Democracy is not only a state form, it is not something what is written in constitutions; democracy is a view of life, it consists in belief in human beings, in humanity, and there is no trust without love, there is no love without trust. I have already said before that democracy is a discussion. But the real discussion is possible only if people trust each other and if they are trying fairly to find the truth."
Some quotes of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk;
- Those who look for happiness have already lost it. Every man likes to be happy – sure, but once he starts to look for happiness with too much effort, he can no longer find it. Humanist Ideas, 1901
- What we have achieved so far, we have to keep and improve; what we have not yet done, we have to do. Let’s learn from our mistakes: those how forget bad experience, lose the good one.” Address to the National Assembly, Government and People of the Republic, 28 October 1928
January 12-19, 2019
