A TURKISH Airlines plane flew over the country on Thursday making the shape of the country’s flag with its flight path to mark centennial celebrations for the founding of Turkey’s parliament. The celebrations for Turkey’s National Sovereignty and Children’s Day were changed due to the coronavirus pandemic, with authorities replacing parades and school ceremonies with observances in line with social distancing efforts. Flight tracking website Flightradar24 showed a crescent and a star over Turkey outlined by a Boeing 777. Turkish television stations showed children with flags on their neighbourhood streets. The government also asked Turkish citizens to sing the national anthem in the evening. Officials wearing masks visited the mausoleum of Turkey’s founder.

The latest health ministry figures show 2,376 people have died from the coronavirus in Turkey. The country ranks seventh in the world in the number of confirmed infections, which are nearing 100,000, according to Johns Hopkins University. To stem the spread of Covid-19, Turkey closed schools, restaurants and other public spaces, barred people under 20 or over 65 from leaving their homes and instituted weekend lockdowns for all, expanding that to four days this week.

In past years, the national sovereignty day was marked with parades, celebrations and schoolchildren acting out ministerial roles with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, called for an election amid the war of independence after the Ottoman Empires defeat in World War I. On April 23, 1920, the Grand National Assembly held its first session. A referendum in 2017 changed Turkeys system of governance from parliamentary to an executive presidency, giving Erdogan wider powers.

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2020