Turkey's annual April 23 celebration

Turkey celebrated its National Sovereignty and Children's Day on april 23rd. During the festival, the country celebrates the establishment of the Turkish parliament with Children's Day every year. The Sovereignty Day is being marked for the 97th time this year.

The ceremonies continue to be held in the Turkish Parliament and the Mausoleum of Atatürk in the capital city, Ankara.

The initial ceremony was held at 9 a.m. with the laying of a wreath at the Atatürk monument in parliament at 09.15 a.m, high-level state officials including Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım attended the ceremony at Anıtkabir and the official ceremony later continued in parliament.

The Turkish Presidency released President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's message for April 23rd saying, "April 23 is a day for joy, enthusiasm, solidarity and sharing for our children and for all children of the world. however, again this year, in many parts of the world, tens of thousands of children have no opportunity to see April 23 ... I am sending our deepest sympathy to all those children who suffer from hunger and war in the world especially in Syria, Iraq and Somalia."