Turkism Day (Turkish: Türkçülük Günü) or Turkists' Day (Turkish: Türkçüler Günü) is celebrated on 3 May since 1945 in memory of the rallies in defense of Nihal Atsız,[1] who was prosecuted for defamation by Sabahattin Ali, whom Atsiz called a Soviet spy in an article he wrote.[2] For the second hearing in his trial against Ali, Atsiz's supporters welcomed him arriving at Ankara train station, where they burned books by Ali and Nâzım Hikmet.[3] The rally was mainly by racists and Turanists who shouted slogans against communists.[2][4] During the trial, they massed in the courtroom, as well in front of the court.[3] They later marched to Ulus Square where they eventually clashed with the police.[3] Following the rally, many participants were arrested and some of them were defendants in the Racism Turanism trial.[5] Reha Oğuz Türkkan, Atsız, Alparslan Türkeş, Nejdet Sançar and others, who were imprisoned in the Tophane Military prison, held a reunion on 3 May 1945 to remember the rallies in support of Atsız. This was the start of a 'Turkism Day' celebration;[6][5] Turkism day is celebrated by the Turkish Hearths,[7] the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) (under the name of Nationalists' Day),[8] the Good Party (İyi Party),[9] and other Turkish nationalist organizations. In 1967 the Union of Turkish Nationalists published a book in memory of Turkism day.[10]

Defendants of the Racism-Turanism trials

References

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  1. ^ Gazetesi, Evrensel. "Sabahattin Ali'ye saldırıdan Türkçülük Günü'ne". Evrensel.net (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  2. ^ a b Aytürk, Ilker (2011). "The Racist Critics of Atatürk and Kemalism, from the 1930s to the 1960s". Journal of Contemporary History. 46 (2): 317. doi:10.1177/0022009410392411. ISSN 0022-0094. JSTOR 41305314. S2CID 159678425.
  3. ^ a b c Uzer, Umut (2016). An Intellectual History of Turkish Nationalism: Between Turkish Ethnicity and Islamic Identity. University of Utah Press. p. 151. ISBN 978-1-60781-465-8.
  4. ^ Akgöz, Serkan; Sançar, Nejdet (2017). 1944 Irkçılık Turancılık Davası Mahkeme Günlükleri. ISBN 9786058359550.
  5. ^ a b "3 Mayıs Türkçülük günü nasıl ortaya çıktı? En güzel Türkçülük Günü sözleri ve mesajları haberimizde." Sabah (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  6. ^ "3 Mayıs Türkçülük Günü sözleri ve mesajları! Türkçülük Günü nasıl ortaya çıktı?". www.sozcu.com.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  7. ^ "3 MAYIS TÜRKÇÜLÜK GÜNÜ KUTLU OLSUN - Mehmet ÖZ". www.turkocaklari.org.tr. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  8. ^ Güven, Buket (2 May 2020). "MHP Genel Başkanı Bahçeli'den '3 Mayıs Milliyetçiler Günü' günü mesajı".
  9. ^ Editör5 (2018-05-03). "İYİ Parti lideri Akşener'den '3 Mayıs Dünya Türkçülük günü' mesajı". PolitikYol Haber Sitesi (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-12-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Landau, Jacob M. (1995). Pan-Turkism: From Irredentism to Cooperation. Hurst. ISBN 978-1-85065-269-4.