Republic Day and Our Environs

Today, October 29, is Republic Day, which commemorates the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 by Mustafa Kemal.  Flags have been flying for some weeks now in solidarity against the attacks by Kurdish rebels, in support of the earthquake victims, and now to celebrate Republic Day, but they seem bigger and more frequent today.  In the picture at left, you'll see the view from our window, which now includes a giant flag flying between 2 buildings.  Not wanting to seem unpatriotic, we have our own little flag in the window of our living room (see below), as well as a picture of Mustafa Kemal, who took the last name of Atatürk, or father of the Turks, when he became the first president of Turkey in 1923.  You'll see below our portrait of Atatürk when he was on the cover of Time Magazine on March 24, 1923.  I've also posted a picture of the school across the street from our apartment, complete with Turkish flags and a flag of Mustafa Kemal.  Maybe one reason we like the Turkish flag so much is because of the crescent, which is also in the South Carolina flag???