Ceremony Held In First Parliament Building To Mark April 23

ANKARA - Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc said on Wednesday that the parliament was formed before any other thing in Ankara when the country was under occupation and added, ''our intellectuals and politicians are searching for a formula for co-existence of people with different opinions and points of views. I am saying that the formula we are searching for is hidden in the will and spirit which formed this first parliament.''
A ceremony was held in the first parliament building on the April 23 National Sovereignty and Children's Day and the 83rd anniversary of the foundation of the parliament.
Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Chief of General Staff Hilmi Ozkok, State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin, State Minister Besir Atalay, Health Minister Recep Akdag, Culture Minister Erkan Mumcu, Tourism Minister Guldal Aksit, Environment Minister Kurdat Tuzmen, Land Forces Commander Aytac Yalman, Air Forces Commander Cumhur Asparuk, Gendarme General Command Sener Ereygur, deputies and students attended the ceremony.
Arinc said that the first parliament was formed by deputies who were from various jobs and 60 percent of those deputies could speak foreign languages and were intellectuals.
''Fully independent Turkey was formed with the efforts of the people who sat on these benches,'' Arinc noted.
Arinc stated that firstly the parliament was formed in those days when the country was under occupation and this meant that none of the problems had a solution unless the will of the nation was the direction of the moves.
Parliament Speaker Arinc called on intellectuals, historians, sociologists and those who were searching for a formula for co-existence to examine the spirit of the first parliament.
Then, Arinc signed the special book.
(BRC-AÖ) 23.04.2003