Republika. Turcja bez stereotypów · Episode 1
29 October 1923
How the Republic of Türkiye was born from the Ottoman Empire, and what links it to Poland.
78 s
The narration
Every 29 October Türkiye dresses in red. This year for the 103rd time.
Autumn 1923. The Ottoman Empire, which for over 600 years stretched from the Balkans to the Middle East, passes into history.
After years of war the Turks won their independence. That summer the Treaty of Lausanne recognised the new state's borders.
On 13 October Ankara, a city in the heart of Anatolia, becomes the capital instead of Istanbul.
On 29 October parliament declares: Türkiye is a republic. The same day Mustafa Kemal, known today as Atatürk, becomes its first president.
And Poland? Three months earlier, in the same Lausanne, Poland and Türkiye signed a treaty of friendship.
Two republics reborn after the same great war: Poland in 1918, Türkiye in 1923.
Credits and rights
Illustrations after archive photographs by Frédéric Gadmer / Musée départemental Albert-Kahn (CC BY-SA 4.0). Mustafa Kemal: archive photograph by Frédéric Gadmer / Musée départemental Albert-Kahn, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Atatürk and other historical figures appear only in real archive photographs; AI-drawn scenes show places and anonymous figures. The voice-over and music were produced with AI tools. Films © TURKPOL.