Take care of children who are not taken care of
April 23 marks the National Sovereignty and Children’s Day in Turkey, which is a national holiday dedicated to children. The day marks the first meeting of the Grand National Assembly in Ankara back in 1920 during the War of Independence.
This day does not only make children happy, but it also takes elders to their childhood and awakes the child within us.
Hereby, I would like to say happy Children’s Day to all children around the world!
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of Republic of Turkey, dedicated this day to children. This distinguishes him from other world leaders. However, it was not the only thing he did for children. He also established the Turkish Social Service and Children Protection Institution in 1921, which gathered all institutions that were established with the aim of protecting children.
If you ask me who has described the republic best, I would say Atatürk again.
“The republic is the protector of the destitute,” he once said.
This description brings tasks and responsibilities together.
Taking care of the poor and the destitute...
It is now our job to fulfill these responsibilities, those which have emerged with the republic.
For instance, today we need to take care of the children who are not taken care of.
Parents should celebrate this holiday not only with their own children, but also with other children who lost their mothers or fathers, and do not have anyone to celebrate this day with.
Parents should visit child protection institutions, which host the destitute children. They should enliven all these institutions today.
They should take their own children there, who will then meet the children hosted in those child protection institutions.
Not a single child should feel lonely today; none of them should feel abandoned.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of abandoned children in our region.
Just look around a bit.
Look around when you wait in traffic, you cross a bridge or you walk along a square.
You will see how many abandoned children there are around us...
What about the thousands of destitute Syrian kids, whose houses were destroyed or families died during the civil war? See those kids who took shelter in Turkey. Some of them lost their mothers, some lost their fathers and some lost both. Just look at their faces closely when they try to clean car windows in traffic, or sell things on the streets.
Take care of them as well.
Children are innocent
Children are the most innocent beings in this world.
And children are just children. They will keep on living wherever you take them. They will do whatever you ask them to do. They will learn whatever you teach them.
When you call something bad, they will also see perceive it as bad.
When you say something is good, they will call it good too.
They do not know who the thief or the police are. They have no idea what a murderer or crime is, and what punishment is.
They are innocent.
It is adults who turn them into thieves, murderers or troublemakers.
This is why we need to take care of children.
So take care of children who are not taken care of.
