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A ceremony was held in Bilecik to mark the 104th anniversary of the city's liberation from enemy occupation.
The ceremony at Cumhuriyet Square began with a moment of silence, then the Turkish national anthem was played, followed by the sharing of a message from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Bilecik Mayor Melek Mizrak Subasi said in her remarks at the event that Bilecik broke free from the chains of captivity on Sept. 6, 1922, inscribing its name in golden letters in the history of the National Struggle (Türkiye's war of independence).
Emphasizing that this reflects how a city can rise up in difficult times, Subasi said: "This date does not only tell us about a victory achieved in the past. It reminds us that a nation is not considered defeated as long as it does not lose hope."
The ceremony, which continued with a poetry reading, concluded with a folk dance performance.
Beyond its role in the War of Independence, Bilecik holds a wider historical significance as the birthplace of the Ottoman Empire, which was founded nearby in the town of Sogut in 1299.
The province is home to the tombs of Ertugrul Gazi, father of the empire's founder Osman Gazi, and Sheikh Edebali, a revered religious figure closely associated with the empire's early years.
Bilecik was also the site of the First and Second Battles of Inonu, two pivotal engagements during Türkiye's War of Independence, and the city was heavily damaged during the conflict before its eventual liberation in 1922.
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