İstiklâl Marşı (The March of Independence)
Words by: Mehmet Akif Ersoy - In use: 1921
Music by: Zeki Üngör - 1932
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The İstiklal Marşı - The Independence March - was officially adopted as Turkey's National Anthem on March 12, 1921. 724 poems were submitted to a competition organized to find and select the most suitable original composition for this March, and a poem written by the poet Mehmet Akif Ersoy was adopted unanimously by the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
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Download Music Score (Zip - 21kb)
Twenty-four composers participated in another competition arranged for the selection of a musical composition for the National Anthem. The Council, which was only able to convene in 1924, due to the War of Independence adopted the music composed by Ali Rifat Çağatay.
The words of the National Anthem were sung to this music for eight years. Thereafter, the music of the National Anthem was changed to an arrangement written by Zeki Üngör, conductor of the Presidential Symphonic Orchestra, and the words of the National Anthem have been sung to this musical accompaniment ever since.
The Turkish National Anthem - English lyrics | İstiklâl Marşı - Turkish lyrics |
|---|---|
Fear not! For the red flag that proudly ripples in this glorious twilight, shall never fade, Frown not, I beseech you, oh thou coy crescent, I have been free since the beginning and forever will be so. The lands of the West may be armored with walls of steel, My friend! Leave not my homeland to the hands of villainous men! View not the soil you tread on as mere earth, recognize it! What man would not die for this heavenly piece of land? Oh glorious God, the sole wish of my pain-stricken heart is that, For only then, shall my fatigued tombstone, if there is one, prostrate a thousand times in ecstasy, So flap and wave like the bright dawning sky, oh thou glorious crescent, |
Korkma, sönmez bu şafaklarda yüzen al sancak; Çatma, kurban olayım çehreni ey nazlı hilal! Ben ezelden beridir hür yaşadım, hür yaşarım. Garbın afakını sarmışsa çelik zırhlı duvar, Arkadaş! Yurduma alçakları uğratma sakın! Bastığın yerleri "toprak" diyerek geçme, tanı! Kim bu cennet vatanın uğruna olmaz ki feda? Ruhumun senden, ilahi şudur ancak emeli; O zaman vecd ile bin secde eder varsa taşım; Dalgalan sen de şafaklar gibi ey şanlı hilal; |