The OSTİM Traditional Iftar Program focused on the "Kut al-Amara Victory on its 100th Anniversary." OSTİM Chairman Orhan Aydın stated: “We must produce science, we must produce technology. We must manufacture, we must export, and we must all mobilize together. To rebuild and prosper this country, we must stand by our state and do justice to this struggle and the legacy left by the martyrs.”
The traditional Iftar program of the OSTİM Organized Industrial Zone took place at the Hilton Garden Inn Ankara with a large turnout. The Iftar, which attracted interest from politicians, bureaucrats, business leaders, and OSTİM stakeholders, was also attended by former Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly Cemil Çiçek and the Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa, Pule Isaac Malefane. This year's OSTİM Iftar, which is held annually with a different theme, focused on the "100th Anniversary of the Kut al-Amara Victory," and the martyrs were commemorated.
“One of our most important victories after Çanakkale”
OSTİM Chairman Orhan Aydın stated that they were trying to highlight some current issues by using Ramadan as an opportunity. Aydın said that in previous years they had prepared a film about Nuri Demirağ for the first time in honor of Ramadan, that they remembered great figures who served our country and aviation, such as Vecihi Hürkuş, and that they brought up the events in Somalia.
Aydın stated that they deemed it useful to present the Kut al-Amara Victory, a very important and neglected page of our history that has gone largely unnoticed in recent years, during this Ramadan. He said, “All the Western colonial powers are coming to our country, to our geography. They are in the city of Kut in Iraq with around 30,000 soldiers. But in the end, they are defeated and leave. The war ends with 30,000 British soldiers surrendering to the Turkish soldiers. It is considered one of our most important victories after Gallipoli, but unfortunately, my generation learned about this victory later.”
“We must do justice to the legacy left by the martyrs”
Recounting the story of Martyr Lieutenant Muzaffer from Istanbul, Orhan Aydın said, “Seeing that he was in his final moments, he silently began to perform his last duty. Unable to speak, he first wrote ‘In which direction is the Qibla?’ on an empty envelope he found in his pocket with a pencil. Turning his pure face and forehead, full of national honor and virtue, towards the Prophet with the beauty reserved for those who have fulfilled their duty, and lacking the strength to express the martyrdom in his heart, he legibly wrote the Shahada (declaration of faith) in the middle of the blood-stained envelope. Then, this great soldier, wanting to say his last words to his company, and having no strength left, wrote the sentence ‘Let the company avenge me’ in three places on the same envelope, signing two of them, but giving his last breath without signing the third.”
Stating that they have drawn conclusions from the messages given by the martyrs in Çanakkale and Kut al-Amara, President Aydın concluded his speech by saying, “We must produce science, we must produce technology. We must produce, we must export, and we must all mobilize together. To rebuild and prosper this country, we must stand by our state and do justice to this struggle and the legacy left by the martyrs. This is our duty; we, as OSTİM, are a group that understands this message. We stand behind it.”
In his speech, Yıldırım Beyazıt University Rector Prof. Dr. Metin Doğan stated that universities and industrialists would support this effort by coming together, upholding national and spiritual values, and producing science, industry, and technology.
The concert by the OSTİM Sufi Music Choir received great applause. At the end of the iftar, guests were presented with a booklet titled 'The Kut al-Amara Victory on its 100th Anniversary' published by the Turkish Academy of Sciences.
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