Turkey National Anthem — İstiklâl Marşı

The "İstiklâl Marşı" is a fervent hymn to freedom written at a moment of national peril. Its opening — "Korkma!" ("Fear not!") — reassures the people that the "crimson banner" of Turkey will never fade so long as a single hearth still burns in the homeland; the flag is called "the star of my nation".

The second stanza speaks tenderly to the crescent on the flag as if to a beloved, asking it not to frown but to smile on a "heroic" people, and declares that "freedom is the right of my God-worshipping nation". It fuses faith, sacrifice and fierce love of independence.

In 1921, during the War of Independence, the Grand National Assembly held a competition for a national anthem; the poet Mehmet Akif Ersoy's entry was chosen from 724 submissions, and he famously refused the prize money. The Assembly adopted the poem on 12 March 1921. A melody by Osman Zeki Üngör was selected later and subsequently arranged by Edgar Manas. Only the first two of the poem's ten stanzas are performed as the anthem.

The "İstiklâl Marşı" is inseparable from the founding of modern Turkey and from its author, Mehmet Akif Ersoy, who out of modesty did not include it in his own poetry collections. Recited by schoolchildren and sung at national ceremonies, it is also the national anthem of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.

The "İstiklâl Marşı" ("The Independence March") is the national anthem of Turkey, one of the most stirring of the world's national anthems. The lyrics are by the poet Mehmet Akif Ersoy; the music is by Osman Zeki Üngör.

It was adopted on 12 March 1921. The full poem has ten stanzas, of which the first two are sung. The text is in the public domain.