Turks mark Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day in Washington, DC

Members of the Turkish community gathered Sunday in Washington, D.C. to mark the Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day.

Hundreds of people celebrated the day on a boat on the Potomac River while raising the Turkish flag and singing Turkish songs.

Organized by the TurkNetwork, the event also saw the attendance of Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) singer Ismail Ozkan.

May 19, 1919 was the day when Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who was later the founder of the Republic of Türkiye, arrived in the Black Sea city of Samsun from Istanbul to launch the war that four years later transformed the nation into modern Türkiye.

In 1938, Atatürk dedicated May 19 to the youth of the Turkish nation as Youth and Sports Day -- a national holiday that sees young people take part in sporting and cultural activities with official ceremonies across the country.