Anthem · War and march · 1921 · Islamic Caliphates & Middle East
Independence March
İstiklal Marşı
The national anthem of Turkey, written in 1921 for the soldiers of the Turkish War of Independence.
- Words
- Mehmet Âkif Ersoy
- Music
- Osman Zeki Üngör (1930; orchestrated by Edgar Manas, 1932)
- Culture
- the Turkish National Movement; the Republic of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
- Language
- Turkish
- Place
- Turkey (Grand National Assembly)
- Date
- words adopted 12 March 1921; music adopted 1930
- Type
- Anthem · War and march
- The words
- Public domain (words by Mehmet Âkif Ersoy (adopted 1921; he died in 1936))
The story
"İstiklal Marşı" ("Independence March") is the national anthem of the Republic of Turkey and of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. It was made during the Turkish War of Independence, when the Turkish National Movement led by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was fighting both invading foreign powers and the Ottoman court, which it held to be complicit in the partition of the Turkish homeland after the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920.
In 1921 the movement organised a nationwide competition for a National March, meant to encourage the forces fighting for independence and to give pride to the homeland that would be founded after victory. 724 poems were sent in. Mehmet Âkif Ersoy, a well-known poet of the time, at first refused to take part because the competition offered a money prize, but the National Parliament persuaded him to submit a poem and set the reward aside; the prize later went to a society of veterans. His ten-stanza poem was read to the National Assembly by the deputy Hamdullah Suphi on 1 March 1921 and, after a parliamentary committee had examined it, unanimously adopted. The Grand National Assembly officially adopted it as the anthem on 12 March 1921, two and a half years before the Republic was proclaimed on 29 October 1923. Ersoy's manuscript is dedicated "To Our Heroic Army", the national forces that went on to win the war.
The music took longer to settle. The first setting, by a composer named Çağatay, lasted only six years. In 1930 Parliament adopted a new composition by Osman Zeki Üngör, a virtuoso and the first conductor of the Presidential Symphony Orchestra, and in 1932 the government commissioned the musician Edgar Manas to harmonise and orchestrate Üngör's melody, which gave the anthem its final official form.
The anthem has 41 lines in ten stanzas, but only the first two are sung, at state and military events, national festivals and bayrams, sporting events and school ceremonies. In Turkish classrooms a framed copy usually hangs above the blackboard, beside the Turkish flag, a photograph of Atatürk and his address to the nation's youth from his speech to Parliament of 20 October 1927. The first two stanzas appeared on the back of the Turkish 100 lira banknotes of 1983–1989. In 1983 the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus adopted it as its own anthem under Article II of its constitution.
What it says
A poem of love for the Turkish homeland, its flag and its soil, and of faith and freedom. It praises hope, devotion and sacrifice in the struggle for independence and honours the soldiers who fought for it; the mood is solemn and defiant.
The words
Korkma, sönmez bu şafaklarda yüzen al sancak;Do not fear; the crimson banner that waves in these dawns will not fade
Sönmeden yurdumun üstünde tüten en son ocak.before the last hearth that smokes over my homeland is put out.
O benim milletimin yıldızıdır, parlayacak;It is the star of my nation; it will shine;
O benimdir, o benim milletimindir ancak.it is mine, and it belongs to my nation alone.
Çatma, kurban olayım, çehreni ey nazlı hilâlDo not frown, may I be your sacrifice, O coy crescent,
Kahraman ırkıma bir gül! Ne bu şiddet, bu celâl?smile on my heroic race! Why this violence, this wrath?
Sana olmaz dökülen kanlarımız sonra helâl..Otherwise the blood we have shed will not be lawful to you then.
Hakkıdır, Hakk'a tapan milletimin istiklâl.Independence is the right of my nation, which worships God.
Ben ezelden beridir hür yaşadım, hür yaşarımI have lived free since time began, and free I live.
Hangi çılgın bana zincir uracakmış? Şaşarım!What madman would put chains on me? I am astonished!
Kükremiş sel gibiyim; bendimi çiğner aşarım;I am like a roaring flood; I trample my dam and surge over it;
Yırtarım dağları, enginlere sığmam, taşarım.I tear the mountains, I do not fit into the open expanses, I overflow.
Garbın âfâkını sarmışsa çelik zırhlı duvar,If the horizons of the West are walled in by armour of steel,
Benim iman dolu göğsüm gibi serhaddim var.I have a frontier like my breast full of faith.
Ulusun, korkma! Nasıl böyle bir imanı boğar,Let it howl, do not fear! How could it strangle such a faith,
"Medeniyet" dediğin tek dişi kalmış canavar?that one-toothed monster you call 'civilisation'?
Show all 41 lines
Arkadaş yurduma alçakları uğratma, sakınFriend, do not let the vile ones reach my homeland, beware;
Siper et gövdeni, dursun bu hayasızca akın.make your body a shield, let this shameless onslaught stop.
Doğacaktır sana vadettiği günler Hakk'ın..The days that God promised you will dawn;
Kim bilir belki, yarın; belki yarından da yakın.who knows, perhaps tomorrow; perhaps even sooner than tomorrow.
Bastığın yerleri "toprak?" diyerek geçme, tanı!Do not pass over the ground you tread on, calling it 'soil': know it!
Düşün altındaki binlerce kefensiz yatanı,Think of the thousands lying beneath it without a shroud.
Sen şehid oğlusun. İncitme, yazıktır, atanı;You are the son of a martyr. Do not hurt your forefather, it would be a shame;
Verme dünyaları alsan da bu cennet vatanı.do not give this paradise of a homeland, even if you were to gain worlds.
Kim bu cennet vatanın uğruna olmaz ki feda?Who would not be sacrificed for the sake of this paradise of a homeland?
Şühedâ fışkıracak toprağı sıksan şühedâ!Martyrs would gush out if you squeezed its soil, martyrs!
Canı, cananı, bütün varımı alsın da Hudâ,Let God take my life, my beloved, all that I have,
Etmesin tek vatanımdan beni dünyada cüdâ.but let Him not part me in this world from my only homeland.
Ruhumun senden, İlâhi, şudur ancak emeli:O my God, the one wish of my soul from You is this:
Değmesin mâbedimin göğsüne nâmahrem eli.let no stranger's hand touch the breast of my temple.
Bu ezanlar -ki şahâdetleri dinin temeli-These calls to prayer, whose testimonies are the foundation of the faith,
Ebedî yurdumun üstünde benim inlemeli.must ring out over my eternal homeland.
O zaman vecd ile bin secde eder -varsa- taşım,Then my gravestone, if I have one, will bow down a thousand times in ecstasy,
Her cerihamdan İlâhi, boşanıp kanlı yaşım,O my God, my bloody tears pouring from every wound of mine;
Fışkırır ruh-ı mücerred gibi yerden naşım;my corpse will spring from the earth like a disembodied spirit;
O zaman yükselerek arşa değer belki başım.then, rising, my head will perhaps touch the Throne.
Dalgalan sen de şafaklar gibi ey şanlı hilâl!Wave you too like the dawns, O glorious crescent!
Olsun artık dökülen kanlarımın hepsi helâl.Let all the blood I have shed now be lawful at last.
Ebediyyen sana yok, ırkıma yok izmihlâl:Forever there is no perishing for you, nor for my race:
Hakkıdır hür yaşamış bayrağımın hürriyet;freedom is the right of my flag, which has lived free;
Hakkıdır Hakk'a tapan milletimin istiklâl.independence is the right of my nation, which worships God.
Original: Mehmet Âkif Ersoy (1921). Text from Wikisource; public domain.
The English is the Institute’s own translation, made from the original for this page.
Notes on the translation (12)
- line 1.1: 'sönmez' is 'will not go out, be extinguished', the word used of fire and light, as in line 1.2.
- line 2.1: 'kurban olayım', 'may I be your sacrifice', an endearment; 'nazlı hilâl', the coy (or proud, petted) crescent of the flag.
- line 2.3: 'helâl' is what is religiously lawful, and also what is given or forgiven ungrudgingly: the blood shed for the flag would not be blessed or freely given to it.
- lines 2.4 and 10.5: 'Hakk' is God (the Truth, the Right), a play on 'hakkı', 'its right'.
- line 3.4: 'enginler' are open plains or the open sea; 'taşarım', 'I overflow, spill over'.
- line 4.4: 'tek dişi kalmış canavar', 'the monster with only one tooth left', i.e. a decrepit beast.
- line 6.3: 'atanı', 'your forefather (ancestor)'.
- line 8.2: 'nâmahrem', one who is not of the family and may not enter its private quarters; 'mâbed', a temple or place of worship.
- line 8.4: 'inlemeli', literally 'must moan, resound'.
- line 9.4: 'arş', the Throne of God in the highest heaven.
- line 10.3: 'izmihlâl', perishing, ruin, annihilation.
- line 4.3: 'Ulusun' is read as 'let it howl' (ulumak, to howl), said of the monster of the next line.
Listen
On YouTube, from the channel Alora Production. Pressing play loads YouTube’s player. Watch on YouTube
What it inspired
- Music by Osman Zeki Üngör 1930the setting adopted by Parliament
- Harmonisation and orchestration (Edgar Manas) 1932the final official version
People, places and events
Sources
- Wikipedia, "İstiklal Marşı", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%B0stiklal_Mar%C5%9F%C4%B1
- Grand National Assembly of Turkey, Zabit Ceridesi, 12 March 1921
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Independence March. In Songs in History. https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/istiklal-marsi
- MLA
- “Independence March.” Songs in History, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/istiklal-marsi. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Independence March.” Songs in History. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/istiklal-marsi.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Independence March’, Songs in History. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/songs/istiklal-marsi (Accessed: ).