he event started with the opening speech of Asst. Prof. Abdullah Yüksel BARUT, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences. Barut, who has completed his 50th year as a doctor, briefly touched upon the story of March 14 in his opening speech. He attended the Sivas Congress on behalf of medical students and when the American mandate was brought to the agenda, he said, "Turkish youth sent me here to participate in the work towards independence. I cannot accept the mandate and patronage." (then, looking at Mustafa Kemal Pasha); "If you accept the mandate idea, I will reject you too!" He praised the courage of Hikmet Boran from Medical School and completed his words with the following lines from Nazım Hikmet's poem "On Living";
“You must take living seriously,
I mean to such an extent that,
for example your arms are tied from your back, your back is on the wall,
or in a laboratory with your white shirt, with your huge eye glasses,
you must be able to die for people,
even for people you have never seen,
although nobody forced you to do this,
although you know that
living is the most real, most beautiful thing.”
After the opening speech Prof. Dr. Kadircan Keskinbora started her presentation. Keskinbora told the story of how March 14 was celebrated for the first time and the event that caused March 14 to be celebrated as a holiday for Turkish physicians as follows;
“The Ottomans were defeated in the First World War and the invaders seized the Tıbbiye-i Şahane building, which was the Faculty of Medicine at the time, because it was close to the port. Medical students were squeezed into one section and student dormitories were moved to the basement. However, Medical School students did not remain silent and protested the occupation.”
Prof. Dr. Kadircan Keskinbora continued his words by stating that on the morning of March 14, medical students prepared a Turkish flag, bypassed the British guards, went to the roof between the two towers of the school, and then waved the giant flag between the two towers.
Referring to the practical intelligence of the medical students who were arrested after this protest, Keskinbora stated what the medical students said to the British in order to escape arrest:
“March 14, 1827 is the date when the first modern medical education began in the Ottoman Empire. "We celebrate March 14 every year," they said and escaped arrest.
Prof. Dr. Kadircan Keskinbora concluded his words by saying, "March 14 was celebrated like this for the first time, March 14 became one of the symbolic dates of the War of Independence since 1919 and was accepted as Medicine Day."
Following the speech of the esteemed guest, IGU Youth Choir and the Rejuvenating Folk Songs Project Community, under the leadership of Music and Folklore Expert Erdinç Ertüzün, sang folk songs from various regions of our country. After the folk songs accompanied by everyone who attended the event, the event ended with the presentation of a plaque to the valuable guest Prof. Dr. Kadircan Keskinbora.
