Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek received a delegation of children accompanied by National Education Minister Nabi Avcı on the occasion of April 23 National Sovereignty and Children’s Day. Çiçek himself was accompanied by his four grandchildren.  According to tradition on Children’s Day Çiçek left his seat as Parliament Speaker to Feride Bekçioğlu Secondary 6th grade student 12 year old Tuğrulhan Şeyihoğlu.

Congratulating the children on this special day Çiçek said “today we are celebrating two special occasions. One is the children’s day. We are the only country that has such an occasion thus we are very proud. We commemorate all our masters led by beloved Atatürk who gave us this special occasion. On the other hand it is the special of our deputies, of our politicians and of our nation because 95 years ago today the Parliament was inaugurated. We commemorate the occasion with a special session of the Parliament. The leaders of the parties or their representatives will addressed the Parliament to underline its important in the life of our nation.”

Çiçek reminded everyone that he is the 25th parliament speaker and said temporarily little Şeyihoğlu will lead the Parliament. Handing over the documents appointing the child as the temporary parliament speaker “led us make this official. Now you are in charge. You have the press here. Let us hear from you.”

Şeyihoğlu, said he is happy to be in the Parliament and thanked Çiçek for handing over his seat to him.

Addressing the journalists Şeyihoğlu said “let me tell you right from the start not to ask me political questions, the speaker is impartial.” That made everyone in the room laugh.

Şeyihoğlu read out a statement he had prepared and hoped for many more such celebrations where children always are happy and full of smiles.

Parliament Speaker Çiçek congratulated the children and wished them success and told them to convey his best wishes to their families and added “I hope some of you will be interested in politi,cs and we will see you under this roof in the future.”

A student presented a portrait of Çiçek he had drawn to the parliament spaker and then the children had their photos taken with him