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Key Facts
1.The poem has ten stanzas, but only the first two are performed at official occasions.
2.The melody in use today was composed by Osman Zeki Üngör and made official in 1930; it replaced an earlier setting by Ali Rıfat Çağatay, chosen by a selection committee after the War of Independence.
3.Publicly denigrating the anthem is a crime under Article 300 of the Turkish Penal Code, punishable by six months to two years in prison.
4.A 1920 competition for the words drew 724 poems, but none was judged worthy; Ersoy had not entered because he would not accept the 500-lira prize. He wrote the anthem after the Education Minister, Hamdullah Suphi, sought a poem from him, and gave the prize money to Dârülmesâi, a charity that taught trades to poor Muslim women and children.
Turkey National Anthem Lyrics
Only the first two of the poem's ten stanzas are sung officially; all ten were accepted as the national anthem by the Grand National Assembly on 12 March 1921.
Show full poemShow official version
Korkma! Sönmez bu şafaklarda yüzen al sancak,
Sönmeden yurdumun üstünde tüten en son ocak.
O benim milletimin yıldızıdır, parlayacak;
O benimdir, o benim milletimindir ancak.
Çatma, kurban olayım, çehreni ey nazlı hilal!
Kahraman ırkıma bir gül; ne bu şiddet, bu celal?
Sana olmaz dökülen kanlarımız sonra helal…
Hakkıdır, Hakk’a tapan milletimin istiklal.
Korkma! Sönmez bu şafaklarda yüzen al sancak,
Sönmeden yurdumun üstünde tüten en son ocak.
O benim milletimin yıldızıdır, parlayacak;
O benimdir, o benim milletimindir ancak.
Çatma, kurban olayım, çehreni ey nazlı hilal!
Kahraman ırkıma bir gül; ne bu şiddet, bu celal?
Sana olmaz dökülen kanlarımız sonra helal…
Hakkıdır, Hakk’a tapan milletimin istiklal.
Ben ezelden beridir hür yaşadım, hür yaşarım,
Hangi çılgın bana zincir vuracakmış? Şaşarım.
Kükremiş sel gibiyim, bendimi çiğner, aşarım,
Yırtarım dağları, enginlere sığmam, taşarım.
Garbın afakını sarmışsa çelik zırhlı duvar,
Benim iman dolu göğsüm gibi serhaddim var.
Ulusun, korkma! Nasıl böyle bir imanı boğar,
“Medeniyet” dediğin tek dişi kalmış canavar?
Arkadaş! Yurduma alçakları uğratma sakın,
Siper et gövdeni, dursun bu hayâsızca akın.
Doğacaktır sana vadettiği günler Hakk’ın,
Kim bilir, belki yarın belki yarından da yakın.
Bastığın yerleri “toprak” diyerek geçme, tanı,
Düşün altındaki binlerce kefensiz yatanı.
Sen şehit oğlusun, incitme, yazıktır atanı,
Verme, dünyaları alsan da bu cennet vatanı.
Kim bu cennet vatanın uğruna olmaz ki feda?
Şüheda fışkıracak, toprağı sıksan şüheda.
Canı, cananı, bütün varımı alsın da Hüda,
Etmesin tek vatanımdan beni dünyada cüda.
Ruhumun senden İlahî, şudur ancak emeli:
Değmesin mabedimin göğsüne namahrem eli.
Bu ezanlar, ki şehadetleri dinin temeli,
Ebedî, yurdumun üstünde benim inlemeli.
O zaman vecdile bin secde eder, varsa taşım,
Her cerihamdan, İlahî, boşanıp kanlı yaşım,
Fışkırır ruhumücerret gibi yerden naaşım,
O zaman yükselerek arşa değer belki başım.
Dalgalan sen de şafaklar gibi ey şanlı hilal!
Olsun artık dökülen kanlarımın hepsi helal.
Ebediyen sana yok, ırkıma yok izmihlal.
Hakkıdır, hür yaşamış bayrağımın hürriyet;
Hakkıdır, Hakk’a tapan milletimin istiklal.
Fear not! This crimson banner floating in these dawns shall never fade,
So long as the last hearth still smoking over my homeland is not put out.
It is the star of my nation, and it will shine;
It is mine, it belongs to my nation alone.
Do not frown, let me be your sacrifice, O coy crescent!
Smile upon my heroic race; why this violence, why this wrath?
Otherwise we will not forgive you the blood we have shed.
Independence is the right of my nation, which worships God.
Fear not! This crimson banner floating in these dawns shall never fade,
So long as the last hearth still smoking over my homeland is not put out.
It is the star of my nation, and it will shine;
It is mine, it belongs to my nation alone.
Do not frown, let me be your sacrifice, O coy crescent!
Smile upon my heroic race; why this violence, why this wrath?
Otherwise we will not forgive you the blood we have shed.
Independence is the right of my nation, which worships God.
Since eternity I have lived free, and free I shall live.
What madman would put me in chains? I marvel at the thought.
I am like a roaring flood: I trample my own dam and surge over it.
I tear the mountains open, no expanse can hold me, I overflow.
Though a wall of steel armour may gird the horizons of the West,
I have a frontier, and it is my breast filled with faith.
Let it howl! Fear not! How could such a faith be smothered
By that monster with a single fang left, the one you call "civilization"?
Friend! Never let the base ones set foot upon my homeland,
Make a shield of your body, let this shameless onslaught be halted.
The days that God has promised you will surely dawn,
Who knows, perhaps tomorrow, perhaps sooner than tomorrow.
Do not walk over the ground you tread calling it mere "earth"; know it,
Think of the thousands who lie beneath it without a shroud.
You are a martyr's son; do not wound your forebear, it would be a sin,
Do not surrender this paradise homeland, though you were given every world.
Who would not give himself up for this paradise homeland?
Squeeze that soil and martyrs will gush forth, martyrs and nothing else.
Let God take my life, my beloved, everything I possess,
Only let Him not part me in this world from my one homeland.
O my God, this alone is what my soul desires of You:
Let no stranger's hand touch the bosom of my temple.
These calls to prayer, whose testimony is the foundation of the faith,
Must resound above my homeland for ever.
Then my gravestone, if I have one, will bow a thousand times in ecstasy,
From every wound of mine, O God, my bloody tears pour out,
My corpse bursts from the earth like a pure spirit,
And then, rising, my head may perhaps touch the heavenly throne.
You too, wave like the dawns, O glorious crescent!
Now let all the blood I have shed be freely yours.
Never shall there be annihilation for you, nor for my race.
Freedom is the right of my flag, which has lived free;
Independence is the right of my nation, which worships God.
Translations are non-official and intended to convey meaning, not replace originals
Analysis
Editorial
Written during the Turkish War of Independence in 1921, the anthem was adopted before the Republic was even proclaimed. Poet Mehmet Akif Ersoy wrote it to boost morale during the darkest days of the independence struggle against occupying forces.