A notable message from Ankara... This is what Aoun wrote in Ataturk’s golden register

Upon his arrival at Ankara Military Airport, President General Joseph Aoun headed directly to the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic, where he stepped forward amid a Turkish honor guard, laid a wreath, and then observed a minute of silence in tribute to the late leader.

He then wrote the following in the golden register:

"Today, I stand before the monument of President Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, founder of the Turkish Republic, to record a salute of reverence to a man who embodied the will of a people in rebuilding their state, and who transformed the land he reclaimed through sacrifice into a republic founded on law and institutions.

The experience of President Ataturk, with its determination and steadfastness to the idea despite all hardships, remains a source of inspiration for every people striving to build its true state. The Lebanese people, friends of the Turkish people, see in this experience an example to be emulated in consolidating a state of law and institutions, a state of justice and equality."