UPDATE - Turkey marks Ataturk’s death with 'chains of respect'

ADDS EVENTS IN IZMIR, MINOR EDITS

By Ali Ozak, Erdinc Aksoy, Metin Tokgoz, Mustafa Gungor and Ahmet Bayram

ANKARA (AA) - People across Turkey on Friday marked the anniversary of the death of founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in unique ways.

In many cities including Istanbul and Adana, human "chains of respect" stretching for kilometers were formed as people held hands to mark the 79th anniversary. The chain of people in Adana trailed 14 kilometers (9 miles).

Off the coast of Istanbul's Maltepe district, a group of divers brought a copy of British Ned Pamphilon's painting to the surface and held red flares aloft.

Diver Yoshinori Moriwaki, a Japanese engineer living in Istanbul, said: "Today, as one of those involved in the group, we did our best job and took Ataturk’s eyes out of the sea…

"We would have him live forever… I am very happy. The ideas of our ancestor will never die."

Parachutists dropped to the ground as they trailed Turkish flags and in Toroslar, a district in the southern city of Mersin, 7,700 people came together to form an image of Ataturk's face.

Mayor Hamit Tuna thanked those involved. "There was a little confusion but this is a record," he said. "The record of this kind of action was 4,500. We have 7,700 friends here."

In western Izmir province, citizens paraded with a 350-meter (1,154-feet) banner of Ataturk and a marching band.

"We are grateful to you for teaching us that we should not lose hope and courage even in the most troubled times. The day is the day to be worthy of Mustafa Kemal. The day is the day of our republic, our independence, unity and solidarity", Mayor Aziz Kocaoglu said in a speech at Cumhuriyet Square.

The speech was followed by a concert of the city orchestra featuring famous singer Haluk Levent.

Ataturk, who is deeply revered across Turkey, was born in 1881 in Thessaloniki, then part of the Ottoman Empire.

His distinguished military career included repelling the Allied invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula in 1915 and then rallying Turks to withstand the Allies’ attempt to carve up Turkey after World War I in the War of Independence.

As Turkey's first president, he transformed the country through a wide-ranging series of modernizing reforms.