Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the opening ceremony of the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge and Malkara-Çanakkale Highway on Friday.

Speaking at the ceremony, Erdoğan said: “Çanakkale, which has been the apple of the eyes of various civilizations, cultures and societies for thousands of years, embraces a brand-new future today. We have come together to inaugurate the 1915 Çanakkale Bridge, which we see as a ruby necklace over the Çanakkale Strait.”

A bridge from the past to the future

Dedicating the bridge to the glorious memories of our martyrs, to our ancestors magnificent victory 107 years ago, Erdoğan said: “We always talk about building a bridge from the past to the future. Here, we have put this promise into action both in word and in spirit.”

Noting that the technical aspects of the bridge had distinct meanings, Erdoğan said: “1915 signifies the year in which we won the naval victory in Çanakkale which witnessed the bloodiest, most cautionary and relentless fights of the First World War. The towers are 318 meters high, which symbolizes the 18th of March. The mid-span of the bridge is 2023 meters long, which represents the 100th anniversary of the foundation of our Republic and the goals we attribute to that date.” (ILKHA)