As Ersoy wrote, "It is the right of my God-worshipping nation, independence!" The motion of the flag is the physical manifestation of that freedom.
In 1920, the Ministry of Education held a competition to find a national march to motivate troops. Over 700 poems were submitted, but none truly captured the nation's spirit. The renowned poet Mehmet Akif Ersoy initially refused to enter because he believed a national anthem should not be written for a cash prize.