HURRIYET- At demonstrations to support Republic, which were held in many cities --especially in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir-- in the last 30 days, a total of 2 million Turkish flags worth of nearly 20 million YTL (1 USD = 1.33 YTL) were sold.
500,000 flags were sold in demonstration in Ankara, 700,000 in Istanbul and 800,000 in Izmir. Total length of the flags reached 35-40 kilometers.
Producer companies which are out of stocks are now waiting for May 19th `Ataturk Remembrance, Youth & Sports Day` to set a record.
Sale of flags in the demonstrations even exceeded the sales in important days which sealed Turkish history, such as celebrations of 75th year of Republic, Turkey`s ranking the 3rd in world soccer, and Turkish Galatasaray soccer team`s winning UEFA Cup.
Flag producers say sale of flag will --probably-- break world record on May 19th.
Recalling that they have never sold such amount of flags even on October 29th Republic Day, producers say they have received hundred of thousands of flag orders for May 19th.
Ekrem Dernek, one of the leading flag producers of Turkey with a 40 percent market share, said they doubled their daily capacity. Noting that he received flag orders from the United States after September 11th attacks, Dernek said, "we sold many flags to the United States too. But the demand was lower than in Turkey."