President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, “Turkey’s rise has reached a momentum that no one can stand in front of, prevent or reverse. It is enough for us as a nation to protect our achievements and continue to move forward with determination towards our goals. God willing, the rest will come by itself.”
Erdoğan addressed the nation after the Presidential Cabinet Meeting held at the Presidential Complex.
Reminding that they had stated that they would make a comprehensive performance evaluation today on the occasion of the second year of the Cabinet, Erdoğan said that they decided to make this evaluation in a separate program next week due to the intensity of the agenda.
Stating that the effects and consequences of the coronavirus outbreak were among the issues they focused on at the meeting, Erdoğan said, “Turkey has put forward a successful struggle that is an example to the world in this regard. We managed the process with a system that meets all the needs of our nation in every field, especially in health services. We did not cause any congestion in our hospitals, no break in the supply chain of cleaning and food products, no weakness in security, and no victimization in any matter.”
Stating that they left the peak period of the pandemic behind with a clean conscience, President Erdoğan continued his words as follows:
“In a significant part of the world, we are going through a period when the epidemic broke records in the number of patients and deaths in a very controlled and calm manner. Thanks to our robust infrastructure and careful organization, we easily overcome crisis issues that even developed countries are helpless. We ask our people to maintain caution, sensitivity and compliance with the rules in order to maintain and improve this beautiful picture. At the point we have reached, there is no work that can be done, no measure that can be taken beyond following the principles of ‘cleanliness, mask, distance’, which we express as ‘OK’ inspired by its initials. It is pleasing to see that the number of cases and deaths has entered a downward trend again. With a little more effort and sacrifice, we must bring these numbers closer to zero.”
“Let’s protect our achievements as a nation”
Thus, they will not only be comfortable in every field, but will also have the opportunity to take advantage of future opportunities, Erdoğan said:
“Turkey is in a position to reap the rewards of this global success with political and economic class advancement. We will decide together, all 83 million of us, whether or not to seize this opportunity. We are taking all necessary steps for economic recovery and a new breakthrough. We are endeavoring to prepare everyone in our country for the new era with our support packages, incentives and especially cash aid. The double standard applied against our country in some sectors does not change the fact that we have a bright future ahead of us. Turkey’s rise has reached a momentum that no one can stand in front of, prevent or reverse. It is enough for us as a nation to protect our achievements and continue to move forward with determination towards our goals. Hopefully, the rest will take care of itself. In this context, we should see the ongoing team restrictions as the price we have to pay for a while longer. Depending on the course of the pandemic, we will re-evaluate these as soon as possible.”
“During the pandemic period, we did not allow the disease to defeat us, corner us, distract us from our goals and take us captive.” Erdoğan emphasized that they continued the flow of life, the functioning of the economy, investments, domestic and foreign security operations as planned, except for the mandatory restrictions on health.
Pointing out that the inaugurations, the programs they organized and the activities they carried out are the most concrete expression of this, Erdoğan said, “Just a few days ago, we opened the Beğendik Bridge, the highest bridge of our country, built over Botan Stream, and the roads on its route. We are pleased to have brought this work, which the terrorist organization has been trying for decades not to build, burning construction machinery and threatening workers, to our nation. We have a long list of inaugurations ahead of us, including many investments from dams to roads, irrigation to energy. We will realize some of these inaugurations in person, some of them via teleconference and hopefully raise the bar of our service politics higher and higher.”
Reminding that the Turkish Grand National Assembly continued its work except for a short break, Erdoğan said, “I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the new administration of our Parliament, which has enacted very important laws and carried out law preparations. I wish that the amendment to the law on bar association administrations, which was discussed and adopted last week, will be beneficial to our country and our judicial community.”
Stating that the private sector is also taking care of its business, especially the will to turn the production conditions, Erdoğan said, “We are pleased with the positive developments in industry, agriculture and exports. Every data announced in the economy heralds a stirring that goes beyond compensating for the losses. I believe that our tourism sector will reach the bar it expects as soon as possible.”
President Erdoğan noted the following:
“We ensured that the will we put forward for the security of ourselves and our friends in Syria, Northern Iraq and Libya will continue uninterruptedly during the pandemic. We will continue these activities, in which we have achieved results that will change the balances in our region and the world, until we reach our goals. We hope that it is now accepted that no project in this region that Turkey is not involved in, does not give its consent or does not provide support has a chance to work. We are endeavoring to keep the channels of dialogue open with all the countries active in our region, to expand the avenues of cooperation and to use constructive diplomacy.
Those who know the value of Turkey’s friendship use these mechanisms effectively. Those who persistently harbor enmity against our country continue to lose. From here, I once again invite everyone, without any discrimination, to respond to Turkey’s outstretched hand of peace and cooperation on the basis of rights, law, justice and legitimacy. Any order whose price is the pain and wailing of the oppressed, the victimized, the teary-eyed and the mourning people has no chance of bringing good to its owners. We will continue to struggle until we make the world we live in a more peaceful, safer and more prosperous place for everyone, not just a certain group of people.”
Emphasizing that they will continue to repeat their objections of “the world is bigger than 5” and their calls for a just new world on every platform, Erdoğan said that they especially believe that it is a responsibility that history has imposed on the nation to exhibit whatever attitude befits Turkey at any cost.
“We will carry out this duty, which our ancestors fulfilled for centuries, until our last breath,” Erdoğan said.
Pointing out that another important development in recent days is the status of Hagia Sophia, Erdoğan said, “The fact that Hagia Sophia will be turned from a museum to a mosque and will start to serve in accordance with the purpose of its foundation has undoubtedly pleased us all. Here, I would like to emphasize once again that Hagia Sophia was converted from a museum to a mosque, not a church.”
President Erdoğan emphasized that it was Fatih Sultan Mehmet Khan and the sultans who took over a holy sanctuary like Hagia Sophia in 1453 in a dilapidated state and turned it into a mosque, and stated that Hagia Sophia has been developed, enlarged and beautified for centuries with additions and renovations.
Erdoğan underlined that Hagia Sophia, which was received as a dilapidated main dome, has been transformed into an artifact belonging to Turkey with its complex, minarets, library, fountain, imaret, hammam, sanbyan school, fountains, tombs, muvakkithanesi, pavilion, khünkar mahvili and other additions.
Pointing out that Hagia Sophia has become the center of the city life in Istanbul during Ramadan and holidays, Erdoğan said, “If there is not ignorance behind the insistence to ignore this ownership that has lasted for 5 centuries and to envision this place as it was before the conquest, we should look for something else. We have not forgotten that in more recent street protests, the words ‘oppression started in 1453’ were written on the walls of Istanbul. We know very well who wrote these words on the walls as a nation.”
Pointing out that being ashamed of the conquest of Istanbul cannot be the feeling of anyone living in these lands, not only those who see themselves as Turks and Muslims, President Erdoğan mentioned that one step behind the questioning of the conquest is Söğüt, one step behind it is Malazgirt and Iznik, and one step behind it is Badr.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan continued his speech as follows:
“Those who do not have the courage to directly attack the civilization, history, culture and values of this nation are trying to find a way for themselves by wearing down our symbols. All of the paths they have sought so far have crashed into the wisdom of our nation and crumbled to the ground. Those who try to confine the Hagia Sophia debate to the brackets of cultural value have not uttered a single word against the ruthless destruction of the Ottoman legacy in the Balkans and Eastern Europe. Likewise, they have not uttered a single word about the destruction or looting of the values that constitute our civilization from Andalusia to Crimea. So their intention is not to defend cultural heritage. It is to find a cover for the enmity against Turks and Islam that has enveloped their hearts and minds. The day is the day to live the joy of the return of this great temple to its essence without any buts, buts, lakins, calculations or books. Let no one worry, we will restore Hagia Sophia in accordance with its foundation and protect its cultural heritage as our ancestors did.”
“On average, there is 1 place of worship for every 2,000 Muslims in Europe”
Stating that the state of the Republic of Turkey is at a more advanced level than any other country in the world in meeting the needs of all its citizens, regardless of their beliefs, Erdoğan said that there are 435 churches in Istanbul and throughout Turkey, some of which have been restored at the expense of the state.
Erdoğan reminded that he had personally laid the foundation of a plot of land in Bakırköy belonging to Assyrians and that he had inaugurated the Orthodox Church in Balat, also known as the “Iron Church”, together with the Prime Minister of Bulgaria and patriarchs and priests of various religions.
Underlining that they have no enmity or hostility towards the members of different religions or their sanctuaries, Erdoğan said, “On the contrary, we have respect. There is a 4-5 times difference between the number of places of worship per Muslim population in European countries and the number of places of worship per non-Muslim population in our country. While we have 1 place of worship for 460 non-Muslims on average, Europe has 1 place of worship for 2 thousand Muslims on average. Those who live there know best that a significant number of churches and synagogues in Europe are in a dilapidated state.”
Crusader army brutally looted Hagia Sophia
Looking at the issue from a historical perspective, Erdoğan reminded that when Fatih Sultan Mehmet Khan conquered Istanbul, he immediately started the construction of Hagia Sophia and emphasized that the Crusader Army, which occupied Istanbul about 250 years ago, brutally looted Hagia Sophia.
Pointing out that the artifacts looted during this period are still proudly displayed in many European cities, especially in the Vatican, President Erdoğan continued as follows:
“In other words, the issue is not Hagia Sophia itself, but the sovereignty of this temple and the city in which it is located. We do not intend to give up our millennia-long presence in our geography and our nearly 600 years of sovereignty in Istanbul. We make our own decisions on issues related to the existence, unity, freedom and rights of our nation, especially the Hagia Sophia issue. We turned Hagia Sophia into a museum, albeit with a wrong decision, and we are turning it back into a mosque. We are in the peace and happiness of fulfilling our responsibility towards the hundreds of millions of ancestors lying under the ground and 83 million citizens living above it. Who turned it into a museum in 1934? Of course this nation. And now we are restoring it to its original state. We are righting a wrong. It is as simple as that.”
“The conquest of Istanbul was a turning point for the whole world”
Emphasizing that Turkey’s cause for independence and future will continue forever in every field, President Erdoğan said:
“If we have chosen to live in this geography, which has been the apple of the world’s eye since ancient times, it means that we are willing to fight for it. We have been waging this struggle without interruption since Sultan Alparslan. The conquest of Istanbul was a turning point not only for us but for the whole world. History books point to the conquest of Istanbul as the symbol of Europe’s emergence from the darkness of the Middle Ages. The period of Ottoman rule stretching from the Indian Ocean to the middle of Europe is of course a cause of great pride for us. The most important feature of this period is that other faith groups and cultures were treated with a tolerance unprecedented in history.”
Stating that when the Ottoman Empire withdrew from the stage of history after centuries of rule, it left behind communities that kept their beliefs and cultures alive with all their vitality, Erdoğan said, “On the other hand, in the same geography, after the Ottoman Empire, there have been great atrocities both against members of other faiths and against each other. In the First and Second World Wars alone, more than 100 million people, mostly civilians, lost their lives.”
“As the Republic of Turkey, no matter how patiently we have met the historical enmities against us, we have not been able to avoid being subjected to double standards.” Erdoğan continued as follows:
“Our EU full membership process is one of the most obvious examples of this. While countries that are politically and economically incomparable to Turkey’s level were accepted to full membership, we were always excluded with really funny excuses. Now we are facing similar attitudes again in the normalization process after the pandemic. It is obvious that those who accredit states that cannot come close to our country in any subject from health services to transparency and exclude Turkey act not with scientific rules, but with the obsessions in their minds.”
Referring to the fact that similar approaches replace criteria such as human rights, law and justice in every issue in which Turkey intervenes, Erdoğan said:
“We see this in Syria. We see this in Libya. We face the same reality in many other places. Programs to deliver aid to millions of oppressed and victims in Syria through our country were blocked just to break the people’s love for Turkey. In Libya, the legitimate government, which is recognized as an interlocutor by the UN, is being tried to be worn down ‘just because Turkey supports it’. Our country’s development and aid programs in many places may be subjected to unreasonable obstructions. However, as we have inherited from our ancestors, we do everything we do for the sake of Allah and act only with the aim of serving humanity.”
Emphasizing that they will continue to work with the same understanding as a country that has no stain of colonization and massacre in its history, Erdoğan continued his speech as follows:
“Look at Algeria, look at Rwanda. As members of the press, you know very well who are the Westerners who massacred thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people there. Is it possible to ignore France there? Now, in the same way, in Libya, in Tarhuna, we can clearly see how human corpses are buried there.
We are determined to endeavor to sustain, to build and to revive wherever we set foot. I believe that as long as we stand firm, both our nation, our friends and all humanity will eventually see our sincerity, sincerity, and our stance on right and good. The halo of friendship we have created inside and outside is proof that these efforts have not been in vain. Although the governments of some countries are hostile to Turkey, we know very well that our place in front of the people is different. I have no doubt that our nation is with us in every struggle we are engaged in today, as it has been for 18 years.”
“It was confirmed once again on July 15th”
Reminding that tomorrow will be the 4th anniversary of the July 15 coup attempt, President Erdoğan wished Allah’s mercy to the 251 citizens who were martyred while heroically resisting FETÖ members and wished health and well-being to the veterans.
Underlining that the nation succeeded in passing one of the biggest tests of its history on July 15th, Erdoğan said that the nation, which resisted against airplanes, helicopters, tanks and weapons only with the power it received from the faith in its heart in a way unprecedented in the world, frustrated the coup plotters before the dawn of the day.
In his speech, Erdoğan reminded the verse of the poet of Independence Mehmet Akif Ersoy, “Faith is that jewel which is divinely great / A rusty heart without faith is a burden on the heart.” and said, “This is the issue.”
Emphasizing that it was once again seen on July 15th that the owner of the state in Turkey and the guarantor of stability and future is the nation, Erdoğan continued as follows:
“There was a main opposition leader who went to the mayor’s house that night under the protection of tanks. There was a main opposition leader who watched what was going on at Atatürk Airport while sipping his coffee there. When he was asked, “How did you get through those tanks?”, he replied, “If I had known, I would have come too.” Unfortunately, a main opposition that has lost its level.
We marched together with our nation, together with our nation that night, yes, we ended the coup and the coup plotters, alhamdulillah. The accuracy of our emphasis on the supremacy of the national will throughout our political life and our pursuit of the consent and support of our nation in every step we take was once again confirmed on July 15th.”
July 5 program
Erdoğan stated that they will attend the commemoration meetings to be held tomorrow at the Martyrs Monument in front of the Presidential Complex and at the Parliament, which was targeted by the coup plotters.
Informing that they will meet with the representatives of the relatives of martyrs, veterans and veterans’ relatives in the exhibition hall in the Presidential Complex, Erdoğan mentioned that they will once again commemorate what happened and the losses on the 4th anniversary of July 15th with his address to the nation in the evening.
Reminding that they declared July 15 as an official commemoration day under the name of “Democracy and National Unity Day” immediately after the coup attempt, Erdoğan said, “We will continue to fulfill our promise not to forget and make people forget July 15 with the activities we will hold all over our country.”
Erdoğan wished that the consultations held at the Cabinet Meeting would be beneficial for the country and the nation.
“It shows that there is a conscious attack against Azerbaijan”
Pointing out that there is an ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, President Erdoğan said, “We will continue to fulfill this duty in the Caucasus, as our ancestors did for centuries. I would like to emphasize that we strongly condemn the attacks by Armenia against friendly and brotherly Azerbaijan.”
Wishing Allah’s mercy to the martyrs of Azerbaijanis who defended their homeland and a speedy recovery to the wounded, Erdoğan said:
“Since the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh, we are concerned that the ongoing tension in this region has turned into a conflict due to Armenia’s reckless and systematic attacks. Moreover, this latest attack was carried out not on the Nagorno-Karabakh line, but directly on the borders between the two states and with heavy weapons. This shows that the incident was not a border violation and conflict, but a deliberate attack directly against Azerbaijan. Undoubtedly, this attack is an incident beyond the scope of Armenia. With a provocative approach, the aim is both to block the process of resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and to create new areas of conflict in the region.
Turkey will never hesitate to stand against any attack on the rights, laws and territories of Azerbaijan, with which it has ancient ties of friendship and fraternal relations. We owe it to mobilize all our political, diplomatic and social relations in our region and the world in this direction. I need to express this in particular. For a country that cannot solve its own political, economic, health, infrastructure and many other problems arising from the coronavirus outbreak to engage in such aggression is, above all, disrespectful to its own people.”
Expressing his belief that tens of thousands of Armenians who work in Turkey to provide for their families are disturbed by the inconsistent behavior of their state, Erdoğan invited the countries of the region to take a principled and sincere stance against Armenia’s aggressive and destabilizing behavior since the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Erdoğan emphasized that they will continue to stand by their friend and brother Azerbaijan with all their means.
Floods in Rize and Artvin
Erdoğan emphasized that they will continue to stand by friendly and brotherly Azerbaijan with all their means.
Wishing God’s mercy to those who lost their lives due to floods and landslides caused by heavy rainfall in Rize and Artvin and condolences to their families, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, “From the first moment, my Minister of Interior and our provincial deputies went to Rize and Artvin last night. Today, my Minister of Environment and Urbanization is going to Rize and Artvin. They will personally follow the work there on the spot. We are continuing and will continue the steps that need to be taken in this regard until the end.”
Source: https://www.dunya.com/gundem/cumhurbaskani-erdogan-salginin-zirve-donemini-geride-biraktik-haberi-475173
