Breaking News... President Erdoğan's 'we will hold them accountable' statement following the attack on the Turkish flag!

President and AKP Chairman Erdoğan is speaking at his party's Group Meeting. Erdoğan's statements are as follows:

HE CALCULATED RETIREE SALARIES IN DOLLARS

With the proposal coming into effect, the lowest pension, which was 16,881 liras last month, will have risen to 20,000 liras with an increase of 3,319 liras. Do you know what this figure was when we took office? It was only 66 liras.

In dollar terms, it corresponded to only 40 dollars. After the new regulation, the lowest pension will rise to 480 dollars.

Again, in November 2002, the minimum wage was 184 liras. In other words, a citizen receiving the lowest pension could only receive a monthly salary equal to one-third of the minimum wage.

Today, the lowest pension has exceeded 70 percent of the minimum wage.

Look, we took these steps even though our number of retirees, which was 6.5 million in November 2002, has increased nearly threefold to 17 million. We reached these rates. While saying this, we are of course not claiming that we have solved all problems or met all demands.

We are aware of all the difficulties our retirees are experiencing, especially regarding rents and the high cost of living. Indeed, this....

We are striving to produce solutions to these problems by increasing housing supply with our projects such as the 500,000 social housing initiative, for which the draws have been held. There is one thing I sincerely wish all our retirees to know.

Our retirees, who have spent a significant part of their lives serving their country, are the crown of our heads. They are more than worthy of every kind of service and respect.

We have never turned a deaf ear to the demands, expectations, and complaints of our retirees. On the contrary, one of our ears has always been with our retirees. We have tried to fulfill their demands as our budget opportunities expanded.

As Turkey developed, we ensured that our retirees benefited from this as well. Hopefully, we will continue to act with the same sensitivity from now on. As our earthquake expenditures decrease, we will have more resources at our disposal.

As inflation falls, the purchasing power of our people will be protected for a longer time and will increase even more. As the Turkish economy grows in line with our goals, everyone will benefit from the additional value created. With God's permission, we are entering a period where we will see that the sacrifices we have made as a nation for years have not been in vain. Hopefully, we will emerge from this storm that is sweeping the whole world with our heads held high. We will move Turkey to a very different position not only in the economy but also militarily and diplomatically. I especially ask our retirees to continue to trust the AK Party and the People's Alliance. We have not neglected our retirees to this day.

We did not leave them ownerless. We will never leave them alone from now on. Because we are not like those who promise in the squares that we will give this or that to our retirees and then cannot pay their workers' salaries today. We, during election periods...

But we are not like those who become rent-seekers when they take office. We have no business with populism or this kind of dirty politics. We have a cause. We have principles. We have big dreams about this country. We have our Century of Turkey vision. Do not forget.

For us, the destination is first at the discretion of the Almighty and then the nation. As long as the Lord gives us life, as long as the Lord gives us health, we will run tirelessly to turn dreams into goals and goals into reality. I especially request each of you to approach the legislative activities we carry out under this noble roof with this awareness.

I would like to underline that there is no room for complacency on the path of serving the nation. There is no room for those who fall into complacency. As the AK Party group, together with our alliance partners, we will be the leading, exemplary locomotive staff in parliamentary work, just as we are in every field. I expect all our deputies, without exception, to show maximum care in participating in committee and general assembly work. Dear friends, we have left behind two more weeks in which we have witnessed important developments in our country, our region, and across the world. Events that we need to follow carefully are taking place in a wide area stretching from Syria to Iran, from Yemen to Northern Europe.

I wish to remind you here of the two pieces of good news we gave our youth in recent days. The first of these good news is the increases we have made in loan and scholarship rates.

In 2002, the amount of scholarship and loan paid to university students was 45 liras. These payments were both starting very late and were given to the student every 3 months. Over time, we both started making payments month by month and continuously improved the amount of scholarships and loans.

HE EXPLAINED THE 130 LIRA DAILY SCHOLARSHIP TO STUDENTS

Just last year, we paid 34 billion 14 million liras to our university students as scholarship and loan support. In 2026, we went for a 33 percent increase in loans and scholarships compared to last year. Thus, we increased the scholarship and loan amount to 4,000 liras for our undergraduate students, 8,000 liras for our master's students, and 12,000 liras for our doctoral students. Once again, I say may it be auspicious and beneficial for our youth and their families. My President, my President, we are in office with your help. Thank you. Another piece of good news is the youth's production age, or 'Power' program for short.

We will allocate a massive resource of 445 billion liras to this program, which will bring more than 3 million of our young people into employment in the next 3 years. Thus, we will have offered our youth a system where our students will gain qualified work experience at an early age, our young people studying in vocational high schools will be directed to business life through reliable channels before they even graduate, our youth outside of education and employment will be re-included in the system, and the first work experience of our new graduates will cease to be a risk. This is our difference. We stand by the youth. We support them. We hold the hands of our youth in their struggle for life. The main opposition and its comrades, on the other hand, exploit the youth, use them as a screen in protests, and when they are done, they crumple them up like a napkin and throw them aside.

SYRIA STATEMENT

As you know, a memorandum was signed on March 10 last year with the structure called the SDF, which occupies the lands in the north and east of Syria. According to this memorandum, the SDF would lay down its arms and hand over the places it occupied to the Syrian government, thus ensuring the unity and integrity of the country. The SDF did not take any positive steps within the calendar determined for this integration. The structure called the SDF not only did not comply with the March 10 memorandum but also continued to pressure civilians in the lands it occupied and to attack civilian and military targets outside these lands.

The negotiations held between the SDF administrators and the Damascus Government in December regarding the implementation of the memorandum unfortunately yielded negative results.

The reason for this, to speak clearly, was the uncompromising, foot-dragging, constantly raising the stakes, and time-playing attitude of the structure called the SDF.

During this process, we gave the necessary suggestions to all parties through our relevant institutions. We made every effort to untie the knot and thus prevent the crisis from turning into a hot conflict.

Other actors also stepped in. They made the necessary recommendations for the implementation of the March 10 memorandum. However, there was no change in the maximalist attitude of the structure called the SDF. Dear friends, based on this background, the Syrian army, following the attacks on security forces in the 2nd week of January, carried out operations in a highly justified and legitimate manner, first in the neighborhoods within Aleppo, and then in the lands west of the Euphrates.

In the last week, in addition to the neighborhoods in Aleppo, the lands east of the Euphrates were cleared of illegal armed elements by the Syrian army.

First of all, I would like to remind you once again. As Turkey, from the very beginning, we have most strongly defended the existence of a single Syrian state whose territorial integrity is preserved and which possesses political unity. We have also declared many times that we will not consent to a separatist structure on Turkey's southern borders that would pose a threat to our country's security. As their neighbors and brothers, we wholeheartedly support the struggle of the Syrian state and the Syrian army to build a unified, single, independent Syria where all ethnic origins, beliefs, and sects live side by side. We wholeheartedly congratulate the Syrian government, the Syrian army, and the brotherly Syrian people for their successful operations in recent weeks. We pray for God's mercy upon those who were martyred during the clashes and wish a speedy recovery to all the wounded. Likewise, we are very pleased with the ceasefire agreement reached yesterday.

FIRST STATEMENT ABOUT THE FLAG PROVOCATION

Our goal is for this issue to be resolved permanently before more blood is shed, for the terrorist organization trapped in certain areas in northern Syria to lay down its arms and be liquidated, and for no further room to be given for conflict. It is already impossible for the terrorist organization to continue its existence in the regions where it is trapped.

It is very clear that resorting to provocations after this stage will mean suicide. There is no possibility of achieving a result here by attacking our glorious flag in a vile manner, as it did yesterday on the Nusaybin-Qamishli border, with the child-aged militants it forcibly conscripted and the civilians it drove into the field by applying pressure and violence. Complying with the agreement reached yesterday, laying down arms, and resolving the issue peacefully is the only way out. I also find it useful for this to be known here. We will definitely find those dirty hands reaching for our flag, and we will definitely hold those traitors accountable for this.

"WHOEVER IS AT FAULT, THE NECESSARY ACTION WILL BE TAKEN"

My dear brothers, our Ministries of National Defense and Justice have initiated the necessary investigations.

As a result of the investigations, whatever is necessary will be done regarding anyone who has negligence or fault.

My dear deputy friends, we have followed and are following all these developments in the Syrian field very closely. We are conducting a sensitive process to eliminate the existing risks to Turkey, prevent new threats, and ensure peace and stability in Syria rapidly.

"KURDS IN SYRIA ARE OUR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD BROTHERS"

I would also like to specifically state this. The Kurds in Syria are our own flesh and blood brothers. As their brothers, we know best what kind of oppression our Kurdish brothers in Syria were subjected to under the previous cruel regime. Their existence was not recognized. They were not accepted as citizens. They were not even given identity cards. They were not allowed to speak their mother tongue or live their culture and traditions. I voiced these injustices in all the meetings I held since 2008 when this brother of yours was Prime Minister.

We persistently brought the rights of our Kurdish brothers in Syria to the agenda. We emphasized at every opportunity that the basic rights of the Kurds should be granted. While no one even mentioned these, while no one talked about the rights of the Kurds in Syria, we expressed these openly to our interlocutors. We did much more than what was seen or known. In all the meetings held before the ties with the old regime were broken, the rights of our Syrian Kurdish brothers continued to be at the top of our agenda.

In other words, we never looked at this issue from a profit-oriented perspective; we always looked at it from a humanitarian window, from a perspective of brotherhood. Now, if you wish, let's take a look at both our report card and the opposition's report card on Syria.

From the very first day, we have always approached Syria with this perspective. We stood by the rightful struggle of the Syrian people. We embraced our Syrian brothers in their most difficult days. We protected the Syrian refugees with the consciousness of the Ansar. Dear friends, our very valuable deputies. Following the start of the Civil War in Syria in 2011, our Kurdish brothers were this time subjected to the pressure of the terrorist organization.

Kurdish children and Kurdish youth in Syria were dragged into conflicts for the sake of the terrorist organization's whims and desires. They were handed weapons, sent to their deaths, and lost their lives. A lifestyle that did not fit the beliefs, customs, traditions, and values of the Kurdish people was imposed on them.

Again, during this process, the DAESH murderers targeted our Kurdish brothers as well as the Syrian opposition. They massacred them too. This is also important. After the revolution, the new Syrian government embraced the Syrian Kurds, just like all other religious and ethnic groups in the country, and acted very constructively for a sincere integration.

The declaration announced on January 16 is a declaration of will of a historical nature that is based on the equal and fair participation of our Kurdish brothers in Syria in the Syrian state.

News Source: 12punto