AKP Spokesperson Çelik: Özgür Özel lacks the capacity to criticize our President

AKP Spokesperson Ömer Çelik, who attended the AKP Organization Academy Muğla Training Program, made a statement after the meeting. Çelik said, "The realization of the natural gas pipeline between Syria and Turkey has once again demonstrated the embodiment of the vision our President put forward years ago and how great that foresight was. From the moment events began in Syria, our President had suggested to the then-Assad administration that reforms be carried out and that state life be reformed. Delegations from the State Planning Organization began to travel back and forth to realize these reforms. However, the administration at that time could not appreciate the value of this vision put forward by our President. Unfortunately, they signed off on that policy of massacre for many years. At the end of the day, those who signed off on all these massacres, those who carried out all these massacres in a very shameful way, are now left alone with their own fate," he said.

"SYRIA MUST BE GOVERNED BY SYRIANS"

Explaining that there is a new administration in Syria, Çelik said, "The two fundamental principles expressed by our President here are supported in the strongest way by Turkey. One is the preservation of Syria's territorial integrity. The second is the protection of its national sovereignty within the framework of the principle that Syria belongs to Syrians and must be governed by Syrians. Turkey has stood by the Syrian people whenever help was requested during crises that emerged here from time to time; most recently, a destabilization activity was seen in the face of a provocation by a Druze leader who did not represent the Druze there and acted only as a part of Zionist politics. Later, it became clear that Israel was behind this as well. Looking at it from this framework, Turkey continued to provide this strong support within the framework of having Syria governed by Syrians, preserving its territorial integrity, and protecting its national sovereignty. Today, with the vision put forward, the fact that gas coming from Azerbaijan will be transferred to Syria via Turkey actually presents an extremely important vision for the recovery of Syria's destroyed and worn-out infrastructure and the revival of social life," he said.

"TURKEY POSSESSES AN IMPORTANT VISION"

Stating that Turkey has undertaken an important vision in ensuring stability in its region, Ömer Çelik said, "For years, our President has implemented major policies aimed at making Turkey not just a transit point for energy, but also the center of energy politics. Turkey has strengthened over these years as a central country for energy politics, not just a transit point for energy. Looking at it from this framework, the vision put forward today, the realization of the natural gas pipeline, shows how important a vision Turkey has in terms of ensuring stability and security in its own region. While some of the major states in this region try to destabilize everything through proxy wars, it is clearly seen that Turkey is in pursuit of stability among its neighbors. Therefore, we had said that if our vision of a terror-free Turkey is realized, it would also serve as a source of inspiration for a terror-free region equation. With the elimination, dissolution, and laying down of arms by these terrorist organizations, an extremely important picture has emerged in terms of how much capacity Turkey can demonstrate, what kind of example it can set, and how it can walk hand-in-hand with its brothers for all kinds of economic cooperation, as in the natural gas pipeline that has emerged today, mutual cultural cooperation, supporting one another, and the prevalence of peace throughout the entire region," he said.

"SECURITY IS NOT THE ONLY BASIS"

Stating that Turkey responds immediately when the Syrian state requests support regarding security, Çelik said, "When the Syrian state requested support from Turkey regarding security and expected an approach to develop cooperation on security, it was answered immediately. In line with the instructions of our President, our Ministry of National Defense stated that preparations regarding this support were completed and that it would be put into action. At that time, some opposition circles emerged; they said, 'These things cannot be done with just a security approach, it needs to be handled in a larger framework.' However, we had stated that we were not reducing the issue to just security, that security was essential, but that other areas would follow. The realization of today's natural gas pipeline has clearly demonstrated this," he said.

"IT IS NOT SOMETHING TAKEN SERIOUSLY"

Criticizing CHP Chairman Özgür Özel for questioning President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's sensitivities regarding Palestine, Çelik said, "The grave mistakes and errors that Republican People's Party Chairman Mr. Özgür Özel makes under the guise of constant criticism regarding our President, in an increasingly drifting, groundless, and baseless manner. He has again attempted to question our President's sensitivity regarding Palestine. Look, this is a clear situation: Today, all over the world, a humanity front has formed regarding the sensitivity on the Palestine issue, from all religions, all ethnic communities, and all nations, and it is a fact that the leader who speaks most clearly, speaks most loudly, and takes the most solid steps regarding Palestine among all members of this humanity front is our President. There is no basis for what Özgür Özel said regarding questioning the sensitivity toward Palestine. It has no ground. It is not something taken seriously by anyone either. Özgür Özel's words are not taken seriously by people who have come together for Palestine all over the world. I would also like to say this, and this is extremely clear: The moment Özgür Özel's words questioning our President's sensitivity toward Palestine are heard in Palestine, in Gaza, or anywhere else; all Palestinians, all Gazans consider this a part of Israeli propaganda. The leader most targeted by Israel's black propaganda machine, the Zionist propaganda machine, is our President. For Özgür Özel, as an opposition leader, to continue his corpus of groundless, baseless criticism; this corpus of grave mistakes he has put forward under the guise of criticism, is, of course, a great accumulation of political errors from his own perspective. Ultimately, it is an extremely wrong situation for an opposition party within Turkey to speak in this way, in a manner that could be perceived as part of the Israeli propaganda machine regarding Palestine," he said.

"THE CHP CHAIRMAN CONTINUES TO MAKE MISTAKES CONSTANTLY"

Stating that CHP Chairman Özgür Özel does not have the capacity to question President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on foreign policy and Palestine, Çelik said, "The fact that the Republican People's Party has fallen to this line, has been pulled to this line, is also extremely grave for a deep-rooted party like the Republican People's Party. They also continue to make mistakes constantly in all other foreign policy issues. They made the same mistake before regarding the Bogota Declaration on the Palestine issue. However, the issue that Mr. Özgür Özel should reckon with is this: While the government in Libya, which is accepted as legitimate by the United Nations and is also a friend of Turkey, was developing good relations with Turkey, those who made statements criticizing it and supporting the elements pointing weapons at Turkey were the politicians of the Republican People's Party. Regarding the Blue Homeland thesis, which is one of Turkey's most important theses, speeches and statements rejecting the Blue Homeland and attacking the Blue Homeland directly at its spine were made by Mr. Özgür Özel's close team. When these speeches were made, when this attack on the Blue Homeland came from the Republican People's Party, we said at the time: 'Look,' we said, 'The headlines of the newspapers in Greece are praising this CHP politician who attacks the Blue Homeland.' Likewise, the criticism of the land operations we carried out such as Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch so that no terrorist statelet would be established right at our border came from Republican People's Party politicians in Parliament again. Remember, while dear Azerbaijan was fighting for Karabakh, which is its own land, the statement that slandered with a policy of lies by saying Turkey is sending jihadists to Karabakh; the statement that tried to cast a shadow over both dear Azerbaijan's struggle and Turkey's support, again came from a Republican People's Party deputy. Therefore, Mr. Özgür Özel does not have such a capacity to criticize our President's sensitivity toward Palestine and the will he has demonstrated regarding foreign policy in any way. On the contrary, he should focus on correcting this drift and this pathetic situation within his own party and face it. Also, he expresses that our President is afraid of some circles, some countries, and some political figures while making his political decisions. I mean, this is an extremely tragic approach in terms of showing the point Özgür Özel has reached," he said.

"THE PALESTINIAN CAUSE IS TURKEY'S NATIONAL CAUSE"

Stating that the Palestinian cause is Turkey's national cause, Çelik said, "Here, it is something accepted all over the world that our President has shaped his political will around the correctness and principled nature of this decision, regardless of what anyone in the world says, while making his political decisions until now. That is why, for many years, it was said 'Turkey is breaking away from the West,' it was said 'Turkey is changing direction,' it was said 'There is an axis shift in Turkey' to put pressure on Turkey. For years, these propagandas were made as if Turkey was undergoing some kind of axis shift in foreign policy. But our President never compromised on making and implementing the right and principled decisions here. Therefore, if we are to look here, if we are to talk about being afraid, being hesitant, or defeatism, our advice to Özgür Özel is this: Why do the Republican People's Party politicians I mentioned a moment ago handle the theses of other states against Turkey's theses in this way, regarding dear Azerbaijan, regarding Karabakh, regarding the Eastern Mediterranean, regarding the Blue Homeland, regarding military operations? As a result of which defeatism, which fear are all these discourses put forward by Özgür Özel's team in a way that will please anti-Turkey circles? Therefore, this is the issue that Özgür Özel needs to evaluate. When looking at these, both our Palestinian brothers and the leading leaders of Palestine have clearly expressed this for years: The strongest support, the clearest support in the most difficult times, the uninterrupted support; has been given to the Palestinian cause by our President during his Prime Ministry and Presidency. By saying 'The Palestinian cause is Turkey's national cause' and establishing this sentence for the first time in Turkish political history, our President actually revealed his clear stance on handling this cause, which is related to humanity, as a national cause of Turkey. After that, as has been explained many times, many steps were taken, many action plans were carried out, and this will is expressed in this way. Let Özgür Özel go and recite these sentences in front of Palestine or any Palestinian, he will see the answer he gets. We once again express our gratitude for our President's will regarding Palestine here," he said.