MHP's Özdemir calls for 'urgent determination of engagement rules against Israel': 'We will enter a physical contact line'

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Deputy Chairman and Kayseri MP İsmail Özdemir spoke on behalf of the MHP Group regarding the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Directorate for EU Affairs, and the Turkish Accreditation Agency during the ongoing budget negotiations in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM).

In his speech, Özdemir emphasized that Turkish foreign policy is the highest priority area for Turkey's survival and its 21st-century goals. Özdemir said, "It is known that we are in a time period where uncertainties are increasing, persecution and conflicts are spreading, peace, stability, and tranquility are beginning to disappear, disorder is finding a place, and injustice is rampant. We are in a process where states with solid institutional structures and traditions are coming to the fore, at a time when the unsettled accounts of World War I are being revisited and the balances brought by World War II are disappearing.

While paradigms based on localization are seen as the dominant approach in the international arena on one hand, the existence of states that have lost their authority and regimes that have only just managed to escape colonialism causes the expansion of competition fields on the other. When all these developments are considered together, we are faced with the reality that we must confront issues that concern our goals, along with elements and subjects that fall within the scope of our national security in our foreign policy perspective. For these reasons, our foreign policy emerges as the highest priority area for our survival and our 21st-century goals. In such a period, Turkish foreign policy has made a difference by providing valuable services to both today and tomorrow, with the presence of the foreign service organization, which has the most deep-rooted structure in our state tradition after the Turkish Armed Forces, and its highly esteemed members.

Our diplomatic prestige is demonstrated not only by the number of our missions and the fields in which they operate, but also by a maturity that contributes to peace and stability by maintaining a presence in almost all crisis areas. General issues such as preventing the deepening and regional spread of the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia, keeping channels between the parties open, adopting our humanitarian measure as a basis in the tensions and wars continuing in the Middle East and having it adopted by third parties, starting to write a new history by observing mutual interests on the African continent, and taking innovative and visionary steps with new values rising in Asia have not only increased the prestige of Turkish foreign policy but also expanded its sphere of influence.

Our field effectiveness, stemming from our principle that persists in our state tradition of 'from the sunrise in the east, to the midday in the south, to the sunset in the west, and to the midnight in the north,' has reached a high potential. The Republic of Turkey has registered with every example experienced that it is one of the power centers of the new century, both for itself and with its close partners and true allies. It is gratifying that we have reached a power capable of fulfilling the responsibility of building a fairer order for humanity in the new century with our understanding of maximizing our national interests and minimizing threats," he said.

TURKISH WORLD BANK

Özdemir continued his speech as follows:

"The topics of Turkish foreign policy undoubtedly cover a very wide area. Especially in a period where problems are intertwined more than ever, it requires skill to steer the ship to the harbor safely in a stormy sea, so to speak. In this context, it is obvious that besides the institutional traditions and experience of our foreign service, there is a need for a mindset that is constantly open to development in the face of new issues. When we evaluate the challenges we have to face and solve alongside our existing goals, it is clear that our Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be managed with a dynamic understanding that is always open to structural development.

This issue we mentioned is not limited to training our valuable diplomats according to current conditions, but also encompasses the reality that the institutional structure must be considered in terms of efficiency. It may become essential for the areas worked at the general directorate level on a regional basis to attain an organizational structure that can perhaps be evaluated with a new approach in the near future. There is no doubt that moving our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is among the locomotive institutions of our goal of becoming a global and super power, to a higher level that is healthier and capable of meeting our diplomatic needs in terms of scope and responsibility will increase our global effectiveness.

On the other hand, for the Turkish world, which is one of the rising values and centers of the 21st century, the establishment of a Ministry of the Turkish World to work within the scope of the responsibility region in this geography could also make our goals and efforts more efficient. The Republic of Turkey is not a country with a vision, historical and humanitarian responsibility small enough to be dominant and sovereign only in the Anatolian geography, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Aegean. For us, the current conditions have reached a level far beyond just protecting what remains from our post-Ottoman losses. The relations of the Republic of Turkey, whose population has now reached nearly 100 million, whose power potential and multipliers have increased, and which has no area or geography where it cannot show presence, are not limited to its neighbors, the EU, or NATO."

SPOKE ABOUT THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

Stating, "Every oppressed person in trouble turns their eyes to us, every country that will take a step on any issue has to take Ankara's stance into account," Özdemir said, "Moreover, our decisions and will have reached a stage far beyond being advisory, and nations and states that see their future with us have emerged. Geographies whose history is with us but whose living space has been drawn with a pen for the last hundred years have shown that they are too narrow for the history that has been paid for and written with blood at the stage reached. Therefore, while moving with great momentum for our Turkish and Turkey Century goal, we must also take the steps open to institutional development brought by the Presidential Government System when the time comes. Beyond weathering the approaching great depression, we must be able to make the institutional structure of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs ready for constant development in order to be ready for the aftermath of this depression and to become dominant in every geography. The clashes that started in the west of the Syrian city of Aleppo on November 27 ended after an 11-day period with the change of hands in Damascus and the fall of the Assad regime.

Additionally, the presence of the PKK/PYD terrorist organization in Tel Rifat and Manbij has also been ended by the Syrian National Army and Joint Forces. In the current situation, the advance of the Syrian National Army towards the Tel Abyad region continues. Furthermore, the struggle of some tribes and other elements against the PKK/PYD terrorist organization continues around the Deir ez-Zor region.

"THE WAY HAS BEEN OPENED FOR THEM TO RETURN IN A DIGNIFIED AND HEAD-HELD-HIGH MANNER"

At the stage reached, the opposition has become the regime itself, and the regime has fled Syria. Our wish is for the political process to begin as soon as possible and for Syria, with which we have the longest border, to achieve lasting peace and stability. In this framework, the preservation of three basic principles is essential in the coming period.

These are the protection of Syria's territorial integrity, the preservation of the demographic structure before the civil war, and the prevention of efforts by terrorist organizations, especially the PKK/PYD, to find legitimacy. Thus, with the political solution to be obtained, the desired climate of peace can be captured with the existence of a Syria that will be governed by the will of its citizens. The way has been opened for Syrians who had to leave their countries due to the civil war, especially our guests in Turkey, to return to their own lands in a dignified and head-held-high manner.

It should be known that in the Syrian geography, our adversary is the PKK and DAESH, and our friends are our Kurdish and Arab brothers. On the other hand, one must also be vigilant against the aggressive actions that Israel continues on Syrian territory without any justification or legal basis. Because looking at the information coming from the field, it seems that Israel, which has hung the crime of genocide originating from Gaza around its neck, will not limit its occupation attempts in Syria to the Golan Heights.

If one pays attention, Israel has approached within 20 kilometers of Damascus. This situation also means that we will enter a physical contact line with Israel in the near future. Under these conditions, we must urgently determine our engagement rules. While passing through one of the most sensitive periods of our republican history, history reminds us again of our Ankara-centered approach and our necessity to realize the Ankara vision. This is how our ideal of a Great Turkey will come to life, and the Turkish and Turkey Century will definitely be realized with faith, perseverance, and determination. On this occasion, I state that we, as the Nationalist Movement Party, will vote positively and support the budget of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and I wish superior success from Almighty God to the esteemed members of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the person of our Valuable Minister Mr. Hakan Fidan, and I greet our Gazi Assembly with my love and respect.”