President Erdoğan holds first iftar with families of martyrs

Erdoğan came together with the families of martyrs at an iftar program.

Highlights from the speech of AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan are as follows:

"I sincerely congratulate you on the blessed month of Ramadan, the beginning of which is mercy, the middle is forgiveness, and the end is salvation from eternal torment.

As in every Ramadan, we wanted to have our first iftar this year with the relatives of our martyrs. On the occasion of this iftar, which we held with the participation of our state protocol, I congratulate our nation and the entire Islamic world on the blessed month of Ramadan.

Our martyrs' relatives and our veterans are our nation's trust to us. It is our duty to stand by them in all their matters, to please their hearts, and to earn their consent. To this end, we have both made the necessary institutional arrangements and considered it an honor to host them in the most pristine corner of our hearts.

We have brothers and sisters who carry out duties within our borders, at our borders, and beyond our borders for the peace of our nation, the survival of our state, and the security of our future. We owe a debt of gratitude to our soldiers, police, gendarmerie, security guards, and other public personnel, whose numbers we can express in the millions.

"WE HAVE MADE TURKEY A TRULY INDEPENDENT STATE"

In the last 21 years, we have strengthened the infrastructure of this national rise with the reforms we have implemented in every field, from education to health, from transportation to energy, and from industry to agriculture.

With the investments we have made in the defense industry, we have made Turkey a truly independent state. You see what is happening around us. If you are not a strong state, they deem all kinds of oppression acceptable for you.

The way to protect your homeland and live safely within those borders is to be strong in every respect.

In the first century of our Republic, we paid the price for the shortcomings we experienced in this regard with underdevelopment, instability, chaos, and by spending our time and energy on internal struggles. Especially in the last 10 years, many games have been played and many traps have been set to bring Turkey back to the same situation.

Terrorist attacks and coup attempts were among them. Thank God, our nation has thwarted all these games and traps by protecting its unity, solidarity, and brotherhood. The efforts of those who want to bring Turkey to its knees and return our country to its old weak days will, of course, never end.

What is important is that we, as a nation, protect our gains and our future. We see in every test we face that our nation's decision on this matter is clear and definitive. With these feelings, I wish for your blessed month of Ramadan to be auspicious once again.