Erdoğan speaks in Erzurum: CHP is on his agenda again... Did the CHP lose when the Ba'ath Party lost?

President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made statements at his party's 8th Ordinary Provincial Congress in Erzurum. 

Highlights from Erdoğan's statements are as follows:

'WE ARE BUILDING A STADIUM IN ERZURUM'

"They call the true brave a 'Dadaş'. The Dadaş knows us, and we know the Dadaş. Dear Dadaşes, beautiful people of Erzurum, my precious fellow travelers, I greet you with my most heartfelt feelings. I wish for our congresses to be auspicious for our party, our country, and our nation. 

Our congresses are like weddings, like holidays, like feasts, like celebrations. I send my greetings and affection to all the people of Erzurum in the presence of my brothers and sisters who fill this hall.

I express my gratitude to you for supporting us once again in the March 31 elections. We have not let you down to this day. We have paid our debt of gratitude by working harder. Hopefully, we will continue on our path in the same way. We will do our best for Erzurum to reach the place it deserves. As a result of our efforts, Erzurum was selected as the 2025 Tourism Capital by the Economic Cooperation Organization. This beautiful city will be promoted to the whole world. Another piece of good news is the stadium news. We will start the construction of a 20,000-capacity stadium.

HE SAID 'PATIENCE' AGAIN

Our world and our region are going through painful days recently. 50 thousand of our Palestinian brothers and sisters have been martyred. Despite the ceasefire, Israel continues to harass Lebanon. If a neighbor's house burns, either the flames or the smoke will surely reach you.

We experienced the earthquake called the disaster of the century, in which we lost 53 thousand of our lives. The cost of this earthquake to our economy is 104 billion dollars. All of these problems are conjunctural, meaning they are temporary. Turkey has the capability to overcome them all. Although we have some difficulties, brighter days than ever await Turkey. If we, as a nation, show a little more patience, we will be very close to our goals in every field. We will all witness the bright days of the Century of Turkey together.

'OUR SYRIAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS LOOK TO THEIR FUTURE WITH HOPE'

A group in our country, led by the opposition, is constantly instilling pessimism in the nation. Instead of walking the same path as the nation, they look wherever the wind blows like a weather vane. They have lost their balance to the point of saying, 'Let the AK Party lose, even if Turkey sinks.' They don't even know what is happening in the world. They don't even care about what is happening beyond our borders. A popular revolution took place in our neighbor Syria in recent days. The Ba'ath regime has become history. Assad, who caused the death of 1 million innocent people in his country, had to flee Damascus. The Syrian people achieved a victory that makes us proud along with them. For the first time in 13 years, our Syrian brothers and sisters are looking to their future with hope. 

'THEY ARE PRODUCING MIND-BOGGLING CONSPIRACY THEORIES ABOUT SYRIA'

Our crescent and star flag is adorning the hands of our Syrian brothers and sisters side by side with the flags of a free Syria. We see that some cannot tolerate this. They are incapable of sharing this joy. They are producing mind-boggling conspiracy theories. What is it? That imperialist powers are behind Syria. That the overthrow of Assad is against Turkey's interests. They think they are doing politics by lining up a bunch of nonsense like this one after another.

Diplomacy, just like politics, is a fine art. Diplomacy requires calculating 10 moves ahead. You have to take into account the moves of your rivals, and even your adversaries, along with your own steps, and account for every scenario. In addition to our own experiences, we make our plans and take our steps accordingly, guided by the Turkish state mind, which has a tradition spanning over 2000 years. We have attended thousands of summits so far. We have not bowed our nation's head for 22 years. We have always thought a thousand times but spoke once.

DID THE CHP LOSE WHEN THE BA'ATH PARTY LOST?

There were many times when we were left alone. There were those who lost their conscience to the point of using refugees as election material. We hosted 4 million of our Syrian brothers and sisters in these lands. But what did the CHP say? 'We will send you back as soon as we come to power,' they said. And we said, 'We are the Ansar (helpers), you are the Muhajir (migrants).'

We, as much as our nation, are curious why the CHP administration feels so much sympathy for the Ba'ath dictatorship. Did the CHP automatically lose when the Ba'ath Party lost? Let them explain this.

WE ARE REOPENING THE DAMASCUS EMBASSY

Despite the provocations of the opposition, we see once again today how accurately we acted regarding Syria. We understand once again today how right we were not to send our Syrian brothers and sisters to their deaths. We are bringing the Damascus Embassy back to life today.