Lütfü Savaş responds to Erdoğan: The people of Hatay will not bow to blackmail

President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said at his party's AKP District Mayoral Candidate Introduction Meeting held in Hatay yesterday, "If the central government and local government do not work hand in hand, if they are not in solidarity, that city will not receive anything. Did it come to Hatay? Now Hatay has been left abandoned, Hatay has been left forsaken." 

"THE PEOPLE OF HATAY ARE NEVER FORSAKEN OR ABANDONED"

Hatay Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Lütfü Savaş responded to Erdoğan in a statement he made today. Savaş said the following: 

"The sentences spoken by our esteemed President have saddened us all. If an earthquake were to happen in Istanbul, Izmir, or Ankara today, would we experience what we are experiencing in Hatay? It must be known that we are all the true children of this country. We are all people who struggle with all our being for the survival, development, and endurance of this country. We lost around 24 thousand of our people. While living with this pain for a year and struggling with all our troubles, we would have expected Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whom we consider the president of us all, to make a more unifying, integrating, and equal-handed speech and chain of actions in Hatay that distributes rights to everyone. 

This speech has been met with sadness. It has been met with even greater sadness in Hatay. The people of Hatay are never forsaken or abandoned. They have not bowed to blackmail. Furthermore, the people of Hatay never bowed to the threats of the French either. They did not bow to threats before that. They did not bow after that, and they will not bow from now on either. 

"WE WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE THIS CITY AN ETERNAL TURKISH HOMELAND"

We know of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who struggled for 20 years with all his being, asking 'How can we save Hatay?' He entrusted Hatay to the Republic of Turkey. As the mayor of that entrusted geography, we also know our Prophet very well. He says, 'One hour of justice is better than 70 years of supererogatory worship.' We will continue to make this city an eternal Turkish homeland by not compromising on rights, justice, and equality, while also taking ownership of our city, despite all kinds of negativity. March 31 will be the symbol of this outcry, this standing tall, and this resurrection. See you on March 31."