New legislative year in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey... CHP deputies stood up but did not applaud

The 3rd Legislative Year of the 28th Term of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) has officially opened. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was welcomed with a ceremony at the TBMM, where he arrived for the opening of the 3rd Legislative Year of the 28th Term.

President Erdoğan also attended the opening of the 3rd Legislative Year of the 28th Term of the TBMM.

Upon his arrival at the Parliament, Erdoğan was welcomed with an official ceremony by Deputy Speaker of the TBMM Celal Adan.

TBMM Speaker Kurtulmuş welcomed President Erdoğan, who saluted the Presidential Honor Guard, in front of the Gate of Honor.

The TBMM General Assembly convened under the chairmanship of Speaker of the Parliament Kurtulmuş. Speaker of the Parliament Kurtulmuş made statements at the opening of the new legislative year in the Parliament.

SECURITY MEASURES IN PARLIAMENT

Extensive security measures were taken in the Parliament for the opening of the new legislative year. The General Assembly hall was searched by teams accompanied by the bomb-sniffing dog Ateş before the opening. Flowers were left on the desks of all deputies for the opening.

It was learned that Yeniden Refah Party leader Fatih Erbakan entered the parliament from the AKP rows and was unable to shake hands with anyone.

At the same time, Müsavat Dervişoğlu and Devlet Bahçeli shook hands in the Parliament.

Özgür Özel, on the other hand, was only applauded by CHP deputies.

MESSAGES FROM TBMM SPEAKER KURTULMUŞ

TBMM Speaker Kurtulmuş spoke at the Parliament General Assembly for the opening of the 3rd Legislative Year of the 28th Term of the TBMM.

Highlights from TBMM Speaker Kurtulmuş's statement:

Considering the conditions brought about by today's regional chaos, Turkey needs more unity and solidarity due to Israel's aggressive attitude, which has now lost its balance. Therefore, I believe that all political parties in the TBMM will contribute to this unity and solidarity.

"ONE OF ISRAEL'S TARGETS IS TURKEY"

The aggressive attitudes of Israel, which started specifically with Gaza, have ultimately reached a dimension that will threaten the sovereignty of all countries in the region. Undoubtedly, one of the targets of this unhinged gang is Turkey. It is essential for Turkey to put forward programs that will prevent these aggressive attitudes of Israel.

We hosted Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas here in August, witnessed his historic speech, and declared to the whole world that we stand by the Palestinian cause.

The Palestinian cause has become the common ground for all humanity with a conscience. As the TBMM, we will fight against this aggressive Israel in every field.

Turkey is emerging as a country with increasing power within the framework of the new conditions of this new world.

Over the past year, the TBMM has been a place for intellectual debates with great responsibility and courtesy. Within the past year, the TBMM worked for 512 thousand hours in general assembly and committee work, 73 laws were passed, and 54 TBMM decisions were adopted.

Despite such intensive work, unfortunately, the rude words and fights that occurred in a few sessions did not befit the TBMM and cast a shadow over this much work. Furthermore, great responsibilities fall upon our Parliament in the coming period.

One of the important tasks falling upon our Parliament is the emergence of an effective and high-quality legislative process; we will come together as political parties to create a contemporary internal regulation.

In today's foreign policy, the importance of our parliamentary democracy is increasing, especially within our multilateral and effective understanding.

In this upcoming working period, we will continue our work in a way that is open to consultation with high democratic standards, and we will work to fulfill historical duties such as a new constitution and internal regulation.

ERDOĞAN'S CONSTITUTION STATEMENT: ITS TIME HAS EXPIRED

Following TBMM Speaker Kurtulmuş's statements, AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arrived at the TBMM. Erdoğan greeted the deputies in the parliament and took the podium.

It was claimed that some deputies objected!

Erdoğan arrived at the TBMM

The CHP group stood up but did not applaud https://t.co/3TmoIzWydX pic.twitter.com/JvxqCh39TK

— 12punto (@12puntocomtr) October 1, 2024

Highlights from Erdoğan's statement are as follows:

My dear nation, Mr. Speaker, esteemed deputies, I greet you with my most heartfelt feelings. I wish that the 3rd legislative year of the 28th term of the TBMM will bring goodness to our country together with our deputies.

I once again respectfully commemorate the first Speaker of our Grand National Assembly, Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and all the veterans and martyrs of our War of Independence today.

I pray that the new legislative year will be a blessed and fruitful year for all of you, and especially for our dear nation, in harmony, compromise, and mutual understanding.

I convey my best wishes for success in the new legislative year to the political parties and my fellow deputies who will serve our nation with this high consciousness.

The TBMM, under whose roof we are together right now, was opened on April 23, 1920, directed and managed the national struggle, and founded our Republic on October 29, 1923.

Throughout its 104-year history, this Parliament has managed to find a way out even in the most difficult periods.

This Parliament has more than enough power to write the most inclusive constitution in our Republican history, which will strengthen peace and democracy and open more space for prosperity and freedoms.

The constitution imposed on the national will in the shadow of weapons after the September 12 military coup is a straitjacket tailored for our nation. More than 20 amendments clearly show the nation's dissatisfaction with the current constitution.

The time for the '82 Constitution has expired. We see that the need of our democracy for a new constitution makes itself felt more every day.

We are making our own preparations regarding the new constitution meticulously, but this does not mean that we are closing our doors to all other ideas. We respect every kind of idea, we listen to every thought with interest.

It is impossible to think of the nation and the state separately from each other. If there is a nation, there is a state. If there is a state, the nation maintains its existence.

The state is not above the nation. And the nation cannot survive or live without a state. We believe that the prosperity and peace of the nation, along with more freedom, will further strengthen our state. The new constitution must have qualities that bring the state and the nation together. As people representing the cherished will of the nation, we can write, make, and implement a constitution that brings us together on maximum common grounds without excluding any member of our people, through this supreme Parliament.

Just like nature, societies and states have an order and a system. Order is the main pillar of the state and the nation. The law provides order, and the spirit of the law is justice.

Justice is the foundation of property. It is justice that brings a state into existence and keeps it standing. It is justice that keeps the nation in peace, prosperity, and security. It is justice that will protect the state from all kinds of threats. It is again justice that will grow the economy, ensure equal distribution, and make the worker and the employer happy. If the guilty and the innocent are not distinguished from each other, if the innocent is punished while the guilty walks around freely, justice is shaken, and if justice is shaken, the state is shaken. Our law enforcement forces and our judiciary community are working with effort and devotion for the realization of justice.

On this occasion, I would like to express my gratitude to all our martyrs, especially our policewoman Şeyda Yılmaz, who was martyred as a result of a heinous attack last week. May God protect all our security forces who fight at the cost of their lives. I convey our gratitude and heartfelt greetings to our entire police organization on behalf of our entire nation. I also express our thanks to the brave members of our heroic army.

None of us should allow our judiciary members and our courts, which make decisions on behalf of the Turkish nation, to be threatened. Our Parliament should focus more on the prevention of crime in the new legislative year and listen more to the increasingly rising demands of our nation.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

Despite the disaster of the century, the February 6 earthquakes, and the hot conflicts in our region, we are moving towards our goals in the economy. With the support of our Parliament, we have made significant progress in our economic program in the last 1 year. We have left behind and are leaving behind many issues that were at the top of our agenda last year.

The gross reserves of our Central Bank, which were 98.5 billion dollars in May last year, have exceeded 156 billion dollars today, reaching the highest level in our Republican history. Thank God, Turkey no longer has a reserve problem.

We have brought the current account deficit to a sustainable level. We fell below 20 billion dollars in July.

Our exports broke a record with 256 billion dollars, and our strong performance continues in 2024. Annual exports reached the peak of our history with 262 billion dollars.

We closed 2023 in tourism with a record number of visitors and revenue; we aim to achieve 60 million tourists and 60 billion dollars in revenue this year.

Our national income has exceeded the 1 trillion dollar threshold, reaching 1 trillion 119 billion.

Thus, we managed to cross a very critical psychological threshold in national income; Turkey became the only country whose credit rating was increased by 3 major agencies in 2024. Depending on the improvement in the basic indicators of our economy, our country's risk premium is also falling. We also removed Turkey from the gray list, where it was taken mostly for political reasons; again, during this process, we did not compromise on fiscal discipline despite the 104 billion dollar additional bill that the February 6 earthquakes brought to the Turkish economy.

Thanks to our determined stance, we have entered a permanent downward trend in inflation; annual inflation has fallen by 23.5 points in the last 3 months. Food inflation has also turned negative. The decline in inflation will continue, and our nation will feel this decline more in the markets, bazaars, and kitchens.

REGIONAL HOT DEVELOPMENTS

The terror and genocide that Israel has been carrying out in Palestine and Gaza for nearly 1 year have unfortunately extended to Lebanon. Yesterday, the occupying forces announced that they had entered Lebanese territory by land.

While Israel is committing genocide in Gaza on one hand and carrying out terrorist attacks on Lebanon on the other, it is trying every way to drag the countries of the region into the fire.

Israel, which has massacred 42 thousand people in Gaza, 17 thousand of whom are children, and has now started a massacre in Lebanon, unfortunately does not receive the necessary reaction from the world.

I also expressed this at the UN General Assembly. A Hitler-wannabe named Netanyahu has recklessly committed all crimes.

He has repeatedly committed every crime that can be committed against humanity, including genocide, harassment, rape, ethnic cleansing, destroying freedom of expression, and bombing places of worship, hospitals, and schools.

Despite this shameful picture for all of humanity, some countries continue to provide support to Israel. Some other countries are partners in this brutality by remaining silent.

No matter what it does, Israel will be stopped sooner or later!

Just as the Hitler who saw himself in a giant mirror was stopped, Netanyahu will be stopped in the same way. The sighs of mothers and fathers who wrap their children in white shrouds will disgrace these oppressors. The black stain that has stuck to the foreheads of states, especially those in the West, not just Israel, will not be forgotten for centuries.

Today, I say with my heart burning and my soul bleeding, it has been exactly 360 days since Israel's genocide against the people of Gaza began; 42 thousand of our brothers and sisters were martyred, they made mothers collect the pieces of their loved ones left under the rubble. They trampled on every value related to humans and humanity. They turned not only mosques but also centuries-old churches into piles of rubble. Neither international organizations nor states representing 2 billion Muslims could come together and show a common reaction. Let alone stopping Israel, not even a joint stance was displayed.

Remaining silent and ignoring the brutality will not save any of us from the aggression of this genocide network. To end this indifference, as Turkey, we will continue to speak the truth with courage and stand tall against the oppressors.

I say it clearly, the place where the Israeli administration, acting with the delusion of 'promised lands', will set its sights after Palestine and Lebanon with complete religious fanaticism will be our homeland. This is what some friends of Israel within Turkey, those who do voluntary or paid Zionism propaganda, do not understand. The Netanyahu government is dreaming of a dream that includes Anatolia and is running within a utopia. Every development that has happened since October 7 increases the dimension of this threat.

2.5 HOURS BETWEEN HATAY AND LEBANON

The distance from the border in the Yayladağı district of Hatay to the Lebanese border is 170 kilometers; Lebanon is only 2.5 hours away from Turkey.

In other words, occupation, terror, and aggression are right next to us. I am addressing those who call Hamas a terrorist organization, I am addressing those who try to legitimize the barbarity experienced for 360 days with the October 7 incident; we are facing a gang of murderers who feed on blood.

We are facing an occupation network that is unhinged and intends to set the entire region on fire. We are facing a racist regime that discriminates not only against Muslims but even among Jews.

Remaining silent and neutral while bombs are raining down on the civilian population right next to you is being a partner in crime. I ask those who have been playing the 'three monkeys' for 360 days, how will you look your children in the face tomorrow? Do you really believe that you can be safe if Palestine and Lebanon are not safe?

For our homeland, for our nation, for our independence, we will continue to stand against this aggression and this state terror with every means at our disposal.

Whatever the cost, Turkey will continue to stand against Israel. Turkey will do its best to establish a front of humanity against those who attack the common values of humanity.

As Turkey, we will never leave our Lebanese brothers and sisters alone in these difficult days; we will be by their side with all our means.