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BTP Leader Hüseyin Baş's 'lieutenant' response to Erdoğan: 'I am both a soldier of Mustafa Kemal and a member of the mosque congregation'

The 'sword-drawing' and 'We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal!' slogans at the Military Academy graduation ceremony have divided politics. Responding to Erdoğan's post, 'We have opened 5 mosques in our barracks, we are opening 17 more, we are opening mosques in our military academies,' BTP Leader Hüseyin Baş said, 'Look, I am both a soldier of Mustafa Kemal and a member of the mosque congregation.'

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BTP Chairman Hüseyin Baş made remarkable statements at the closing of his party's traditional youth summer camp held in Nevşehir Kozaklı on Tuesday.

Highlights from Baş's statements are as follows:

'LIEUTENANT' RESPONSE TO ERDOĞAN

At the lieutenant graduation, the lieutenants chanted slogans saying, 'We are the soldiers of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.' Our President also tweeted, saying, 'We have opened 5 mosques in our barracks, we are opening 17 more, we are opening mosques in our military academies.' Now he is reacting to that. The timing is very significant; to someone saying, 'I am a soldier of Mustafa Kemal,' you say, 'I am opening mosques.' Do you have such a claim; do you think that someone who is a soldier of Mustafa Kemal has a problem with the mosque? Look, I am both a soldier of Mustafa Kemal and a member of the mosque congregation.

'CALLING ATATÜRK 'IRRELIGIOUS' IS AN INTELLIGENCE PROBLEM'

There is an alliance between Atatürkists and conservatives regarding Atatürk's supposed distance from religion. Now, what kind of thing is this? I always explain it like this; imagine a person who decides to fight a struggle alone. For whom? For the Muslim Turkish nation. He wins that struggle and declares a republic. Who is the public? The Muslim Turkish nation. After that republic, there are non-Muslims in the geography we live in, and our Muslims are in the Balkans... He has them swap places through a population exchange. Look, the people he served from beginning to end are Muslims, but he is supposedly irreligious, is that so? To accept or think this is an intelligence problem. Nowadays, fighting with Atatürk has become a privilege.

'I CALL THOSE WHO TRY TO DISMANTLE MY REPUBLIC TERRORISTS'

Now let's look at the event this way; when a group does not accept the existence of the Republic of Turkey and wants to establish a new state for itself, they become terrorists. Does our state recognize them as terrorists? Yes, it does. Is it right? Yes, it is. Well, what about those who fight with the founder of this country, with the founding values of this country, who do not want the republic and want the sultanate? When you look at it with the same logic, they are terrorists because you want to dismantle the republic, you want to dismantle Atatürk. Your problem is with the homeland I live in, the state I live in, the republic I live in. I call those who set their sights on my republic, those who try to dismantle my republic, terrorists. Is there any other explanation for this?

'WHO DOESN'T LIKE ATATÜRK AND WHY?'

Those who govern our country today have a fundamental problem with Atatürk that they themselves cannot explain. When you get down to this fundamental problem, it is thought that this is a fight about faith. Yes, this is a fight about faith, but it is not that this side is faithful and the Atatürk side is faithless as our people think; on the contrary, this side is faithful. My dear Chairman Nihat has a speech titled 'Who doesn't like Atatürk,' open it and listen to it. Who doesn't like Atatürk, why don't they like Atatürk? They don't like Atatürk because Atatürk returned this nation's honor, dignity, and self-respect, because they are not from this nation. They don't like Atatürk because Atatürk gave this nation the freedom to live its religion freely, because they are not of this religion. The problem of these people is here. If the issue is just saying 'I am a Muslim' and closing the subject, then everyone would be a Muslim. For example, if it is about being a truly perfect Muslim, a Muslim does not fight with his ancestor, his father, his grandfather, his past, his history; on the contrary, he embraces them, feels gratitude, and feels loyalty.