Zafer Party leader Özdağ lashes out at President Erdoğan: 'Is Turkey his father's farm?'

Following the overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad administration in Syria and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) taking control of the country, Zafer Party Chairman Ümit Özdağ spoke to 12punto regarding the return of Syrians in Turkey to their country, the possibility of new migrants joining those who have not returned, and Turkey's situation in a potential new migration scenario in the coming period. Özdağ issued warnings by calling on AKP President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

'IS TURKEY ERDOĞAN'S FATHER'S FARM?'

Stating that there has been no return from Turkey to Syria in the last 2 weeks other than 5-6 thousand people, Özdağ began his words as follows:

“On average, 630 people leave per day, but there are nearly 7 million Syrians in Turkey, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs also said that a total of 10 million Syrians in the region would return to their homelands. It is highly likely that we will receive new migrations. Because even though Erdoğan said, 'It is essential for Syrian refugees to return as soon as the civil war in Syria ends,' he said, 'We will not be able to kick anyone out.' First of all, the concept is wrong. It is not about kicking them out. This is a legal order; they came because of the civil war and they will go. He is consciously using the wrong concepts and saying, 'They will stay, they are welcome.' He was going to send them back, he said Bashar al-Assad was the reason, why are they welcome, is Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's father's farm that he cannot enforce the laws? Well, what will happen if they stay here? They will be granted citizenship. In other words, he sees them as a vote bank again. That is all there is to the situation.”

'YOU WILL TURN TURKEY INTO A MOLOTOV COCKTAIL'

Expressing the situations that President Erdoğan's statement regarding Syrians, 'Those who want to stay here are welcome,' could lead to, Özdağ warned, “It even acted as an incentive for new Sunni Arab Syrians to come to Turkey, even in Syria. Apart from this, it could cause an influx into Turkey of those who want to escape the pressures of the new regime, such as Christians and Alawites. This is very dangerous, because if you bring Alawite Arabs here before the Sunni Arabs who came to Turkey saying they were against the Alawites return, you will turn Turkey into a Molotov cocktail.”

'THE OVERTHROW OF ASSAD WAS AN ISRAELI PROJECT'

Emphasizing that what is happening in Syria is an Israeli project, Özdağ stated, “It is necessary to be realistic as soon as possible. It is necessary to get out of the mood that Turkey has won a great victory in Syria and take quick steps to prevent the Afghanization of Syria. But the government is not in an effort to transfer the image in foreign policy to domestic policy, not out of a foreign policy concern. We see that it is wandering around with an empty cry of victory. However, there is no victory won. If there is a country that has emerged victorious from this, it is clearly Israel. In fact, the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad was primarily an Israeli project. They are systematically destroying all the ammunition and all the institutional structure left by the Syrian State and are practically pushing Syria back into history. The PKK/PYD region supported by the Americans is kept privileged, and absolutely no attack is carried out there. In such an environment, for Jolani, a man who comes from the Al-Qaeda, Al-Nusra, and HTS tradition, to say 'I am bringing the Sharia state' is not a step to keep Syria together, but a step to break Syria apart and drag it into a new civil war.”

'THEY CANNOT CONTROL AFRIN UNLESS TURKEY WANTS IT'

Evaluating the words of HTS leader Jolani, who stated, “The Kurds are the essential element and inseparable part of the future Syria,” Özdağ said, “They cannot control Afrin as long as Turkey does not want it. This has already manifested itself as a very concrete reason not to trust HTS.”

'WE HAVE FOLLOWED THE MOST WRONG POLICY IN THE HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC'

Speaking about the presence of Turkish signs in some businesses in Syria and the slogans '81 Aleppo, 82 Idlib, 83 Damascus' on social media, Özdağ concluded his words by saying, “These have nothing to do with reality. We have followed the most wrong policy in the history of the Republic, and the money we have lost in the last 11 years is over 160 billion dollars. We have given many martyrs, and now HTS and PKK are dominant in Syria. I suggest that those who still see this as a gain should eat some fish.”