Breaking News: Özgür Özel's reaction to Trump regarding Anıtkabir

Republican People's Party (CHP) elected Chairman Özgür Özel made statements at his party's weekly group meeting.

The CHP group meeting was held in Eskişehir because the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM) in Ankara was closed due to the NATO Summit. Özel also reiterated his call for the Madımak Hotel to be turned into a "museum of shame."

Starting his speech by mentioning the commemoration program he attended in Sivas on the 33rd anniversary of the burning and massacre of 33 intellectuals at the Madımak Hotel, Özel once again commemorated those who lost their lives.

Highlights from Özel's statement are as follows:

Dear deputies, my precious group, dear guests who honored our group from all four corners of Turkey; welcome, you have honored us. Today, we are holding the Republican People's Party's Grand National Assembly group meeting in our Eskişehir. Today, we are both hosts and guests. I present my respects to all our district chairs and the Republican People's Party organization, in the person of our Provincial Chair Talat Yalaz, for this unique hospitality.

When it comes to Eskişehir; I respectfully salute Yılmaz Büyükerşen, the legendary rector of Eskişehir, Metropolitan Mayor, and our master in politics, who created a paradise in the middle of the steppe and who played a role in bringing this city, which hosts guests from all over Turkey and the world and makes our party proud, to where it is today.

I thank the elected female Mayor of Eskişehir, Ayşe Ünlüce, who guards his legacy like the apple of her eye, for her hospitality. I thank all our mayors, in the person of our two mayors in the center, Kazım Kurt and Ahmet Ataç. I embrace our deputies elected from Eskişehir who stand on the right side of history, Utku Çakırözer and İbrahim Arslan, with love.

"WE CAME HERE TO DRAW STRENGTH"

We are in the city of youth, freedom, and the republic. We are in a city that has developed with social democratic municipalism and has become a symbol of service, culture, and contemporary life in the middle of the steppe. Today, we came to this city both to be a source of hope and, as we do every time we come here, to be filled with hope and to draw strength from here.

Adding faith to our faith, strength to our strength... I respectfully salute all the people of Eskişehir who are guests of our group at a very important group meeting on a very important day, and who are hosting us in this beautiful city.

"THANK GOD WE ARE IN THE HEARTS OF OUR NATION"

As you know, we did not stay in Ankara after the attacks on our party. We left the buildings and took refuge in our nation. We are traveling village by village, town by town, city by city. We are growing together, street by street, avenue by avenue, square by square. We are building the new politics that Turkey has been longing for, together with our nation. Perhaps we do not have flashy buildings, magnificent stages, or large buses; sometimes we are on a bench, sometimes on a chair in a village coffeehouse, but thank God we are in the hearts of our nation.

We have all been in the field since our last group meeting. I shared the pain of the Madımak massacre in Sivas on July 2, and we embraced the families. We were with those whose tears have not stopped for 33 years, and whose inner fire has not been extinguished. From here, once again, while respectfully commemorating those we lost there, one of the greatest shames in the history of the Republic of Turkey; I express that we will continue to carry that pain in our hearts until the day Madımak becomes a museum of shame and that day is passed by the parliament as a day of shame by law. After July 2, I could not be in Başbağlar on July 5, but our valuable delegation was there, our deputies were there. I once again condemn the Başbağlar massacre and commemorate those who lost their lives with mercy.

Then we were in Kastamonu. We came together with forest workers, tradesmen, and women. We listened to their troubles and explained our solution proposals. On our way to Zonguldak, we reinforced our hope and grew our struggle with those who crossed our path in Karabük Safranbolu and Yenice and embraced us with a great flood of love.

On Saturday, we were in the capital of labor. We were in the constituency in the hometown of Ecevit, Karaoğlan. We were in Zonguldak, the land of black diamonds. We set out for a tradesman visit, but we became tens of thousands, we flowed like a flood. We sent the photograph of struggle and determination from Zonguldak to all of Turkey. Once again, greetings to the entire land of black diamonds, the capital of labor!

"I SWEAR THAT NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO STAND BEFORE THE DETERMINATION AND RESOLVE OF THE NATION"

Today, we are with you in the 19th city on the path we set out on after the Mutlan decision. With the hope of the youth and the prayers of the mothers, we are walking by growing in every city. This march is not the march of a party, a group, or a leader. This march is the march of a nation that has been ignored, despised, and wanted to be crushed like an ant, and I shout from here, from Eskişehir: I swear that no one will be able to stand before the determination and resolve of the nation!

"THE AKP'S DARK ORDER HAS SETTLED IN TURKEY"

We are in the midst of a crisis that has been going on for years, has become chronic, is not remembered by the year it started, and has reached 10 years. We are in an environment of multiple crises.

In 2018, the parliamentary system was abolished. A one-man management approach was brought in its place. We objected in those days, and we have all been suffering from it ever since. Exactly 8 years have passed. From that date to this, let alone those who said 'Give the authority, see the effect'; fighting inflation, cost of living, lowering foreign currency, reducing unemployment... The country has been experiencing a disaster since that day. The nation's face has not smiled since that day. Democracy has been damaged. Justice has become arbitrary, incompetence has deepened. Unemployment, corruption, inflation, cost of living... Each one has gone from bad to worse.

They said they would break the back of inflation, but it was the citizen's back that was broken. And they said, 'We will bring a new system, it will be good'; this system did not come to Turkey, unfortunately, the AKP's dark order has settled in Turkey since that day.

"WE ARE FIRST IN POVERTY IN EUROPE"

We live in the most beautiful geography in the world, all together. We have a population of 86 million with a high youth ratio. We have hardworking people who can squeeze water out of a stone. We have bold entrepreneurs; business people, our Anatolian tigers. We have fertile, productive lands where if you plant a stick, it grows. We have a country that makes the world jealous with its history, culture, and tourism, whose growth, development, rise, and enrichment cannot be prevented.

But we, but we are first in poverty in Europe. We are first in unemployment in Europe. We are first in high interest rates in Europe. We are first in income and tax injustice in Europe. Unfortunately, while 80% of the country lives at African standards, only 20% of the country lives at Belgian standards, Luxembourg standards. There is a deep income inequality, an unacceptable, unequal distribution of wealth.

"THEY STARTED TO TREAT THOSE WHO ARE NOT ONE OF THEM WITH CRUELTY"

Why is it that while no one touches those who eat the rights of this nation, police stations, prison, and exile await those who stand against this order? This is what we need to sit and think about, to see those who benefit from this injustice, and politics is the business of choosing sides, politics is the business of setting priorities; it is necessary to state now who the current government protects and who the government of tomorrow, the government of the people, will protect.

There is no doubt that those who have been governing the country for 24 years have brought Turkey to this state. Because they put their own interests before the interests of the nation. They deviated from the democracy and justice that created us. We already had shortcomings; they came promising better, tied justice entirely to the decisions of one party, and almost completely eliminated democracy. They moved completely away from science, common sense, culture, and merit. They started to treat those who are not one of them with cruelty. In the end, they turned into a corrupt, oppressive, authoritarian government.

"WE ARE DETERMINED TO SAVE THIS COUNTRY FROM YOU IN THE FIRST ELECTIONS"

For example; we are first in Europe in inflation figures. Regarding food inflation; Sencer Solakoğlu, the head of our party responsible for agricultural policies, whom we constantly invite to our party and who has been traveling city by city, village by village since the day we included him in our staff, points out that Turkey, which is described as one of the 7 self-sufficient countries in the world, is in 5th place in the world in food inflation... our shadow minister of agriculture in our shadow cabinet...

Because he explains everywhere he goes the reasons for food inflation, the mistakes made in agriculture, the truths that should be done instead; because he explains the mistakes made in animal husbandry, meat production, milk production, what should be done for Turkey to get rid of foreign dependency in meat in this field, how the parity –the correct parity– in milk should be achieved, how production with purchase guarantees should be done, and because he explains how this government makes the meat producer miserable to enrich the importer, how dairy animals are going under the knife, how uncertainty and inefficiency in agriculture have brought us to this state because correct policies are not implemented... Until 1 year ago, while he was doing his job with the best certificates on his own farm in Bursa, he became the target of this government just because he now explains 'How are these things done wrong, what is the truth?'. It is a single example, but all the certificates of his workplace, the workplace that was shown as an example, were canceled in recent days.

I am calling out to the government from here: But we; but whoever you target because they object to your mistakes in this country, we are determined to stand tall against you, to stand behind them, and to save this country from you in the first elections, know this!

"WE WILL BOTH SETTLE THE ACCOUNT IN THE FIRST ELECTION AND GIVE THE RETIREE THEIR RIGHTS IN THE FIRST ELECTION"

Today, annual inflation is 32.11%. With this rate, we are first in Europe and 5th in the world. We are at a point where there are only 5 countries in the world with worse inflation than us.

And today in Turkey, the hunger threshold is 35,750 liras, the poverty threshold is 116,500 liras. But the lowest pension with the new regulation, even with the increased amount to be paid, is 23,500 liras; the minimum wage is only 28,000 liras. With a rough calculation; there are 29 million retirees, workers, disabled people, widows, and orphans receiving fixed monthly salaries in the country today, and they all receive salaries below the hunger threshold. There are also 12.5 million workers who receive no salary at all. I am talking about a mass of 41.5 million people. 41.5 million people make 45 Eskişehirs. I am talking about a mass larger than the population of 157 countries in the world and I am talking about almost one in every two people in the Turkish population; they have been pushed below the hunger threshold.

This is the AKP's dark order! Politics is done exactly against this. We are fighting for justice against this order, and we will continue to do so. We have been saying for months; one cannot make a living with these salaries. Salaries cannot remain the same while everything from needles to thread gets price hikes. The raise given to the pension, the lowest pension... Let us not forget; the lowest pension paid by the coalition government, which the Justice and Development Party always remembers with evil, with crisis, with poverty on the day it came to power...

The lowest pension last paid by the coalition government of Ecevit, Mr. Bahçeli, and the late Yılmaz, Mesut Yılmaz, could buy 8 quarter gold coins. Today, the last pension paid by this government can buy 2 quarter gold coins. Now, they are telling retirees to make a living with 23,500 liras by only and only giving a raise as much as the inflation from January to today –which is a legal obligation. We will both settle the account for this great injustice, this great disloyalty done to these retirees whose hands have become calloused, whose elbows have worn out, whose eyeglass lenses have grown, and who have given their lives to this nation, to this country, in the first election, and we will give the retiree their rights in the first election.

"WE ARE FACING A GOVERNMENT THAT MAKES THE RETIREES OF TODAY PAY THE SALARIES OF THE RETIREES OF THE PAST"

In addition, before the 2023 elections, Erdoğan had said, 'If inflation is above single digits, that is, 10% and above, we will readjust the minimum wage 4 times a year.' Since the day he was elected, inflation has been well above single digits. Today it is currently 32%. He was saying that even if it is 10%, after the increased salary in January, the minimum wage would be adjusted once in March, once in July, and once in October; but since that day, they have not made any raises to the minimum wage other than the raise determined by the Minimum Wage Determination Commission once a year. Even though the minimum wage they gave as 28,000 liras for 6 months fell to 23,000 liras with the purchasing power of that day, they did not make any improvements to the minimum wage despite all our objections.

In the last 10 years, the number of retirees has increased by 34%. 34%! That is, while there were 10 retirees, it went up to 13.5-14 retirees. But the share retirees receive from the national income has shrunk by 15%. That is, 10 years ago there was a large pot on the table and 14 retirees at the head of it; now there is a much smaller pot on the table and 20 retirees at the head of it. We are at such a point that when we look between the retiree of 10 years ago and the retirees of today; we are facing a government that makes the retirees of today pay the salaries of the retirees of the past, taking from their salaries and giving salaries to the retirees of today.

The cost of the 3,500 lira raise they will give to retirees –it makes it 23,500 from 20,000– is 79 billion TL. They talk about it like it is a huge amount of money. However, the money this government paid in interest in the first 5 months of this year, in just 5 months, is 1.5 trillion TL. That is, exactly 19 times the raise given to retirees! That is, Erdoğan, who once said 'Nas' (religious decree), therefore did not touch interest, therefore watched until inflation rose from 14% to 90%, in reality to 120%, and said 'I am afraid of interest, how can you give interest while Nas stands'; today has paid 19 times what he gave to the retiree to interest lobbies in just a 5-month period. That is why this government... That is why this government is a government that works not for the retiree, the worker; but for the interest-takers, the usurers, and enriches them.

"THERE IS NO GUARANTEE OF LIVELIHOOD FOR THE LABORER"

Unfortunately, in this dark order, there is a passage guarantee on highways. They told the biggest lie in history, saying, 'We will build a highway, not a single penny will come out of your pocket.' They said to their crony contractors: 'Find the money from the usurers in London and come, I will give you the 30-year toll fee of the road you will build to pay you the money. What if they don't pass? I will pay for those who don't pass from my own pocket. I will also give the interest, I will also add the inflation of that country on top of it.' There is a passage guarantee for the highway built, the bridge built, the tunnel built. If you build an airport, there is a 'flight guarantee, passenger guarantee' even if the plane doesn't fly. There is a patient guarantee for the city hospitals built; but there is no guarantee of livelihood for the retiree, the laborer.

I will give a single example. In May 2023, when the last general elections were held, the lowest pension was 7,500 liras. When you last went to the ballot box, the lowest pension was 7,500 liras. I am saying it with its increased state today; 23,500 liras. It increased by 213%. That day, the day you last voted, the toll for the Osmangazi Bridge was 184 liras; today it is 1,170 liras. It increased by 534%! While the money given to the retiree increased by 213%, the money given to the contractor who built the bridge or the bridge toll increased by 534%!

In this country, the price of everything has increased more than the salary given to the retiree. This is the summary of the AKP government's preferences. They give the rich a guarantee to become even richer, but we are coming to give a guarantee of livelihood to the retiree, worker, tradesman, civil servant, and farmer of this country, and to examine one by one all the guarantees they gave to their cronies in the election on behalf of the citizen, to close their books, to settle that account, but to give you a guarantee of livelihood.

"IN SUCH A PROCESS, A NATO SUMMIT IS BEING HELD IN TURKEY TODAY"

Dear, dear friends; our country is hosting a NATO summit today and tomorrow, where heads of state will also be present. First of all, first of all, let me say this: As the first party of the last local election, we attach importance to such hosting in such a period. Of course, very good hosting should be done. Foreign leaders, delegations should be hosted. They should come to Turkey, they should see. We want our word to be heard in NATO; we want Turkey to have a say and decision-making power in regional and global developments, to be a game-maker country. We desire that our country's national interests be defended together by the government and the opposition and that such organizations be embraced together.

However, unfortunately, I have to express some of our sadness, unfortunately, our troubles. In the presence of a government that weakens democracy and the justice system, polarizes 86 million, and intervenes with lawlessness against those who do not think like them, today Turkey is a place where the NATO leaders –when asked in the last elections 'What is the city you know best in Turkey?', they would say its name without hesitation– Istanbul, where the mayor who won with increasing margins in three consecutive elections, even when there was a Parliament Speaker against him, even when there was a previous last Prime Minister, even when there were their most trusted ministers, the Minister of Urbanization, despite his canceled mandate, in the renewed election with an increasing margin, in the last election with a margin exceeding a million, is imprisoned; where our presidential candidate for the next elections, who received 15.5 million votes in the primary, for whose freedom 25.5 million people signed, is imprisoned; where the party's children, our mayors, our municipal council members, our bureaucrats are imprisoned... A NATO summit is being held in Turkey today in a process where the founding party of Turkey, the party founded by Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, is being de-candidated, de-institutionalized, and tried to be de-leaderized.

Today, before this NATO summit, there are findings in the reports of the most important structures of Europe that we are ashamed of when we read them as the main opposition party. Unfortunately, unfortunately, the person at the head of the Ministry of Justice in the country is mentioned in the reports by his name, with his assets in Europe; the days when he said to our expressions 'Mr. President, you be quiet, do not answer' remain in memories, and he is the only one defending himself on this issue, he enters into polemics alone with those who write the reports; however, a NATO summit is being held in Turkey in a process where this great shame for Turkey, a process where we are ashamed of the existence of such a report that we are not pleased to read, is taking place. We see with sadness that a government that attacks the opposition and treats those who are not one of them with lawlessness cannot defend Turkey's national interests.

"WE ARE IN A PARANOID STATE OF EMERGENCY"

First, let's touch a little bit on what is happening outside the NATO halls, from the NATO halls. A state of emergency has been applied in our Ankara for weeks. We are in a meaningless, paranoid state of emergency that makes its own people suffer. 225 people were detained because protest demonstrations might be held, 178 of them were arrested first. Just yesterday, just yesterday, 100 more detention operations were carried out.

"NO COUNTRY THAT HAS HOSTED NATO SUMMITS HAS EVER SEEN SUCH A LACK OF SELF-CONFIDENCE"

Even though there is not even preventive detention in our laws, it is forbidden, under the name of preventive arrest; that is, people have been deprived of their freedom because they might come during NATO and hold an action. TEMA volunteers who went for a picnic were arrested, 75-year-old retired teacher Ayten Yakut was arrested and released after the reactions, academic Emel Memiş is still under arrest.

No country that has hosted NATO summits before has ever seen such a lack of self-confidence. Trump can be protested by hundreds of thousands, millions in his own country, but Erdoğan thinks that a protest of Trump in Turkey would be the end for him, he feels a vital anxiety about this. He is ashamed of the people of Ankara with the delusion that 'If someone says something to Trump here, Trump will withdraw his support from me', he imprisons the people of Ankara in their homes, and for example, he does his best to prevent someone who defends the Palestinian cause from going out to Trump and asking for an account of the cruelty in Gaza.

"WE ARE FACING A SHAMEFUL SITUATION ON BEHALF OF THE COUNTRY"

In a place where hundreds of people are detained, squares are closed, roads are barricaded, and tradesmen are prevented from doing business, the capital of the country is in a miserable state. People are prevented from going from their homes to their jobs, and public officials are advised to work from home for a week. There cannot be such an insecure management approach. We are facing a shameful situation on behalf of the country.

What will the leaders and delegations coming to our country see? A ghost city. They will come to Ankara, see empty streets full of police without seeing a single person from Ankara, without stopping by a shop, and leave Ankara. Those who are not ashamed of the country's poverty are trying to hide them with billboards, ashamed that the leaders will see them. Is this Turkey's image? Let no one be offended, this is not power, this is powerlessness; this is helplessness, this is a lack of self-confidence. The end of a government that is afraid of its own people, ashamed of its own people, and hides them behind barriers has come. The AK Party is exhausted, it is finished!

"THIS COUNTRY HAS BEEN DRAGGED INTO HIS LACK OF VISION, BUT THE END OF THIS WILL COME SOONER OR LATER"

However, the city they hide, the city they hide, when foreigners come one day, when foreigners come one day, 'What will they see?' the city that Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who looked at that city, personally designed; where the place of the President, his residence, his mansion is clear... The elected Parliament located just below... The ministers appointed and elected from the Parliament working just below... The courthouses located on the same level... Where the judiciary, executive, and legislative are both equal to each other and placed in the correct order... Where the most beautiful embassy plots were allocated to Turkey's friendly countries around that wide avenue... Let the visitor come and tour Ankara, see our understanding of democracy, see the separation of powers, see the value we give to the nation, to its Parliament... See its ministers... See its judiciary, see itself... We have come to a day when Ankara, which Atatürk designed and brought to life, which he drew one by one with those beautiful hands, is billboarded so that they do not see, do not know, and do not even walk on the road.

This country has been dragged from the vision of the founding leader of that day to the lack of vision of today's destructive leader, but the end of this will come sooner or later!

"WE ARE THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE FOUNDING STAFFS OF THIS COUNTRY TODAY"

Let me express this to those who destroy the traditions of the state and try to show their own brute force not as helplessness but as power, fearing the power of this country: We are the founding party of this country, we are the founding will. We are the representatives today of the staffs who strengthened and developed this country with the republic, made it heard in foreign policy, and made it a deterrent power against threats. Together with the values of our republic, the freedoms we offer to our citizens, and our courage that has inspired oppressed nations, we are the representatives of the founding staffs of this country today.

"WE ARE CAREFULLY FOLLOWING THE NATO SUMMIT WITH THE RESERVATION THAT NATIONAL INTERESTS MUST BE DEFENDED"

Our principles in foreign policy are also a legacy to us from our founding staffs. We look at foreign policy from a window above politics. We are the owners of the idea that plans should not be daily, should not belong to a period; but should be prepared for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. We cannot allow any government to personalize these principles, to erode them for its own benefit, to weaken them not for 86 million but for its own political interests.

Today, the Erdoğan government puts its own personal interests above Turkey's interests in foreign policy. Relationships established with foreign leaders are progressing on a personal, not institutional, basis. The negotiations are not conducted for the future of Turkey, but to ensure the continuation of the AK Party government. That is why we are carefully following the NATO summit with the reservation that this personal foreign policy must be moved away from and national interests must be defended.

"WE WILL NOT BE BLINDLY ATTACHED TO NATO"

The Russia-Ukraine war, uncertainties in Syria, Israel's attacks on Palestine and regional countries, America and Israel's attacks on Iran, and their lawless policies that drag the entire region and the world into crisis... Discussions within NATO and Turkey's role in the alliance... All these headings are standing before us. It is expected that Turkey will take a principled stance in these matters in favor of peace, international law, diplomacy, and oppressed nations, but I would like to express how far we are from this goal.

We expect steps to be taken in terms of correcting the relations that have deteriorated with Europe, and the initiation of institutional relations that will prioritize our country's interests with steps of democratization and the rule of law on the basis of democracy and law, but unfortunately, we are very far from these expectations.

Of course, we are a NATO member, we have the second largest army in NATO. But we will not be blindly attached to NATO. We will not stand silently behind every mistake.

"STRATEGIC STEPS MUST BE TAKEN WITH COMMON SENSE"

We have to establish correct, institutional, stable, strong relationships with Russia and China. Do not forget that we are a country that has a legacy of having been a neighbor to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Cold War period on the eastern wing of NATO, having been a component of the Western alliance, and having carried out this balance policy for years very correctly thanks to our diplomats and foreign policy who are skillful, well-educated, foresee the future, and consider all of Turkey's interests together. It is clear that a foreign policy completely dependent on the Trump administration has not brought and will not bring any benefit to our country. For this reason, strategic steps must be taken with common sense.

"IT CANNOT BE SUSTAINED WITH A LACK OF FORESIGHT THAT SAYS F-16 MODERNIZATION AND CANNOT EVEN ACHIEVE THAT"

We will continue to offer constructive suggestions on this issue as always. The government must follow a strategic mind, a strategic plan for Turkey. However, this strategic mind cannot be achieved by stubbornly buying S-400s from Russia and then letting them rot in the hangar without ever using them. This strategic mind cannot be sustained with a lack of foresight that entered the F-35 program for this reason, paid 1.5 billion dollars and could not even get a single plane, could not even take and bring the 6 F-35s with the Turkish flag embroidered on them in America from there, gave up on that and said F-16 modernization and could not even achieve that.

"A STRATEGIC MIND CANNOT BE SUSTAINED BY PROMISING RARE EARTH ELEMENTS TO TRUMP"

Then a strategic plan cannot be sustained by throwing cheap threats saying "We will join the Shanghai Five" and then imposing taxes on Chinese goods when scolded by Trump, and zeroing out the taxes on American goods while flying to America. A strategic mind cannot be sustained by meeting with Trump's son and asking for an appointment from his father, ordering overpriced things from 250 Boeing planes, and promising the rare earth elements of this beautiful Eskişehir to Trump.

"THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION, WHICH WAS ABLE TO WRITE AND SEND A LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF THIS COUNTRY SAYING 'DON'T BE A FOOL'"

A government so dependent on the American administration has never been seen in our history. Turkey cannot be made dependent on the USA in this way. That Trump administration was able to write and send a letter to the President of this country saying "Don't be a fool." That Trump was able to threaten the President of this country with his assets and make him take a step back. That Trump, in order to throw in our faces that the judiciary in Turkey is not independent, every time says, "He is a smart man, I had a priest, I asked for him, he sent him immediately," reminding every time that Erdoğan sent the priest to the Oval Office with a phone call from Trump, after Erdoğan said, "As long as this soul remains in this body, that priest cannot go, give the priest, take the priest" –referring to Brunson.

One cannot walk in this way with those who massacred 75 thousand people in Gaza, mostly children and women. One cannot look into the mouths of those who apply all kinds of embargoes to us in this way so that they give up the embargo. One cannot remain silent to those who say to the Turkish President, 'We are giving him what he does not have, we are giving legitimacy, we are taking everything else from them.' One cannot joke in the Oval Office two days later with the Foreign Minister who says 'They are begging us' to get a 5-minute appointment from us.

That Trump is an American President who came to Turkey and did not visit Anıtkabir. While the Anıtkabir visits of Eisenhower in 1959, Bush Sr. in 1991, Clinton in 1999, Bush Jr. in 2004, and Obama in 2009 are on record; news is circulating that an American President, who wrote an Anıtkabir visit into the draft program and then removed it, will be welcomed by Erdoğan with children today upon arriving in Ankara. If the American President is to be welcomed by children, those children should be holding pictures of the 165 girls killed in Iran!

"THIS IS AN INDICATOR THAT THIS GOVERNMENT CANNOT BE CARRIED BY THIS NATION"

Such a relationship network to curry favor with someone who will become a lame duck in his country in 5 months, and perhaps lose his power on both sides, can never and ever be defended. Especially when the Minister of National Education, who is responsible for the education of the children who will be taken to that ceremony today, just yesterday tried to change the name of the War of Independence, asked the question 'Why are we being saved?', this is an indicator that this government can no longer be carried by this nation. And to those who do not know the answer to the question 'Why are we being saved?' in that War of Independence; the answer that we are being saved from occupation, we are being saved from invasion, we are being saved from the country being divided, the nation being a colony of another country anymore, and to those who still put a matter regarding the occupied Istanbul of that day and the last sultan in Istanbul before the War of Independence in front of Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, what should be reminded? Maybe this should be reminded:

To those who ask how this country was saved, this should be reminded: It was saved by those who wrapped their child's, their child's blanket around the bullet, by the roads they traveled at night with oxcarts. And the ox that pulled those oxcarts was an ox, an ox!

"WE CONTINUE TO OBJECT TO AND RESIST ALL KINDS OF IMPERIALISM"

As the first party of Turkey, we have adopted an understanding that is based on institutional mind in foreign policy, has long-term plans, and courageously defends the rights and laws of this nation, and we will continue to defend it. We prioritize establishing good relations with our neighbors in the Middle East. We advocate for regional development, cooperation, and peace in the Middle East. We stand against interventions in our region from across the ocean. Of course, we turn our face to the West, to the EU, but we foresee the continuation of strategic relations with Russia and China, with the Turkish geography, with the Balkans without interruption and by constantly strengthening them, and we insistently suggest this. We also reject this submission to the Trump administration, which Turkey wants to get rid of as soon as possible, to the end. From now on, as before, we continue to defend a fully independent Turkey, to object to and resist all kinds of imperialism!

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT, MY BROTHER? WE COMPETED ONCE, AND I WON THAT TOO"

I have said this, I have said this many times, let me say it once from here. I understand the anger. I understand the injustice suffered. I understand the anger created by this situation we are facing while walking to power. However, instead of expressing anger words like this, this anger needs to turn into energy, and this energy needs to be directed to the march to power with determination.

Dear people of Eskişehir, we are the staff that made our party the first party after 47 years. However, we do not attribute this success to ourselves, our team, etc. This success is the work of correct determinations, correct words, and a determination we all put forward together after 47 years. We are the staff that defeated the Justice and Development Party for the first time after the day it was founded. I defeated him in the first and only election I entered as Chairman against Erdoğan, he has not been able to defeat us yet.

So, we are in a position to say to someone who says "We competed 13 times, I always won", "What are you talking about, my brother? We competed once, and I won that too."

News Source: 12punto