President Erdoğan: No opportunity for those who wage war on our values

Erdoğan attended the ceremony for the start of duty of 6,992 police officers and the commissioning of 1,573 new vehicles at Atatürk Airport.

AKP Chairman and President Erdoğan, pointing to recent events, said, "We will not give the opportunity they seek to those who build this scheme on xenophobia. The same game is on stage again. There is no opportunity for those who wage war on our values." 

Giving messages about Istanbul regarding the local elections, Erdoğan said, "To serve Istanbul, one must understand, grasp, and deserve this city both materially and spiritually. Falling in love with Istanbul is not for everyone.

Those who see themselves not as the servants but as the masters of this city have not understood Istanbul.

We have not become masters of Istanbul; we have become its servants. We will continue all our urban transformation services in Istanbul with determination, together with the central government and the local administration in Istanbul, from now on as well," he said. 

Erdoğan's statements: 

Our number of police personnel is rising to 56,607, and our number of vehicles to 8,894. I believe that the service quality of the Istanbul Police will increase even further with its move to the new building in Hasdal, the foundation of which we will lay in the coming months.

Whatever we do to ensure the peace of Istanbul is not enough. I commemorate all our heroic security forces, including police officer Fethi Sekin, whose 7th anniversary of martyrdom we are observing today, with mercy. 

We have been subjected to many trials, from PKK terrorism to the FETÖ scourge. Thank God, we have managed to overcome all of these trials. Today, we continue to fight to defend every inch of our homeland, especially Istanbul, against threats, dangers, attacks, and traps. Even when we look at the last 10 years, it is possible to encounter dozens, hundreds of examples of this reality.

We have witnessed countless attempts to divide our nation and provoke them against both each other and their state. The coup attempts undertaken by FETÖ, one of the greatest betrayals Turkey has ever seen, were one of the examples of this. The trench actions that started with the October 6-8 events, despite all the reforms, were one of the examples of this.

In the past, the politics of discord carried out through concepts such as rightist-leftist, Alevi-Sunni, or Kurdish-Turkish were examples of this. Now, we see that the same game is being attempted to be staged through xenophobia and attacks on the sacred values of our nation. Our nation will also demolish this dirty game. 

We will hopefully revive the trust that the people of Istanbul will give on March 31 together with the central government. We will not give the opportunity they seek to those who build this scheme on xenophobia. We will not consent to our values and interests being worn down, eroded, or trampled upon.

While we are breaking this game, we expect the greatest support from Istanbul, from you. Our love for this city does not stem only from our admiration for its historical richness, physical beauty, and spiritual depth; the main reason we carry this city on our heads is the strategic reason it holds for our nation and our state.

To serve Istanbul, one must understand, grasp, and deserve this city both materially and spiritually. Falling in love with Istanbul is not for everyone. Those who see themselves not as the servants but as the masters of this city have not understood Istanbul. We have not become masters of Istanbul; we have become its servants.  

We will continue all our urban transformation services in Istanbul with determination, together with the central government and the local administration in Istanbul, from now on as well. 

News Source : AA