President Erdoğan: It is our shared success that Turkey can today speak up against injustice anywhere in the world

 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech at an iftar with the youth and athletes in Samsun, congratulating the youth on May 19 Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day.

“Today, we have a better understanding of the fight our people of all ages waged for independence despite all the privations and challenges. On this historic day, I remember with grace Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ─ the founder of our Republic who took the first step of the War of Independence exactly a century ago on May 19, 1919 in Samsun and instilled in our nation the determination to fight ─ and his companions aboard the Bandirma Ferry,” President Erdoğan said, wishing Allah’s mercy upon each and every martyr of the Turkish nation.

Underlining the importance of having an awareness of history, President Erdoğan added: “Nations without an awareness and sense of history are doomed to have a dark and uncertain future. Those who are oblivious to their own history and neglect and deny their own past cannot avoid swaying like a leaf in the wind.”

Drawing attention to Turkey’s rising prestige both in its region and across the world, President Erdoğan said: “If today there is a Turkey which can bravely voice the fact that the World is bigger than five, this is a result of the self-confidence obtained over the past 17 years. If today there is a Turkey which can speak up against injustice anywhere in the world, this is our shared success. If today there is a Turkey upholding the Palestinian cause, lending a hand to Africa and standing by its brothers and sisters in the Central Asia and the Balkans, this is a fruit of the victories we have achieved in diplomacy along with economy.”