President Erdoğan’s message on Eid al-Fitr
Following is the message President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan issued on Eid al-Fitr:
My august nation,
My treasured brothers and sisters,
I salute you from the bottom of my heart with affection.
I wholeheartedly congratulate you on the holy Eid al-Fitr.
We have left behind yet another Ramadan, the beginning of which is mercy, the middle is forgiveness, and the end is salvation from eternal torment.
I thank my Lord since he has enabled us, together with our loved ones, to reach this Eid al-Fitr as well in good health and well-being.
Due to the grieving of our people we lost in the February 6 earthquakes, we welcomed and spent Ramadan with a heavy heart.
I once again wish Allah’s mercy upon each and every one of our over 50 thousand citizens, who passed away in the earthquakes and floods, and patience to their families.
We, as the nation, are deeply sorry for our losses.
According to our faith, those who pass away in earthquakes, floods, fires and disasters beyond human will are considered de jure to be martyrs.
We believe that our brothers and sisters, who lost their lives in the earthquakes, will come together with our august martyrs in the afterlife.
We have all together strived to experience in the most beautiful manner the spiritual climate of Ramadan, the month of mercy, abundance and solidarity.
We have not left our earthquake victims in particular alone in these holy days.
We have allowed neither the election agenda nor other state affairs or occupations of the daily life to cause the earthquake zone to be forgotten.
By revisiting our quake-hit cities, we have shared the pain of our disaster victims, seen on spot the ongoing activities, and held the groundbreaking ceremonies of our post-earthquake houses.
Our state, with all its relevant institutions, our municipalities, with all their capacity, and our nongovernmental organizations, with all their means and volunteers, are on the ground.
By joining forces and standing shoulder to shoulder, we, as the state and the nation, are healing the wounds of the disaster of the century with the solidarity of the century.
As of today, most of the debris has been removed…
The construction process of over 100,000 post-disaster residences and village houses has started…
The ground has been broken for nearly 50,000 of them…
As the debris is replaced with new constructions, the hopes are getting much stronger in the earthquake zone.
As the traces of the earthquakes are removed, the life in the region is gradually turning back to its normal rhythm.
As our brothers and sisters, whose houses were collapsed in the disaster and established orders are disturbed, and who lost their relatives, see these works, they find courage to restart their lives.
We believe that following the Eid, returns to the region, including our earthquake-hit cities, will gain speed with the opening of schools.
Although we cannot bring back our losses, we are determined to hand their new homes over to our earthquake-victim brothers and sisters as soon as possible.
We plan to build 650,000 new homes, 507,000 of them residences and 143,000 village houses, in the earthquake zone.
We will deliver 319,000 of them to their owners within a year.
We, with Allah’s permission, will complete the May 14 elections with the support of our nation, and will ensure that the reconstruction and revival of the earthquake zone continue uninterruptedly.
We expect each and every individual of the 85 million, our youth in particular, to stand with us in this holy and challenging struggle.
We do not doubt that our nation, in the light of the developments merely in the past few months, will say ‘right is right’ and make the most sensible decision.
We believe that our nation will once again favor deeds over words, action over rhetoric, services over manipulation.
I thank in advance all my citizens who defend our vision of the Century of Türkiye and support us with their prayers.
I wish you all a happy Eid al-Fitr and happiness as well as a bright future and great hopes.
Stay in good health!
