President Erdoğan: Turkey is the only country that has had concrete achievements in the fight against daesh
President and Party Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan introduced the party’s mayoral candidates for Gaziantep and its districts.
Pointing out that Gaziantep has given the entire world a lesson of humanity with the dignified, compassionate, merciful and patient stance it has displayed in the face of the crisis that has been going on right beside it in Syria, President Erdoğan noted that the city has assumed responsibility and made self-sacrifices for the reconstruction of the regions that have been cleared from terrorists.
“IT IS OUR DUTY TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS OF OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS BEYOND OUR BORDERS”
“It is our duty to protect the rights and honors of our friends, and brothers and sisters beyond our borders as well as of our own citizens,” President Erdoğan stressed, and added: “We cannot leave our brothers and sisters at our elbow to oppressors’ mercy, bombs and barrel bombs while we live in peace and security here. We sometimes do it openly, but sometimes quietly. We definitely do our best, and go one night all of a sudden and do what is necessary. Are we to stand idly while those who do not have any historical or humanitarian relations with our region are roaming freely in Syria, coming from 12 thousand kilometers away? The aim of those who want to keep Turkey away from here is not to liberate the Syrian people but on the contrary to deepen the quagmire.”
“TURKEY IS THE ONLY COUNTRY THAT HAS HAD CONCRETE ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST DAESH”
Pointing to the Adana Agreement signed in 1998, President Erdoğan said that this agreement is an answer for those who say what business Turkey has in Syria, and added: “If you ask, they all are in Syria to fight DAESH. We do not know what they have done to DAESH but they either have turned a blind eye on or directly been a party to the killing of our nearly 1 million Syrian brothers and sisters. Turkey is the only country that has had concrete achievements in the fight against DAESH. For instance, we have detained nearly 8 thousand DAESH members in the past two years, and arrested over 2,300 of them. The number of DAESH members that we have deported since the beginning of the Syrian crisis is more than 7 thousand. We have neutralized 3 thousand DAESH members in Al-Bab alone.”
“NEARLY 300 THOUSAND SYRIAN REFUGEES HAVE RETURNED TO THEIR HOMELAND”
Also touching upon roughly 1 million illegal migrants that Turkey has caught in seas and its lands, President Erdoğan said that 240 thousand of them have been sent to their countries of origin. Stressing that Turkey is hosting some four million refugees, most of whom are Syrians, while the European Union is struggling to find a place for even a few hundred thousand asylum seekers, President Erdoğan noted that Turkey will continue to protect its friends, and brothers and sisters. As the number of the areas that Turkey has made secure in Syria increases, the burden on Turkish citizens will be reduced, President Erdoğan stated, adding that nearly 300 thousand Syrian refugees have returned to their homeland, and that once Manbij, Tell Rifaat and the areas in the east of the Euphrates are cleared from terrorists, millions of Syrians will find the chance to return to their homes.
“WE HAVE ENSURED HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE LIVING IN IDLIB TO REMAIN IN THEIR LANDS”
Saying that for the solutions of the problems Turkey uses politics and diplomacy until the end, President Erdoğan, with regard to the Idlib issue, stressed that Turkey and Russia have jointly intervened in the issue and ensured hundreds of people living in Idlib to remain in their lands. Underscoring that Turkey has proven with operations Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch that it will not hesitate to use military methods when necessary, President Erdoğan stressed that the military preparations to be used in Manbij and the east of the Euphrates when necessary have been completed to a great extent, and that they are waiting for the outcomes of the political and diplomatic processes.
Following the meeting, President Erdoğan attended a dinner hosted by the AK Party’s provincial branch in Gaziantep.
