President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, "Drawing inspiration from our history, we will continue to take firm steps forward into the future in unity and solidarity and strive with all our strength for a great and powerful Türkiye."
President Erdoğan issued a message on the occasion of the 102nd anniversary of the Erzurum Congress.
Indicating that the Erzurum Congress, in which our august nation resolutely demonstrated its belief in the homeland's indivisibility and independence, is historically significant in terms of deciding the course of the National Struggle, President Erdoğan underscored that the Erzurum Congress was predicated on ensuring the national will to dominate the nation's destiny with the slogans that "the territorial integrity of the homeland within national borders and its indivisibility must be protected" and "the nation shall not accept the status of a mandate or a protectorate."
Emphasising that the nation declared to the rest of the world its will for an all-out struggle and defence in unity and solidarity against all forms of invasion and intervention, President Erdoğan noted the following:
"The decisions taken in Erzurum, which have the quality of a 'national consensus', were the initial steps on the road that led the War of Independence to the Great Victory. This exalted consciousness and will, which emerged throughout the National Struggle, still guides and strengthens us today. We continue to work with the same commitment to consolidate our independence, safeguard our rights, and strengthen our country in all spheres, from economy to defence and foreign policy. Drawing inspiration from our history, we will continue to take firm steps forward into the future in unity and solidarity and to strive with all our strength for a great and powerful Türkiye. On the 102nd anniversary of the Erzurum Congress, I commemorate with respect and gratitude all the heroes of our struggle for independence, especially Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and salute all my citizens with my most heartfelt feelings."