Speaking after the Presidential Cabinet Meeting, President Erdoğan announced new measures against COVID-19 and said: “We will enforce a full lockdown starting from 19:00 on Thursday, April 29, 2021 until 05:00 on Monday, May 17, 2021.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the nation following the Presidential Cabinet Meeting at the Presidential Complex.
“WE WILL NOT TOLERATE THE MENTALITY THAT SEEKS TO DOOM CYPRUS TO A DEADLOCK”
“We hosted President Ersin Tatar of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus prior to the cabinet meeting today. During our meeting with Mr. Tatar, we discussed bilateral cooperation as well as the UN five-plus-one meeting to be held tomorrow in Geneva. Mr. Tatar, with the support he receives from the Turkish Cypriot people, will put forward the two-state solution based on sovereign equality. As Turkey, we will fully support this vision.
We will not tolerate the mentality that seeks to doom Cyprus to a deadlock and to discourage our Turkish Cypriot brothers and sisters through embargoes. Regardless of the results of the meeting, we will continue to stand with our Turkish Cypriot brothers and sisters.
As you know, the Turkish Armed Forces has recently launched a comprehensive operation against the hotbeds of the PKK-YPG terrorist organization in northern Iraq with its land and air units. Starting from 2015, Turkey has initiated a new concept in its fight against the terrorist attacks if faces from inside and outside its borders.
“WE CARRIED OUT OPERATIONS WHEREBY WE DEALT HEAVY BLOWS TO TERRORIST ORGANIZATIONS”
We announced it to the whole world that we would follow a strategy of finding and eliminating terrorist organizations right in their caves rather than waiting them until they come to our doorstep and stage attacks. Accordingly, we carried out operations both at home and beyond our borders whereby we dealt the heaviest blows they had ever seen in their entire history. Our latest operations, called Claw-Lightning and Claw-Thunderbolt, serve this goal. I congratulate every soldier partaking in the operations and wish them victory in their endeavors.
Connecting with the command center Saturday, we expressed to our soldiers our success wishes and our determination in the fight against terror. Just as we completely freed our Iraqi and Syrian borders from the harassments of terrorist organizations, we will definitely not allow the formation of any terrorist formations beyond our borders, either. Even though there are some who still cannot understand our sensitivity and determination on this issue, we will make everyone understand the facts through the struggle we are waging both in the field and on the table.
We have two martyrs in the meantime upon whom I wish Allah’s mercy. May they rest in peace! We have also soldiers who have been wounded, but not in serious condition. I pray to my Lord for their speedy recovery.
I believe those who seek a terrorist formation in Syria right beside our borders will realize this fact sooner or later. Without caring who says what and who walks with whom, we will continue to do whatever it takes for the survival of our country and nation. May Allah be with Turkey and the Turkish Armed Forces, the apple of its eye, with our heroic soldiers!
“US PRESIDENT MADE REMARKS THAT ARE UNJUST AND CONTRARY TO THE FACTS”
My august nation, US President Biden, in a message on April 24, made remarks that are groundless, unjust and contrary to the facts. These remarks, which lack any historical and legal base, have significantly saddened us just like every member of our nation. We think that the remarks in the statement were made under the pressure of radical Armenian circles and anti-Turkey groups. This situation, however, doesn’t eliminate the destructive impacts which the picture that emerged have on the bilateral relations between the two countries.
As Turkey, we by no means consider it to be humane that the sufferings experienced in the past are made to compete against one another. However, if such a way is to be resorted to, let me remind that we are the sole country and nation that will come with a clear conscience and peaceful heart out of such a competition. All the circles -- particularly America and Europe -- which level genocide accusations at us, would be ashamed of coming out in public in case of such a comparison.
As a matter of fact, in the last two centuries, the largest amount of civilian casualties and, population movements as an extension, took place within the Ottoman geography, that is in our homeland. Half of the 10 million people, almost half of the Ottoman population in its lands extending from the Balkans to the Caucasus, endured the pain of death with the other half enduring the pain of exile. What is more, it is not us who say this, but western historians themselves.
Please pay attention, you cannot find or see any photo of armed gangs, any bloody trace they left behind, or any shameful story related to these 10 million people. Yet, you cannot come across any monuments, lobbies, parliamentary decisions or any activities that would amount to seeking one’s own rights regarding these very same people either. There are only bitter memories that grandfathers tell their grandchildren with pain in their hearts and tears in their eyes. That is because these people are Turks and Muslims. Therefore, they are not instruments that are open to exploitation in westerners’ eyes.
As the nation, we have never acted with a mentality that turns one’s own sufferings into a tool for exploitation. I assume our wisdom to bury our sufferings in heart and look forward has been misunderstood by some. According to this, we are supposed to make a comprehensive calculation of the loss of the Balkans in the west and the invasions we faced in the east as well as of the promises we were given but not delivered on in the south and then put the resulting bill in front of our interlocutors.
We don’t even need to go beyond our borders. It would be enough even if each one of our cities from Adana to Antep and Maraş, İzmir to Afyon, Istanbul to Çanakkale, Kars to Artvin were to seek compensation for their own losses. Who can imagine the outcome that would finally emerge if the same approach were to be displayed by all the other oppressed communities and geographies?
This is the path to which the West’s approach to the Armenian issue and its hypocritical stance towards terrorist organizations lead.
We still preserve our initial position; researching the incidents and revealing the facts in history should be left to experts, that is historians, not to politicians. We have yet to receive a response to our proposal for the formation of a joint history commission regarding the Armenian allegations voiced for years.
We have made a commitment to fully open our own archives for researches of this commission but our interlocutors remained silent yet again. The fact that the other party, who make the allegations, persistently carry the issue to a political basis instead of running after the truth while we are so confident about ourselves is enough by itself to lay bare the essence of the matter. Nevertheless, I would like to summarize the issue for those who are still confused regarding it both in our country and across the world.
“ANATOLIA HAS BEEN A GEOGRAPHY IN WHICH PEOPLE OF VARIOUS ORIGINS AND FAITHS HAVE LIVED IN PEACE THROUGHOUT CENTURIES”
My august nation, Anatolia has been a geography in which people of various origins and faiths have lived in peace throughout centuries.
Like many other communities, the Armenians, too, obtained their religious freedoms and strengthened their social status in this era. This climate of peace continued until the incident that went down in our history as the War of 93. In the final period of the Ottomans, many communities in the country were provoked, encouraged, armed and were led to revolt by westerners.
By means of asymmetrical wars instigated in this manner, the Balkan territories, which are home various states today, were severed from the country. The same scenario was staged in the east, too, over the Armenians with the participation of Tsarist Russia. Armenian gangs, which staged around 40 insurrection until World War One, got out of control and perpetrated grave massacres in this period.
Armenian organizations, incited by westerners’ political and economic support and Russians’ military assistance, raided villages and cities, killing anyone in their way without any distinction of women, kids or elderly. These gangs, said to have 150-300 thousand members in total, also effectively fought against us within the ranks of the Russian army.
In many places from Van to Kars, Erzurum to Anatolian inlands, millions of Turks and Kurds, all civilians, were massacred by Armenian gangs. But, what took place on April 24? Actually nothing happened in terms of humanitarian tragedy on April 24. The date April 24, 1915 was just the day when the Ottoman State closed such organizations as Dashnak, Henchak and Ramgavar, which collaborated with the countries the Ottoman State was in a war against, and arrested their 235 leaders. There were no deaths since neither the relocation and resettlement law nor its implementation was in question yet.
The Armenian community in our country, in parallel with the general practice in the world, adopted this date as a day of commemoration for their sufferings. Even though we know what actually happened on this day, we, respecting the preferences of the Armenian community, have been sending for some time now messages showing that we share their sufferings.
Following these arrests by the Ottoman Empire on April 24, the relocation and resettlement law was enacted on May 27 and put into effect on June 1. This was a precaution taken not against a potential threat or danger but against an insurrection that was practically in progress and against escalating massacres.
“ARMENIAN GANGS MASSACRED NOT ONLY DEFENSELESS CIVILIAN TURKS AND KURDS IN ANATOLIA BUT ALSO CIRCASSIANS IN THE CAUCASUS”
If you will notice, these dates coincide with a period when the Ottoman Empire was putting up a historic fight on numerous fronts, first and foremost in Çanakkale. There were only defenseless women, children and the elderly left behind since almost all the men capable of holding a weapon were on the front because of general mobilization.
Armenian gangs didn’t fight with the Turkish army or armed Turkish militia defending their own cities, but they only massacred innocent and defenseless people. For example, all of the 2500 civilians in the Zen village of Van were martyrized by Armenian gangs in a manner not to leave even one single individual alive. In Muş alone, 20 citizens of ours were massacred in just one year. Feeling unsatisfied, Armenian gangs didn’t refrain from massacring Greeks in the vicinity of Trabzon and Jewish citizens of the Ottoman State in Hakkari.
Even this could have been understood to a certain extent if the casualties had been caused by a war mutually waged by the parties. However, I am reiterating it, Armenian gangs massacred only defenseless civilian Turks and Kurds in Anatolia and Circassians in the Caucasus. Armenian gangs used to boast about the massacres they perpetrated and about the fact that they forced hundreds of thousands of people to migrate. A large number of documents regarding this are available in the archives of the countries of the region.
With the relocation and resettlement law it enacted, the Ottoman State made a decision to temporarily send the Armenian population, on whom the gangs committing these massacres relied on, to other regions. What is more, this decision didn’t cover all the Armenians in the country but only the Armenian population in places which faced intensive attacks by gangs. Many lies are in circulation regarding the number of the Armenian population relocated with the relocation and resettlement law.
According to records, the Armenian population ahead of the World War One in Ottoman lands was 1.3 million in total. I am now talking from documents, unlike Mr. Biden. I don’t know based on what Biden is talking. We have more than 1 million documents in archives. They can come and examine them. How many documents are there in the US archives regarding this issue? And if any, can they open these documents? Are there any in Europe? If any, can they open them? We say, bring it on! But they haven’t responded to this call of ours yet.
Nearly 350 thousand of this population passed to Russian territories during the war period. Combined with the ones going to Iran, this number reaches 500 thousand. Therefore, even the US’ own reports put the number of those relocated at 600 thousand maximum, with the real number even smaller. The number of Ottoman Armenian population that lost their lives due to epidemics, security problems or in skirmishes with security forces during the relocation hardly makes 150 thousand. Each one of these 150 thousand people is of course was a person and this is an important number. Armenian historians and politicians themselves confess that real numbers are being exaggerated by adding one more zero. It is also stated by Armenian historians that majority of the losses took place during wars on fronts.
“YOU CANNOT FIND AN ARMENIAN MASS GRAVE BECAUSE SUCH AN INCIDENT DID NOT HAPPEN”
My glorious nation; the Ottoman Empire did not send the Armenian population to somewhere else, but simply relocated them within its own lands. Persons, subjected to this law, were given a week to prepare. Those, who had excuses, were exempt from relocation. During the relocation process, all the necessary administrative measures were taken. The necessary allocation was sent to local units. Mr. Biden, the Armenian children, who had no family, were protected and orphanages were established to take care of them. No obstacles were raised before foreign aid to the Armenian population in need. There are Turkish mass graves in various locations across our country, who were massacred by the Armenians. However you cannot find an Armenian mass grave because such an incident did not happen.
During the war, 300 000 Armenians continued to live in our country, mostly in Istanbul and Western provinces. Currently, there are 100 000 Armenians living in Istanbul. We have never excluded people in these matters. With those who returned after the war, this number neared 650 000 at some point. Mr. Biden, I suppose people would not voluntarily return to a place where they are massacred, subjected to genocide.
According to a population statistics, conducted by the British in 1921, the Armenian population, living in the former Ottoman geography, was nearly 1.2 million. This number matches the pre-war population and the actual number of losses during the war. Majority of the Armenians, who had been sent to Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, migrated to America and Europe over time.
Those, supporting the Armenian theses, are trying to back their genocide lies by showing everyone who left their homes as killed. If the Ottomans had not sent the Armenian population, living in areas of internal disorder, to other places with the Relocation and Resettlement Act, it would have had to pull its troops from the fronts.
Let me say this more clearly; we, for example, would have had to send our soldiers, fighting in Çanakkale or Al-Quds, to secure the problematic areas. Therefore, the Ottoman Empire would have lost the war while fighting against the Armenian mobs within its borders instead of enemies at the front. This perilous process could have led to a harsh captivity and even reach a level that could jeopardize our War of Independence. That was what the enemies we were fighting back then wanted. They cruelly used the Armenians in their devious scenario and when they failed, they did not even hesitate to exploit their dead.
On the other hand, there was another reality; a century ago, over 80 percent of the population, living in the region where the current Armenian State is located now, was Muslims. However, there is almost no one left from the Muslims, consisting of Turkish and Circassian population, in the region. The things that were done in Nagorno-Karabakh and other Azerbaijani cities, which had been occupied 30 years ago, are also evident.
“YOU CANNOT SLANDER THE TURKISH NATION WITH GENOCIDE”
Let me hereby address Mr. Biden again; a trio was formed, called the Minsk Trio. Who was in it? The US, Russia and France. You had not been able to save the people there from occupation for 30 years. Unfortunately, over a million of our Azerbaijani brothers and sisters had to migrate. Karabakh, all those places and buildings were destroyed. If you are talking about genocide, you should look in the mirror and evaluate yourselves. All facts are evident. Karabakh. I do not even need to mention the Indians. It is well known.
Given all these evident facts, you cannot slander the Turkish nation with genocide. Tens of thousands of people were massacred and our 1.5 million Azerbaijani brothers and sisters were forced to leave their homes. One of the reasons behind the Armenian circles pushing so hard on this genocide lie is that they are afraid of being held responsible for the massacres and violations they committed in the past one and a half century.
The Armenians, who were deceived by great promises, seem to be trying to cover up with this lie the embarrassment and anger of being tricked by the Russians, the Europeans and the US. The circles, supporting the Armenian lies, are anxious to conceal the shame in their own history.
My glorious nation; if we are to make an assessment over the civilian losses that occurred during the WWI era when 17 million people in total perished, we need to remind them of these: In the same period, the Tsarist Russia exiled hundreds of thousands of its citizens of Germen and Jewish descent to Siberia on allegations that they might collaborate with the German army.
Rather, majority of them was left to die of hunger, diseases and cold under the guise of exile. The Austro-Hungarian Empire eliminated hundreds of thousands of its citizens of Russian origin by executing them by firing squads, hanging them and sending them to death in concentration camps.
“WE CAN FIND NUMEROUS INCIDENTS IN THE US AND EUROPEAN HISTORY THAT CAN BE CHARACTERIZED AS GENOCIDE”
I would like to remind once again the losses we suffered in the Balkans and the Caucasus which resulted in 5 million deaths and 5 million displacements. The losses, which occurred during relocation and resettlement of the Armenians by the Ottomans in 1915, should be assessed in the context of this climate. If the Armenian losses are to be characterized as genocide, all the incidents of the era, particularly the ones I mentioned, must be characterized so, as well. If we go back or forward in time, we can find numerous incidents in the US and European history that can be characterized as genocide.
Many topics from the Indians to the black people, from the incidents in Dresden, Germany to the atomic bombs dropped in Japanese cities, especially from Vietnam to Iraq can be opened to debate. Numerous communities across the world from South America to Africa and East Asia still feel the pain of the oppression they experienced in their hearts.
The painful images that emerged in our lands during the WWI is just a fragment of the problems everyone experienced during the same period without exception. The concept of genocide and its relevant processes belong to 1948 and afterwards without the possibility of retroaction. Let me underline that to be able to voice such an accusation, there must be concrete evidences, on which historians agree, and court verdicts based on them. There is no concrete evidence, supporting the Armenian allegations, and no verdict by an international court.
Turkey’s proposal to establish a joint history commission and open the archives primarily aims to find an accurate historical basis for the issue. Since we are sure of ourselves, we are open to discussions, debates, researches and assessments in all their kinds. We do not close our archives even to researchers, who are known to be biased against us. Come and see.
The US and European countries stand with the nonsense, slanders and lies, spread by those who refrain from talking based on historical archive documents. They are not only displaying animosity towards us, but also betraying science. The injustices and attacks against respectable historians just because they do not give credit to Armenian lies and do pursue the truth, criminalizing by law stating that there is no genocide are literally examples of strange behaviors.
“WE WILL CRUSH THE TRAP, SET UP THROUGH PKK/YPG IN SYRIA”
Mr. Biden, we have not and will not forget the ASALA terrorist organization’s attacks against unarmed public servants, our diplomats in 1970s. We know very well how the murderers, who killed our diplomats in despicable attacks, were protected and released from prison.
We are of course aware that dreams, similar to the ones in the past century, are being tried to be realized for the last 40 years through the PKK terrorist organization from the point the Armenian organizations left off. Just as we have foiled all the plots against us, rest assured that we will crush the trap, set up through PKK within our borders and through PKK/YPG in Syria.
My glorious nation; in light of these facts, I hope the US will backtrack as soon as possible on the wrong step she has taken. Such accusations as genocide are too delicate to be made matters of politics. Presidents, parliaments making judgements on such issues by setting aside the discipline of history would serve nothing other than making things more complicated. We believe history is a reference point which should be consulted to build a nicer future, not to cause new animosities or conflicts. The ongoing debates do not benefit the Armenian community in any way. On the contrary, such steps produce new problems.
“WE HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THE ARMENIAN COMMUNITY”
We have no problem with the Armenian community. We have lived together with these people for a thousand years. We continue to live in peace with some of them. We would like to build relations with Armenia based on good neighborliness regardless of the way it was established. To this end, we have taken steps, in which we always made sacrifices, in the past 16 years. However, our steps unfortunately went unreciprocated sincerely.
We believe ground for cooperation emerged once again following the resolution of the Karabakh issue. The US President’s remarks on April 24 means nothing beyond hindering this process as well as our bilateral relations. The sun will not stop rising just because they say so. The light of truth will not give up shining just because they say so. For long years, we have had close relations with the US based on reliable alliance.
Their support to FETO and PKK/PYD, which are Turkey’s redlines, their embargo, such incidents as the S-400s, for which they are responsible, are harming our relations of model partnership. The April 24 statement topped of the recent developments and the Turkish-American relations have fallen way below this level.
With the strength we derive from our national unity and solidarity, our historical heritage, geographical advantages and unparalleled potential, we will focus on our own goals and continue to march forward regardless of the circumstances.
We are tired of the persistent efforts to make us back down on matters, about which we are well-establishedly right. Those, who think they can steer us from our path by doing so, should understand that they are wrong.
With all our sincerity, we as Turkey want to walk and work with the US and the EU under equal and fair conditions. In the restructuring process of the global political and economic system, we believe our cooperation is more important and to everyone’s benefit.
“WE STAND READY TO TALK WITH EVERYONE ON EVERY GROUND”
All we want is for our country not to be subjected to unjust, unfair and double-standard practices, behaviors and decisions, taken under the influence of marginal groups. We stand ready to talk, reach an agreement and cooperate with everyone on every ground as long as our stance as a country which values its freedom and future above all else is respected.
I believe we will discuss all these matters face to face with President Biden of the US during our meeting in June and open the doors to a new era. I would like to remind Mr. Biden that we were not strangers. We had distinct relations. He even showed the courtesy of visiting me at my home during my illness.
We are two significant allies within NATO. How can you choose the Armenian lobby, which has nothing to do with NATO, over Turkey? We, with our counterpart, should set aside the matters, poisoning our bilateral relations, and evaluate what kinds of steps we will take for the future. Otherwise, we will have no choice but to put into effect the practices required by the new level our relations descended to following the April 24 statement.
I had a phone call with my brother Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan regarding the implementation of the agreement with Armenia and joint steps to be taken in line with the recent developments. You know we gave the best answer to those, who had imposed impasse as a solution for years, with Azerbaijan in Karabakh. We will elaborate the steps we will take in this regard in the coming days.
WHEN CASE AND DEATH NUMBERS RISE, IT BECOMES INEVITABLE TO HEIGHTEN RESTRICTIVE MEASURES”
Noting that new measures against the COVID-19 pandemic was discussed during the meeting, President Erdoğan said: “When case and death numbers rise, it becomes inevitable to heighten restrictive measures.”
“We must reduce the number of cases to below 5 thousand. Otherwise, it will be inevitable for us to face a heavy toll in all areas from tourism to trade and education. In order to achieve our aimed level of relief, it is of importance that we make some more sacrifices together in the days ahead,” President Erdoğan underlined.
“We will enforce a full lockdown starting from 19:00 on Thursday, April 29, 2021 until 05:00 on Monday, May 17, 2021,” President Erdoğan said.
