Turkish PM Erdoğan says foreign hands still ‘pushing a button’ to stop Turkey’s rise

ANKARA

Ever-vigilant Turkish PM Erdoğan has again alerted his citizens to the great danger posed by dark forces scheming against Turkey's inexorable rise.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has marked the upcoming anniversary of the Gezi Park protests by slamming the massive demonstrations, while reiterating his previously voiced assertion that “dark hands abroad” are attempting to stop Turkey’s rise.

“A button is pushed and legal, illegal organizations disturb the peace. This is such a prepared attack that they target our peace, stability and economy at the same time,” Erdoğan told his lawmakers at a parliamentary group on May 27.

Erdoğan noted that 2014 was the centenary of the start of World War I which ended with the Ottoman Empire’s defeat. “After the war, they wanted to keep Turkey, the heir of Seljuks and Ottomans, under constant pressure. The Ottoman debt landed upon Turkey. Some sorrows, some problems [from the Ottoman era] were directed at Turkey. Two issues were continuously kept on the agenda through our Kurdish and Alevi citizens. They kept provoking them,” he said.

Erdoğan admitted that Turkey did “many mistakes regarding these two issues,” like “the policies to deny, refuse and assimilate our Kurdish brothers” and the Dersim massacre against the Alevis. 

“We are completely aware of these issues that Turkey has been facing for a century. However, we also can’t ignore the provocations being done abroad related to these issues,” he said, blaming the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) for the mistakes.

“Whenever things went well here, there were people who tried to bring trouble on Turkey. Whenever Turkey mobilized its energy for economic development, it was targeted with terrorism or military coups. Some dark hands at home and abroad cooperated,” Erdoğan said, asking how Japan and Germany had become the biggest economies in the world after World War II while Turkey could not even though it did not participate in the war.

“In May 2013, we put our signature on the Turkish Republic’s greatest successes. The stock exchange was at a record-breaking high. Our debt to the IMF had become zero. The export rates were record high. We signed the nuclear power plant agreement with Japan. Then something happened and protests started in Istanbul’s Gezi Park by taking advantage of a project in which 12 trees were to be removed and planted somewhere else. Legal and illegal organizations cooperated in spreading these protests. They targeted the country’s economy and stability,” he said.

The prime minister also touched upon his May 24 rally in Cologne, criticizing the counter-demonstrations in the German city to protest his visit. “Their goal was to sabotage our rally there. But the German officials took measures, and they could not achieve their goal,” said Erdoğan.

Erdoğan described to the rally as the "Alevism without Ali demonstration," the second time he has used the phrase. During a recent visit to Turkey by German President Joachim Gauck, Erdoğan criticized Germany for allegedly supporting atheistic interpretations of Alevism devoid of Ali, the nephew of the Prophet Muhammad and the fourth caliph.

In the parliamentary group, Erdoğan accused the CHP and powers outside Turkey of plotting plans to trigger sectarian unrest in the country.

Referring to the May 22 death of Uğur Kurt, an Alevi citizen who was attending a funeral in a cemevi in Istanbul’s Okmeydanı neighborhood when he was shot in the head by police during clashes between officers and protesters, Erdoğan claimed Kurt’s sister had accused the protesters for the death of her brother.

“What does his sister say? ‘If you hadn’t staged these protests, my brother would be alive,’” Erdoğan said after offering his condolences for the two people who were killed during the protests.

The Turkish PM said the members of the illegal Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party/Front (DHKP/C), among the groups involved in the clashes in Okmeydanı, had bases in Greece. 

“We all know who are supporting and protecting these groups. The DHKP/C’s camps are based in Greece. We have seen them entering Turkey. The Greek government has cracked down on them but we don’t know whether they are still operating there,” said Erdoğan. He also accused the CHP of indifference to the activities of the illegal leftist groups in Turkey.

“Old scenarios are being used to weaken Turkey. When we say that this scenario is written abroad, they try to misdirect [the public]. They just can’t acknowledge the presence of a strong Turkey. But whether they want it or not, Turkey has discovered the vein to get stronger,” he said.