In an event dedicated to Sadiq Ahmet, which was organized by the Office of the Prefect of Edirne and the University of Thrace, the President of the Turkish National Assembly, Mustafa Sentop, participated, pointing out that the ruling party of Recep Tayyip Erdogan embraces the struggle of “Turks in Western Thrace” – as he called the Muslim community – “not only as a political party but in the name of the whole of Turkey”.
Sentop noted that “85 million people who live in Turkey stand by our brothers who live in Western Thrace. We stand by their cause. As long as Turkey exists, as long as we have 85 million people, we will be on the side of the Turks of Western Thrace.”
The president of the Turkish National Assembly argued that the struggle of the Turks in Western Thrace is a struggle for “Greece to comply with international law and the commitments it has signed”.
“Anti-Turkish stance”
Underlining that Turkey did not give up its struggle for independence even in the most difficult moments of its history, Sentop said: “Now, of course, Turkey is not the Turkey of a century ago, there is a much stronger Turkey. We are talking about a nation fighting to the last drop of blood to preserve its independence.”
Sendop, as reported by the website sigmalive.com and Turkish media, said that in the last period Greece has an anti-Turkish attitude.
“They are trying to establish the principle of a nation based on hostility towards Turkey,” he said, and continued:
“We see that an anti-Turkish attitude in Greece has raised its voice, perhaps hostility towards Turkey has entered the pre-election agenda there and thus it has increased and sharpened. It is not possible for a country to try to explain its national existence on the basis of hostility towards another country in order to protect and preserve that national existence. But this is what Greece has done. Greece is trying to base its beginning as a nation on the basis of hostility towards Turkey and not on its own historical values and culture. But this is not sustainable, it is not maintainable, it is not defensible”.
“We have seen in periods of history that when a state tries to boast against its neighbors by leaning on other countries, sitting on the lap of these countries, it does not succeed,” Sedop continued and added:
“This is what Greece has done. They are trying to maintain their economic and military independence with reckless hostility towards Turkey, perhaps even risking becoming the 51st state of the United States of America. No benefit for Greece. It does not benefit the people living in Greece, their own people. And it is not possible for Turkey to take such a state seriously, to take seriously a state that makes such an effort and continues to exist. From this point of view, we say, on the contrary, that Turkey’s friendship is precious, while Turkey’s enmity is very dangerous. Therefore, everyone should be very careful when they take action, talk and make calculations against Turkey.”
According to him, the legal situations in the eastern Mediterranean, regarding the islands, should be properly evaluated. “Greece should not trigger the environment in which these issues will be put on the agenda, otherwise it should be ready for some surprises, legally and in terms of international law.”
“As Turkey, we want peace, stability and tranquility both in the immediate environment and in the world,” Sentop stressed, asserting that the greatest possible efforts are being made for this purpose.
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