We want democracy as a national unity project
by
RECEP TAYYİP ERDOĞAN*
PRIME MINISTER OF TURKEY

People serve as the guarantee of this peace and stability. Every single person from all walks of life has a share in this success. Every asset of Turkey belongs to our nation, which cherishes an indivisible unity. For centuries, we have existed and continue to exist as a nation with this in mind.

We have become a nation by believing in each other, relying on each other, lending support to each other and fighting side by side for the same crescent. We have overcome many obstacles and ordeals that stand in our way, by adhering to the same spirit of unity and integrity. We have written many a glorious page of history with this unrelenting and monolithic love for independence. We have established so many glorious civilizations with this love, this bountifulness, with this affinity and compassion and as a single spirit and single body. We have acted as a source of inspiration and illumination for humanity with our model fraternity. Many communities have found the peace, security and compassion they could not find elsewhere under the umbrella of our unity and harmony.

The flag hoisted with collective efforts of our people from the east, west, north and south of this land has become the flag not only of our nation's great devotion to independence, but also of the fundamental values and virtues of humanity. With these virtues, with this mentality of civilization and with this strong awareness of being a nation, we have come to these days. God willing, we will walk together into the future with the same spirit and awareness, and we will undertake many other civilization projects. In this regard, our government has always had this motto in mind: a single nation, a single homeland, a single flag and a single state.

Terrorism and the democratic initiative

The terrorism issue and the democratic initiative have recently been occupying quite a large space on the country's agenda. Everyone should be assured that our intention in undertaking this initiative is to create a democratic environment where everyone living in this county can speak their mind freely. Our priority is to introduce peace to all of our citizens and to every corner of the country. In undertaking the democratic initiative, we do not stress a particular region, be it east or west or north or south, but we assume a total approach to the country as a whole and seek to deal with any problem any citizen may encounter anywhere across the country.

We want to take the rule of law to every single person who is wronged in one way or another. We want both benefits and responsibility of the country to be shared by everyone. We seek to rectify any imbalance in the scales of justice and fairness. We underline that every citizen is entitled to expect the state to create the minimum requirements for a dignified life. We say that it is the duty of the state to provide services to its citizens irrespective of whom they are or where they live. We have volunteered to be servants of our nation, not to act as its master. We undertake the democratic initiative with this scope and with integrity. We want to make Turkey a country where every single citizen can feel alive freely and prideful of our flag, the crescent and star, and walk together toward future goals. We want to make sure that everyone can have dreams for this country with the same hopeful and enthusiastic attitude and with the same ardor and love.

We do not want this country to experience once again crimes against humanity and unresolved politically motivated murders, and we do not want innocent people to be prosecuted unfairly or criminals to go unpunished. We intend to ensure that every single citizen lives securely under the shade of this flag and has utter confidence in his or her state. What we want is for democracy as a national unity project to be the biggest assurance for our nation and for the national will not to be breached in any way. What we intend to attain with this democratic initiative is to create a Turkey which is removed of all darkness and which has jettisoned all unnecessary burdens.

In this respect, we are expected to deal with every chronic problem of the country and seek to settle every human tragedy causing great pain in the hearts of our citizens. I believe that the fact that in the past, the powers that be in this country failed to adopt a cool-headed, reasonable and sincere stance against the problems of the country, thereby exacerbating many problems that trouble us today.

If the economic crises, troubles and problems of the past can be attributed to some weaknesses in administration, the same weakness is the cause of the social issues getting worse and worse and becoming gangrenous. Not only the tragedies we suffered and the prices we had paid for many years, but also the duty of being a great state require us to accept this truth. Turkey has been living with terrorism for many years. Turkey has been fighting against terrorism for a long time. This grave experience has claimed the lives of thousands of young people. Whenever the coffins of martyrs wrapped with Turkish flags were brought in front of houses, Turkey was shocked with the news of deaths, and this started to weight heavily on our lives. Turkey spent these years with sorrow and tears. Hands that should be working to earn a living opted to carry guns. The steps that should have been taken toward greater welfare were taken toward greater poverty, unemployment and increased despair. As a country, we have wasted our golden years which we could have used to boost welfare and economic growth. As a country, we have lost so many generations who would add to the strength of the country and lend support to our development and help us realize our dreams. We have lost young and innocent young people who were the precious assets of mothers and the hope of the nation and the future of the country.

We should have said a strong "no" to those who sowed the seeds of hostility in the country back in the beginning, but we could not do it. We should have said this 25 years ago. Now, at least today, we must say "no" to this process, after so many tragedies we suffered and such an immense price we paid. We have been preparing to do this for the last seven years. We, as the nation, must collectively extinguish this fire of hostility which is also being fomented by those who seek to destroy our future and undermine our hopes. Now, we must tend to this wound that has been bleeding for many generations. Every single individual and every single household should give serious thought to this issue, and we must show our capability to overcome this calamity as we, as a nation, did many times in the past.

Lack of proper discussion

It is sad to say this, but until now, as a society, we have not been able to discuss this issue in a cool-headed, reasonable and multidimensional manner.

We have not been able to overcome the prejudices that were imposed on us and the plots of fear and corruption devised to incite hostility among us.

Despite all these adversities, if we have now reached the position of discussing this issue not as a security issue, but as part of our democracy problems, we cannot deny the role our security forces played by conducting counterterrorism efforts with self-sacrifice and resoluteness.

In this trouble-laden process maintained under the heaviest conditions and at the expense of many martyrs, the security forces are duly fulfilling their duties. However, as reiterated many times, this issue cannot be settled only through military measures. This issue has many dimensions with social, economic and cultural aspects. There are also psychological aspects. Most importantly, there are political and diplomatic aspects to this issue, which is a matter of humanity and democracy. Because of the previous governments' tendency to delegate everything to the security forces, the political and economic crises and the weakening of democracy, we could not arrive at this point of common sense in the past.

Today, we are at a point of self-critique. By reviving this issue thoroughly, we hope to build collectively the common sense that will put an end to this hostility and tragedies it caused, and we call on everyone, every party and every group to collectively deal with this issue. As a nation there is one thing we all know very well today. After all that we have experienced, we must make the most accurate and most realistic diagnoses in the most self-possessed way and take the necessary steps to implement the proper treatment as soon as possible.

The point we have reached today, this point of historical common sense is the product of our state's and the nation's common will and expectations. Our people should have no doubt that this revival is the implementation of a national union and a solidarity project and process and the coming together of our nation, which has lived together as one for centuries, to reach a new glory and grandeur that will redirect the course of history.

Anyone that seeks to create a plan of betrayal for this brotherhood project will be inflicting grave damage on Turkey. The conditions of our Constitution are clear. We will never allow any attempt or tolerate any intention to divide Turkey, ruin our unity and eliminate our unitary state structure.

We would never take even the smallest step that could harm Turkey's interests in any way. Anything and everything we do we do for Turkey's interests and for the common interest of our 71.5 million citizens. There isn't a single child that we can spare. We want all our children to live together as brothers on these lands as they have throughout history. This initiative is a democratic initiative. This initiative is an initiative of love and brotherhood. This initiative is an initiative of common sentiment. This initiative is the manifestation of a common mind.

This step is being taken to end the tears of mothers, to prevent pains from crippling and saddening hearts and to prevent brothers from becoming enemies of one another. How can these objectives be opposed? 

If we travel to Çanakkale and see how those young people that came from not just different lands of Anatolia but from different parts of the Balkans to the Caucasus are buried alongside each other with their hearts as one, we will then have a better understanding of this nation's root spirit. We want people in the east and west, south and north of this country to feel the same joy, the same excitement for progress. We want each one of our people to protect their country, state and flag with the same pride and happiness. What is bad about this?

What is terrible is that this wound has been bleeding for the last quarter of a century. Those that did nothing but sit back and watch this pain, those that did not take action to heal the wound are the ones that did the most harm to this nation. The biggest mistake was done by the people that, despite having the authority and responsibility, ignored the problem and managed along by putting on acts of heroism.

Those who tried to undermine the unity of this nation and that planned various mischievous games to weaken this nation's sense of brotherhood did the most harm to this nation. What we need to really question are the mentalities that think basic rights are too much for fellow citizens and that have upset and offended the hearts that have been devoted to this country throughout history.

We need to question those that have ignored the emergence of destitute regions in not only the east, but the west, north and south of this country and that have made available the money allocated to bring services to those areas to thieves and crooks.

What we need to really question are dirty gangs, dark formations and defamation ploys that seek to destroy our people's unity and solidarity as well as management mentalities that damage the confidence in justice and that try to get people to accept their authority not by winning respect but by inciting fear.

Come, let's question these. We are saying let us not make the same mistakes. What is so wrong with that? We want Turkey's pains to end, our future to be bright and this brightness to bring light to everyone in this country. What is so absurd about that? Like I said previously, it is our common duty to handle this issue away from every kind of exploitation and polemic and to sincerely and carefully contribute to the search for a solution. We are not insisting that we do everything on our own, that we set the rules or that we plan the framework because we are not all of Turkey.

We are making an appeal to everyone. We are saying, come and together let's find a treatment for all of this country's wounds; yes, I will repeat myself a treatment for all of this country's wounds. There will be no political exploitation or political calculations. We are inviting everyone to become a part of the solution. Cliche [ideas] did not work in the past. We are saying come and let's start a new initiative. Let's put rationality into play in this bitter issue. For years we talked about why we couldn't; now we are saying come let's discuss how we can. This issue is the people's issue; it is this country's issue. We are saying, come hold a small part of it and let's remove this weight off this country together.

We are saying come let's find together what it is that has disturbed the harmony in the hearts of people that throughout history sat around the same table, sang the same songs and fought on the same side to defend the country.

We are saying this issue is a democracy issue. We are saying the duty of searching for and finding a solution belongs first and foremost to those that act as representatives of the people more so than to the people themselves. We are saying let's bring this issue into the presence of the people away from all kinds of biases, polemics, aggression and exploitation. Let this issue be debated at universities. Let scholars, artists, nongovernmental organizations, our media and everyone including children and adults justly rethink this issue. A wound in one part of the homeland will one day spread across the entire body and turn gangrenous. We are saying come and let's bandage the wound before it's too late. We are saying come let's repair the mistakes wherever there is a problem or an error before it's too late. We are saying come let's turn this country into an example country for the world with its democracy, justice, freedom, prosperity and stability and peace and brotherhood. A solution cannot be built on negativity, and a right cannot be built on wrongs.

Turkey has been dealing with the terror issue for more than a quarter of a century. Both the prices we've paid and the pains we've suffered are grave. We buried our young men in tears, and we lost generations that were the hope of this country. We wasted time, energy and financial resources that were needed to make this country grow, develop and advance. Can you imagine where we could've been today if we hadn't experienced these pains and if we hadn't paid heavy costs in the last quarter of a century and if we lived in peace and stability?

With respect to the progress Turkey is making by using its own potential, if we take a look at what we have achieved in the last six to seven years as a nation, we clearly see what we had lost before. This lost picture before us is a heartrending picture.     Why should we add more years to those lost years? Why should we add new generations and more of our young men to those lost generations? Why should we sacrifice the future of this country to dark intentions? We cannot, and we will not.

We are going to open the way to finally start identifying mistakes with candor and the way to building a happy and prosperous future together that suits our past and our country by believing and trusting each other. We have always cursed those who choose terror as a viable option, and we will continue to do so. We declared the terrorist organization an enemy, and we are declaring that now once again. We gave precedence to Turkey's unity, vitality and collectiveness over everything else, and we are maintaining this same sensitivity with the same determination. Our democratic searches are actually a product of this sensitivity we have. We believe that as long as democratic initiatives yield results, corrupt groups will lose ground and the opportunity of presenting terror as a path or method will be eliminated.

In a democracy, there is a solution to every problem. We just need to be sincere in what we do, especially when it comes to the subject of democracy. If we can get democracy and all its elements to function, then we will easily see all our other problems head toward the path to a solution one by one. The closer we bring the east and west of this country to each other, the more terror will lose ground. If we can become a country where people are free to express their own ideas and live by their own beliefs and culture, we will start to see these differences as a wealth for this country.

Turkey can no longer bear the shame of being a country where people fear words, concepts and ideas. Each one of us, including the Turkmen, Tatar, Kurd, Circassian and Laz, have the right to live in this country with hope about the future, feeling free, protecting their own tradition and culture and respecting the differences of their neighbors. After all, does our historical civilization experience of thousands of years not show that we are a nation that keeps national harmony alive in the best way possible? Don't we see this?

Only this kind of a Turkey can move forward as a powerful Turkey. We aim for a Turkey where everyone is equal before the state and the law, where burdens and blessings are equitably shared and where not even one single citizen is dispirited. Our biggest desire and expectation is for everyone, each one of our citizens, each one of our institutions and organizations that love Turkey, to assess this issue with scope, depth, sensitivity, rationality, foresight and without getting caught up in provocations. Our nation has more than enough fair and democratic maturity to overcome this issue. God willing, in the process ahead, everyone from our friends to enemies will see this.

We are continuing to move forward toward predetermined economic targets with great determination and with the aim of carrying Turkey to a better future. We are exerting efforts to implement the socioeconomic change program, despite the negative global conditions, in every field in Turkey with the same speed and intensity. As a result of these efforts, Turkey is becoming a country whose weight is becoming increasingly felt both in the region and the world.

The path is open for a Turkey that protects peace and stability that is determined to tackle problems, that does not lose track of its targets and that takes another step forward each day. All we need to do is to keep moving forward without losing confidence in our country and in each other. I believe in that happy and prosperous Turkey ideal with all my heart, and my request from each of you is to believe in that bright Turkey ideal with the same sincerity.

Together we have realized many dreams. Take a look at seven years ago and then take a look at now. God willing, we are going to continue working night and day with the same passion and love, with the same trust and confidence to carry Turkey to a brighter future. I'd like peace to be closer to us than ever before and for brotherhood to be our crown.

*This text was taken from Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's national address, televised on Thursday night.