Speaking at a party caucus in Ankara’s Kızılcahaman on Saturday, Erdoğan said cowardliness would not help Turkey deal with its age-old problems. He asked: “If Orhan Gazi was afraid, would Bursa have been established? If Fatih was afraid, would İstanbul have been?” and said his party would go on with its democratization push without fear.
“You can’t build a country on fear. You can’t build a future on fear. You can’t build democracy on fear,” he said. The prime minister said they saw their fight for democracy not as a problem of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), but a problem of the country.
Erdoğan said that in the past, the Turkish nation has seen as many glories as times when the nation and the country have been in danger. Stating that the integrity and unity of the Turkish nation have been tested many times throughout history, he said the Turkish nation has always succeeded in moving forward and burying past traumas. Even though the Turkish nation has been able to look optimistically into the future, some are using past grievances as an instrument of fear, Erdoğan said. “There are those who are making efforts to create a new society of fear. When history is not enough, they create virtual fears and imaginary threats.”
He said in the AK Party’s seven years in power, he has seen this many times. “No matter what long-standing issue we tried to tackle, they put up obstacles in front of us. We said we want to get in the European Union, they said our national identity is in danger. We said Cyprus, they said ‘our national interests are under threat’. We said we want zero problems with our neighbors, they said [Turkey’s foreign policy] axis is shifting. We said Armenia, they said Sevres. … And now, we say the process of national unity and brotherhood [referring to the democratic initiative], they say it is treason, they say it is separation. The same politics, the same attitude and I am sorry to say this but they are displaying the same cowardly approach.”
He also talked about the recent discussions on alleged illegal wiretappings of the offices of judiciary members. “Those who are trying to make this look like it is linked to the government are acting on ill will, they are trying to influence the public and create confusion,” he said.
He said the wiretappings had nothing to do with the government. “And neither could this [link] ever happen.” He said the wiretapping scandal was now in hands of the judiciary and would be sorted out in the legal process. He said, “We see wiretapping without legal permission as disrespect for a person, whoever that person might be.”
