President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the 955th Anniversary of the Conquest of Anatolia – Manzikert 1071 Commemoration Program, held at the Manzikert Battlefield Historical National Park. Speaking at the ceremony marking the 955th anniversary of the Manzikert Victory, Erdoğan highlighted Turkiye’s vision for the future and its uncompromising stance in the fight against terrorism through a historical metaphor. Referring to the determination demonstrated by the ancestors when setting out on military campaigns, Erdoğan said, “When we set out on a campaign, when we embark on a journey, we tie our horse’s tail, and we do this to show that we will go all the way to the end.” He emphasized that Turkiye had embarked on an irreversible path toward the goals of the “Century of Türkiye” and a “Terror-Free Region.” Erdoğan said history was being rewritten in the region and that Turkiye was helping shape this process through its peaceful policies.
Here are the highlights from President Erdoğan’s speech: “My dear nation, my beloved brothers and sisters from Muş, Chairman of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), Mr Devlet Bahçeli, esteemed leaders of our political parties, dear young people who are the guarantee of the Century of Türkiye, and my valued sisters. I greet you all with my most heartfelt feelings and affection. Yesterday, we visited the event area in Ahlat, the gateway to Anatolia and our ancestral city, and embraced our young people.
Afterwards, we held our Cabinet Meeting for the third time at the Ahlat Presidential Complex. Now we are here with you in Manzikert, where we broke the rusty lock of Byzantium with the key of faith and opened the main gate to Anatolia. At the beginning of my speech, I would like to wish you a blessed 955th anniversary of our Manzikert Victory.
Today, once again, I respectfully commemorate Sultan Alp Arslan, who opened the gates of this sacred homeland to us through both his genius and the strength of his arm, his blessed and heroic army, and all our martyrs and veterans. I express my deepest gratitude, one by one, to you, my brothers and sisters, who have filled this square to capacity and delivered a very powerful message of unity and solidarity to the world from here. I thank my sisters who, with their white headscarves and white leçek head coverings, have turned this place almost into a field of daisies.
I would especially like to thank my young brothers and sisters, whom I see as the future soldiers of our victories and the future heroes who will write our epics. I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart for embracing your history, your spiritual roots and the sacred legacy of your ancestors; for once again bearing witness today to the blessed spirits of Alp Arslan and the warriors who fought in the cause of faith; and for creating this magnificent picture of brotherhood. May God grant you, our young people, the opportunity to provide the finest and most beneficial service to this sacred nation and this great state.
Today, we are also commemorating the 104th anniversary of the great offensive we launched to tear the dirty hands reaching toward the sanctity of Anatolia from our lands. On this occasion, I pray for God’s mercy upon our martyrs and veterans who paid the price for our independence during the National Struggle. I would particularly like to emphasize this, dear young people.
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