Speaking at AK Party's Parliamentary Group Meeting, Erdogan said: “If we had acted with the reflexes of the old Turkey against the plots over our country, we would have had a huge catastrophe by now. Even though some do not realize the magnitude of Turkey’s struggle, our people do and they do not spare any sacrifice. Yes, Turkey is waging a new War of Independence and is advancing towards victory.”

Erdogan said: “We see that Operation Peace Spring has started to have significant results in the U.S. in terms of not only security policies and diplomatic relations but also domestic policies. We witnessed two separate examples of this situation last night with the resolutions adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives. One of these two resolutions relates to the Armenian genocide claims. Actually, a clique within the American politics had been exerting efforts in this direction for nearly 20 years. Initiatives to that end, forestalled to date thanks to the administrations’ acumen, have now been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives by taking advantage of the anti-Turkey atmosphere among the American public opinion. In a sense, this is opportunism in play.”

“Turkey rejects all of initiatives which make unilateral judgements”

“To us, without doubt, this resolution is null and void, just like other similar steps previously taken by other countries,” Erdogan underlined, and added: “Frankly speaking, they are dancing to their own tune. We are saddened since this slander against Turkey was adopted by a parliament, though. What kind of a mindset is that? We by no means recognize the step you took, the decision you made. We hope that each and every U.S. House Representative that voted against our country sees the facts as soon as possible. Above all else, Turkey had endured attacks by Armenian terrorist organizations for long years in the past. Particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, ASALA had conducted over 100 armed attacks on Turkish embassies and missions in more than 21 separate countries. Are you aware of that? We have documentation, everything about that. Over 40 diplomats and representatives of ours died a martyr’s death in these attacks. Did you know that? We reject all of these initiatives which don’t even mention these losses of Turkey’s yet make unilateral judgements on an incident which took place over a century ago. I am confident that the Grand National Assembly of Turkey will duly respond to this step which was taken for domestic consumption in contradiction to historical facts.”

“A country, which has a history thoroughly stained with genocide, slavery and exploitation, cannot lecture Turkey,” Erdogan underlined. “We will closely follow the issue in the days ahead and make sure that necessary steps are taken and necessary responses are delivered.”

Following the parliamentary group meeting, Erdogan also met with AK Party’s provincial heads, who served since the foundation of the party, at party headquarters. (ILKHA)