Erdogan's speech upon his arrival to Turkey, yesterday night

via fb user Ozgur Demir

Below you can read the speech Reyep Tayyip Erdogan delivered at the airport, upon his arrival to Turkey, after his trip to the Maghreb countries. A big crowd welcomed him at the airport. Ozgur Demir translated it into English, as well as the crowd's interactions.

RT:
Dear brothers, people of Istanbul, friends, citizens attaching us from their TVs. I salute you with all my heart. I thank you for giving us this Istanbul night filled with amazing joy and excitement. Tonight I don't only salute you but I also salute every one of my brothers in every village, every city of Turkey.

Crowd: Ya Allah, Bismillah, Allah-u Ekber…

RT:
I salute my grandmothers, my sisters. I salute my worker brothers, farmers, laborers, villagers who work hard is to put bread on the table. I salute my young brothers who are as grand, as dignified and as poised as Turkey is.

Crowd: Istanbul is right here, where are the chapulcus?


RT:
I salute my brothers who are here in Istanbul, in Istanbul's brother city Sarajevo, Baku, Beirut, Skopje, Damascus, Gaza, Mecca, Medina. I salute Istanbul again and again with all my heart, every Istanbul neighborhood, every street, every district.

Crowd: Istanbul is right here, where are the drums!

RT:
I bring greetings from far away lands. I bring you my Moroccan, Algerian and Tunisian brothers greetings. May Allah make our brotherhood last forever. May Allah make our unity and solidarity last forever. Our brothers and governors there all said that this shall pass. They said they believe in us. My dear brothers, Yunus (poet) said: "I don't come to fight, my job is for love. The friend's home is in hearts, I come to build hearts." We never want to break hearts, we always want to win hearts. We stood straight but we never steepened. Fight is not for us. Collisions are not for us. We don't vandalize, break, fight, destroy.

Crowd: May the hands who harm the police be broken!

RT:
Brothers, we know how to build and we came until today by building, producing, making Turkey bigger. I want to underline: We came until this point in spite of the interest lobby. Now, this interest lobby thinks they can threaten us. They should know this very well: We won't allow them to feed on our nation's hard work. If a bank's general manager goes ahead and claims that he sides with these vandals, he will find us against him. We came until today by making Turkey's economy bigger and bigger. The ones that came to us and told us they got 5 times richer during our time, now change sides. Today the world is talking about Turkey and its people. Where did all this come from? We came until today with patience, knowing that patience would lead to victory. Everybody must know this: We came until today by building Turkey on the basis of brotherhood, by making Turkey bigger, by honoring brotherhood.

Brothers, some people say that the Prime Minister is the prime minister of the 50 percent only. How can that be true? We always said until today that we were the servant of 76 million. We brought service from east to west. Who would have believed 10 years ago that one day there would be an airport in Hakkari, in Iğdır? When we came there were only 26 airports, we made that number 50. Those who are against us didn't ask why this service was given but they asked who gave this service. AKP did all this. AKP is doing all this. And they tried to do what they couldn't do in the elections, outside the elections. Nobody's ethnicity, origin, ideology is pushed aside in our eyes. Because we are not the masters of this nation, of the 76 million. We are their servants. United, we are Turkey We are together, we are one. This is how we see the events in Turkey.

We read, analyze and step forward. AKP's success is not in colliding. But they must now this: We are the generations of Akif (poet). This might not work for some.

"I can't applaud cruelty, I can't love the cruel. I can't curse the past to please the one who comes. I can't be some low-born's dog. And most of all, I can't worship injustice. I am in love with independence since I was born. The golden tulip can never be my collar. If I see a bleeding heart, my heart breaks and I would be whipped or kicked to mend it. I can't say "don't care and walk away." I care. I step and I get stepped upon but I make the unjust just. I am the enemy of the wrong-doer but I love the wronged." (poem)

Dear brothers, as we respect the democracy, the elections and the national will, we ask for respect towards us. As we started this path, we said one thing: The goal is forward democracy and we we will achieve it. Brothers, the nation gives the responsibility. And it can only be the nation who takes it back. Nobody other than the people can lay hands on this. Nobody can take it outside the voting ballots. We placed this responsibility as sacred since 10,5 years. We protected it with our lives and we will continue to do so.

Crowd: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan! Recep Tayyip Erdoğan!

RT:
There seems to be a problem there, what's going on? Let's call the security for help. Let's take our brother out. Let him breathe. (To someone in the crowd who seems to be fainting)

We won't let anyone break the law, threaten the democracy, vandalize, destroy and harm public property or people. Now at Gezi Park… (Crowd boos) those protest for not even 15 trees took three lives. Two youngster died and a police man was killed in action.

Crowd: May the hands who harm the police be broken!

RT:
Now, I am saying one thing from here. As much as the death of these young people are important, the death of my police is also important. Whose police is this?

Crowd: Ours!

RT:
The police works to protect our lives, our safety. He stands against terrorism, anarchy and vandalism. And what do they say? Pull the police back! What now? This is not some random place, it is the Turkish republic. And our police has done his work to protect the public places, public equipment, civilians and their belongings from those who attack them. Yes, they might have used some excessive force. My deputy prime minister has expressed our apologies. My Minister of Internal Affairs is looking into that. He is following up on the subject. But nobody has the right to attack us based on these. Our police man's unborn baby is left an orphan. Many shops are plundered, the store owners are harmed. And these shameless people took the Turkish flag in their hands and did all that.

Crowd:
Let us go and we'll crash Taksim!

RT:
They said they were journalists, artists, politicians and they acted irresponsibly by provoking this discrimination, this lawless behavior. These actions that turned into vandalism and lawlessness must stop immediately. Our citizens that became the tools of terrorist organizations must refrain from these anti-democratic, lawless actions. My innocent citizens! Whatever we will do we will do with law. We will see every other way lawless and stand against them.

Crowd: Let us go and we'll crash Taksim!

RT:
You acted with dignity and common sense these past 10 days. We won't give up on those. You don't have pots and pans in your hands do you?

Crowd: No!

RT:
Now, that's important. We don't want you to become one of those with pots and pans, you will be our youngsters with computers in their hands. The grand youngsters of the grand Turkey, you will continue walking forward. You are the hope of the wronged. You are the examples to the Middle East, to Africa, to the Balcans. You will take big steps and reach big places. You won't betray or betrayed.

Crowd: Ya Allah, Bismillah, Allah-u Ekber…

RT:
Young people, I thank each and every one of you. I open my arms to all the young people of Turkey through you. I salute all my friends and brothers in Anotolia, in Thrace and in the whole world. Dear people of Istanbul, rest assured: Nobody can stand in the way of Turkey's progress other than Allah.

Crowd: Ya Allah, Bismillah, Allah-u Ekber…

RT:
I give my condolences to our martyr police and our two young people. "Be glad Mehmet (a common name for a soldier), our head is held high. Be glad whether we die or come back home. Don't think this wheel will stay on this bump. Tomorrow is our. The sun has risen, the sun has set, infinity is ours." (poem)

May Allah be with us on the way. May our path and luck be open. May Allah be with you.

Announcer: You are everything to us RT! You are freedom, you are democracy! You are brotherhood! You are RT!