Greek-Turkish Relations
Erdoğan on Turkey’s 103rd anniversary: “We are determined to neutralise those who come between us and our goals”
At a dinner for the Organization of Turkic States summit in Ankara, Erdoğan said Turkey is determined to “neutralise” those who stand between it and its goals, and thanked Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman as “president” of the pseudo-state recognised only by Ankara.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan chose a historical parallel with a clear message for the present for the 103rd anniversary of the proclamation of the Turkish Republic. Speaking on Thursday, October 29, the Turkish president said Turkey is determined to “neutralise” those who try to come between it and its goals, just as the founding will of the Republic brought the “seven powers” to their knees 103 years ago. Erdoğan spoke at the official dinner he and his wife Emine hosted at the Millet Sergi Salonu in the presidential complex at Beştepe in Ankara, in honour of the leaders in the city for the 13th Summit of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS).
The key phrase, published by the Turkish Presidency, was: “Just as the founding will of our Republic, 103 years ago, brought the seven powers to their knees and freed this homeland from occupation, so we too are determined to neutralise, in the same way, those who try to come between us and our goals.” The words are Erdoğan’s and are reported here as his own.
Shortly before that line, Erdoğan renewed the pledge that Turkey will rise “above the level of contemporary civilisations” and described the Republic as the “common work and common home” of 86 million people, which “continues to go from success to success”. Addressing the Turkic-speaking republics, which celebrate 35 years of independence this year, he said he believes the Turkic world will march united and strive to make the coming period “the century of the Turks”.
Erhürman thanked as “president” of the pseudo-state
Among the guests he thanked by name was Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman, whom Erdoğan presented as “president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”, the pseudo-state that only Ankara recognises and whose declaration the UN Security Council has condemned as legally invalid. Erhürman attended alongside the presidents of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kyrgyzstan Sadyr Japarov, Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedow, and Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov. Erdoğan called the OTS a “family council”. In October Erhürman was at the centre of Cypriot news with an interview that President Nikos Christodoulides called “particularly revealing”.
At the same dinner Erdoğan awarded Japarov the “Supreme Order of the Turkic World” for his contribution to the OTS, while the 2026 Ali-Shir Nava’i International Prize went to Kazakhstan’s Dusen Kaseinov, former secretary general of the TÜRKSOY organisation.
A message for “brighter tomorrows”
In a written anniversary message the same day, the Turkish president presented the course of the last 24 years, from the defence industry to energy, transport and diplomacy, as “milestones” on the road to a strong and prosperous Turkey. “Turkey today is stronger than yesterday and tomorrow it will be much stronger, with much greater prestige and much more effective in every field,” he wrote, predicting that the Turkish people “will put its seal” on the century we are living in. He also repeated the slogan “Peace in the world, peace in the region, peace at home”. The statements come days after Erdoğan dismissed the reactions of the EU and other countries to the illegal Turkish-Libyan memorandum.
