Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Ankara (Agenzia Fides) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to use periodic speeches dedicated to the Covid-19 crisis to denounce geopolitical forces and actors who, in his opinion, in this emergency situation, pursue plans to weaken Turkey. In his speech on Sunday 11 May, among the realities targeted by Erdogan as inspirers of anti-Turkish hostility, what he called "Armenian lobby and Greek lobby" were also mentioned. "We are determined to strengthen the Alliance of the Republic", said the Turkish President, "considering as negligible details all the things that are not the Nation and the Country. The parties that are unhappy and aim to sabotage Turkey's proponents with their attacks will not be able to stop this sacred march. We - added the Turkish Head of State - will not leave room for FETÖ (acronym with which the pro-government Turkish bodies indicate the Hizmet network of the Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, indicated by the Turkish government as the great director of the attempted coup of 15 July 2016, ed.), the PKK or the Armenian and Greek lobbies, or to hostile centers based in the Gulf countries. We will continue to disappoint those who think they are putting us in the corner, blocking us and chaining us by destroying our economy through foreign financial institutions".
The previous Sunday, during a similar update meeting on measures taken to stop the coronavirus infection, Erdogan had declared that the Turkish authorities will not allow terrorist "leftover of the sword" in our country, to attempt to carry out activities, but are still active in the Country. The expression "Leftover of the sword", of biblical ancestry, in the Turkish version (kiliç artiği) is commonly used insult in Turkey that often refers to the survivors of the Christian massacres that mainly targeted Armenians, Greeks and Assyrians in the Ottoman Empire and its successor, Turkey . In protest, Garo Paylan, an Armenian MP in Turkey's parliament, wrote on Facebook: "In his hateful speech, Erdogan once again used the phrase 'leftover of the sword.' That definition was invented to refer to orphans like my grandmother who survived the [1915] Armenian genocide. Every time we hear that phrase, it makes our wounds bleed again". (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 15/5/2020)
