Erdogan vows revenge against Saudi Arabia

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Recep Erdogan announced that recent local elections were a test of his popularity and he won. Erdogan’s ruling party received around 45% of the national vote and won in Istanbul and Ankara, running neck-in-neck with the main opposition party.
In a speech to the nation Erdogan made clear that there would no white flag to be hung over Turkey; he would come after his enemies and seek revenge.

“They promised there would be chaos. Yes, we witnessed it. They wanted our country to be overwhelmed with chaos so bad that they even wire-tapped our Foreign Ministry,” he said.
“We will enter their lair,” Erdogan promised, which was welcomed by the audience.
George Bush made a similar promise 13 years ago, when he said they would enter the lair of those responsible for the attacks on the Twin Towers, and the US military has been in Afghanistan and Iraq ever since.

“We will never yield our country to Pennsylvania or its delegates. They will pay the price,” vowed the prime minister.

Still reeling from Saudi Arabia’s betrayal, especially giving the fact that Turkey offered the kingdom extreme leeway both political and military in regards to Syria, PM Erdogan is on the war path, intent on settling a few score with Al Saud.

Bitter and angry over the fate of the Muslim Brotherhood, Erdogan feels very much betrayed by those he considered his allies in the Middle East. While Erdogan envisioned his support of Egypt’s revolution in 2011 would guarantee him an important ally in the region, the subsequent fall from grace of the Muslim Brotherhood and Saudi Arabia’s witch hunt only made the sting of betrayal that much harder to bear.

Saudi Arabia’s campaign against his party, Al Saud’s determination to see his regime toppled and its attacks of his character – rumours of corruption – have fuelled a profound anger and desire for vindication.

Slamming his enemies Erdogan warned, “Those who managed could flee. More can flee tomorrow. I have filed criminal complaints about some of them; I said they can also flee. As I have said, from now on, we’ll walk into their dens. They will pay for this. How can you threaten our national security? Syria is in a state of war with us. They are harassing our planes. They have martyred our 74 brothers and the Süleyman Şah Tomb is our lands. An attack against there is an attack against 780,000 square kilometres. Can we remain silent about such a thing? But these traitors wiretapped this meeting and leaked it to the world. 
 
They are worse than Assassins [of the Middle Ages]. They are beyond them. My brothers; there is a very important message conveyed by our people through the polls. Our people have made their objection and their stance against attempts to change the direction of Turkey through non-political ways. 
 
Election results show who lost, more than they show who won. Please listen to these words carefully: Today, unethical politics has lost. Tape politics, montage politics, slander and denigration politics has lost. Politics without building something, politics without plans and projects, without goals, has lost. O, General Manager [referring to the main opposition CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu], o, so-called party chair! What would you speak of during your election campaign if you didn’t have those tapes? We spoke of plans, projects. They spoke of lies, dissimulation, slander, sedition and intrigue. The status quo has taken a huge blow today. Dirty relations and unnamed alliances have lost today. Every kind of tutelage and to all kinds of tutelage-dictating centers has been hit with a full Ottoman slap by the nation. Arrogance has lost today. Pride has lost today. The arrogance that looks down on its nation, belittling it and making light of its choices has lost in the ballot box one again.
 
You know those people who used that blood-dripping, anger-inducing, hate-mongering headlines… Today, they have lost heavily again. O, Pennsylvania [referring to U.S.-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gülen], o, the media who support them from here, o, the capital that supported them… Weren’t you positioned against democracy? Democracy has won at the ballot box today. The will has won at the ballot box. What happened to the messages that you gave with an expectation of a coup in Turkey in 2014 in the 21st century? Look at this, the nation is here. The people are here. Those who’d love to plot a route for Turkey through extra-political interventions have lost today at the ballot box. Where are you now?
 
The politics of lies, slander, blackmail and montage has been destroyed today. The solution method of all problems in Turkey is politics and democracy unquestionably. Whatever problem one has, politics should be used for the solution. Whatever problem one has, it should be solved at the ballot box.”