Foreign Minister Fidan: 'The September 12 mentality ended with the AK Party'

Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, who became the AK Party Provincial Chairman after his visit to the Governorship in Diyarbakır, met with Provincial Chairman Hamit Sümer and party members.

In his speech at the "Türkiye Century Meetings" program held here, Fidan said that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attaches great importance to Diyarbakır.

Stating that Diyarbakır is an ancient city that hosted great civilizations, Fidan noted that the AK Party will continue the historical journey Diyarbakır deserves with the actions it has put in for 25 years.

“The September 12 mentality ended with the AK Party cadres coming to power through elections”

Minister Fidan stated the following:

"Tomorrow is September 12. There was a mentality called the September 12 mentality. It was a mentality that became almost the symbol of a stance that specifically denies identity denial, the identity of the Kurds. What enabled this mentality to end both in practice, on legal grounds and on mental grounds, was the AK Party cadres coming to power through the people and elections. So, this is an issue that should be underlined historically.

The stance that rejects the identity created by the September 12 mentality and excludes the general structure other than a certain minority has taken back the country's integrity, unity, security, economy, development, whatever parameter you can think of. He didn't take any of them forward. Of course, thank God, the disappearance of identity denial under the leadership of our President along with the AK Party governments, and the principle of equal treatment of all our citizens, regardless of their ethnic identity and belief, just because they are citizens of the Republic of Turkey within the framework of constitutional citizenship, have been the biggest political revolution we have made."

Stating that it is important to accept every person's identity, culture, belief and place and to teach social integration and cohesion within this, Fidan continued his speech as follows:

"For centuries, for millennia, sociology has already found a way to live together in these lands without discrimination of Kurds, Turks, Muslims, Christians, Arabs, Circassians, and while the society is many times ahead, the fact that the state's own software lags behind this issue has been one of the main reasons for the crisis. The most important thing that the AK Party did was to transfer the social reality to the administration of the state, the codes of the constitution, and the laws passed by the parliament. When this happens, that is, when there is a harmony of mind, heart and mind between the society and the state, there is already one thing left before us: development, solving other problems related to development, modernity, culture and education.

The biggest steps regarding democratic reforms increased as of 2013; language A big step was taken regarding Kurdish education. In other words, everything that could have been in the legislation regarding identity denial has been cleared away. In fact, from the moment we returned to a real field where sociology and state legislation meet, there should not have been a major political obstacle. However, for many years, political violence in the form of terrorism has been taking place in Türkiye and beyond Türkiye, it has not been able to establish a synchronization with the political reality taking place in Türkiye, and there is an approach that looks at events from a perspective that looks not at what is happening in Türkiye but at possible crises in the region. It delayed the implementation of the process for another 13 years. But what do we say? We have a nice folk saying; Let it be late, let it not be difficult, let it be good. "This issue could have been solved 13 years ago, but the possibilities were looked at to see if this could happen in Syria or that in Iraq."

"Diyarbakır and the region will reach the economic position they deserve"

Explaining that everyone in Türkiye has the opportunity to advance their position through politics and dialogue, Fidan stated that a completely different ground opens up when political violence or terrorism is used instead.

Stating that a problem that should have been resolved a long time ago has come to an end in the "Brotherhood Process" put forward under the leadership of President Erdoğan, Fidan noted that from now on, any problem should be solved through dialogue under the umbrella of the Parliament.

Hakan Fidan stated that Diyarbakır has large agricultural land and said:

"There is an incredible economic potential in Diyarbakır. Not only here. As you know, historically, Diyarbakir is in a geographical situation that has very close relations with Iraq, Syria, and the cultural and economic basin here. Now, hopefully, at a point where there is political stability, peace, and tranquility not only in Türkiye, but also in Syria and Iraq, we will see that the economy here will rise incredibly, not only from the reforms and initiatives we have made in Türkiye, but also due to these regional policies and our cooperation there.

We consider that Diyarbakır and the region will reach the economic position they deserve, and hopefully our entire goal is in that direction. "It is now necessary to bring an order to our region that will eliminate not only the problem in Türkiye, but also the stability of Syria and Iraq under the name of a terror-free zone perspective, and eliminate political violence."

Stating that there is an incredible potential in the region, Fidan stated that he thinks that investors from both Türkiye and abroad will be very interested in this region.

“AK Party solved the infrastructure problems in the region from the moment it came to power”

Foreign Minister Fidan continued his speech as follows:

"For the last 40 years, this region has always been associated with war, blood and terrorism in Iraq, Syria and a certain part of Türkiye. It is really difficult for an economy to come here, for investment to come, for economic development to occur. Despite this, the AK Party has solved the infrastructure problems in an incredible way since the moment it came to power. I always came here by plane. We also came here during my term as the head of the MİT, but there were other issues at that time. I was also going to other provinces of the region, but the last time I made such a comprehensive trip by land was 30 years ago.

After the last event in Ahlat, I said I would return by land, by driving myself, with my friends. From there, I drove around Lake Van to Muş, from Muş to Solhan, from Solhan to Bingöl, from Bingöl to Elazığ, from Elazığ to Malatya, stopping and looking everywhere. Because we are in cities, but what are the intercity roads, villages and districts like? This also needs to be seen on site. The situation now is incredibly different from the situation 25 years ago. There are double roads, we do not see mud brick houses anymore. The condition of the houses, roads and infrastructure, which are indicators of economic development... When we look at Diyarbakır from the air, the development of that urbanism, the new Diyarbakır, new settlements, the same way we see all these in Muş, Elazığ, Bingöl, Solhan, that is, Ahlat... May God bless those who did it.

When there is peace in Syria, I mean all of Syria, when there is peace in all of Iraq, all peoples and states in the region will continue their path in peace, tranquility and development. We need this."

“We are just at the beginning of what we will do”

Referring to the importance of Silvan Dam, Fidan completed his speech as follows:

"With the completion of our dam with its outbuildings and surrounding tunnels, and the completion of the additional facilities of the Dicle Dam and Kralkızı Dam, an additional area of approximately 4 million decares will be irrigated better, not from scratch, and the product will increase by 2-2.5 times. Starting from 2028-2029, there will be an additional income of several billion dollars in economic income, centered on agriculture, but more importantly, now we are facing this Russia-Ukraine War." When you look at it, something has emerged that no one has noticed until now due to the interruption of maritime traffic in the Black Sea. There is an incredible increase in food prices. Not only the price, but also the situation has reached a level that threatens food security in some places. When the Silvan Dam, Dicle Dam and Kralkızı Dam are completed with all their outbuildings, additional facilities, tunnels and irrigation facilities. We evaluate that it will make an incredible contribution to food security and will take Türkiye to a very high level in terms of food security. May God bless those who contributed.

We are at the very beginning of what we will do regarding Diyarbakır and Türkiye. Hopefully, as long as our President is in charge, our services in this regard will continue without interruption. Hopefully, this terror issue that hangs over us like a dark cloud will disappear. I really see that this project will show a performance that is many times higher than the current development and economic situation, as soon as we return to an environment where political violence is off the agenda and everything is resolved by talking and agreeing in a civilized manner. We have many, many good days ahead of us. I believe this wholeheartedly."

Minister Fidan then planted saplings in front of the party building.