Breaking news... President Erdoğan: We did not resort to provocations, we managed difficult processes successfully

President Erdoğan met with muhtars from all over Türkiye at the Mukhtars Meeting held at the Presidential Complex.

Starting his speech by congratulating all mukhtars on October 19, Mukhtars' Day, President Erdoğan thanked the mukhtars working in 81 provinces for their efforts on behalf of Türkiye and the Turkish nation. Erdoğan commemorated the deceased headmen with mercy and wished success to those on duty.

Expressing his satisfaction in hosting the headmen at the Social Complex, which he described as "the house of the nation", Erdoğan reminded that the first meeting of headmen was held on January 27, 2015, with 409 headmen from 17 provinces.

"WE CAME TOGETHER WITH MORE THAN 40 THOUSAND OUR HEADMEN"

President Erdoğan stated that they have been meeting with the muhtars regularly since then and made the following statements; So far, we have met with more than 40 thousand headmen from all provinces of Türkiye, sometimes here, sometimes in our exhibition hall. It's been a while since we discussed Türkiye's issues with you. It's been a while since we evaluated regional and global developments together. There have been days when we put our heads together in the most difficult times and opened a new path. It's been a day when we, as a nation, celebrated together the achievements that made us all happy. We had troubles for days. Day after day, we supported each other and gave hope. But for 12 years, we have always kept alive the bond between the headmen, the margraves of democracy, and the Presidency, its crowning glory.

We promised that we would make the Presidential Complex not only the center of the state but also the home of the nation. Thank God, we have remained true to this promise, just like our other promises to the nation. Today, once again, we embrace you, my muhtar brothers, and renew our covenant and our people. I pray that God increases our conversation, love and solidarity.

"THERE IS NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT THAN WALKING THE ROAD WITH YOU"

As the President of Türkiye, as a brother of yours who came to his position with the will and favor of the nation, just like you, I would like to express with all my heart that; There is nothing more important than walking the path with you and being a brother with you, and I always praise God for this. As long as my Lord gives me life, I will continue to be your companion. Saying "Those who run with love never get tired", we will run and work with love for all of Türkiye, for every individual of the 86 million, for all the oppressed and innocent who have turned their direction to our country.

Yes, this endless love is the love for Türkiye. It is the love of service to the nation and country. This love is the very struggle of the Republic of Türkiye for independence, freedom, development and justice. Hopefully, this love will remain in our hearts with our last breath and will be carried from hand to hand, from heart to heart, like a sacred trust. I pray that God will grant us all the ability to carry this love properly and pass it on to those after us in the best possible way. I would like to express my gratitude once again to you, my brothers and sisters who have devoted their hearts to the love of the great and powerful Türkiye, and I sincerely congratulate our Ministry of Internal Affairs for facilitating this beautiful meeting on this meaningful day.

"ALL DOORS OF THE STATE WERE OPENED TO OUR HEADMEN"

Our esteemed headmen, my esteemed brothers; Those who cannot understand the unshakable bond between you and us have slandered our meeting with the headmen, just as they do with every action of ours. They used such condescending expressions that they suddenly revealed the national will indigestion that they had accumulated for years in all its ugliness. Those who thought that they were humiliating us by saying "He cannot even be a muhtar" could not accept that all the doors of the state were opened to my mukhtar brothers, starting from the Presidency. Those who did not consider us worthy of the Prime Ministry and the Presidency, despite the favor of the nation, actually did not consider you worthy of these places either.

"THEY LEARNED TO RESPECT MY MUHTAR BROTHERS"

The reason for their discomfort was never due to us chatting here. The reason for their discomfort was that you came here as if you were coming to your own home. The reason for their discomfort was that our headmen were not elite enough for them, just like Aşık Veysel, who was not admitted to Ankara 90 years ago. Even though years have passed, some people's habit of looking down on Anatolian people has not changed. They could not accept that Türkiye had changed and that Türkiye was not the old Türkiye. So, what happened in the end? Even though they were not happy with it, they had to accept it. They learned to respect my muhtar brothers, who are elected by the direct vote of the citizens, which I describe as the base of the democracy pyramid. As the doors of the top of the state opened to our headmen, this atmosphere spread throughout Türkiye, from city centers to villages. Along with the Presidential Complex, the doors of public institutions and municipalities began to open wide for my muhtar brothers.

"THERE WAS A "MUHKAR OPENING" IN POLITICS"

This work is not just at the local level. Our meetings also had a transformative effect on Turkish politics. So to speak, there was a "headman initiative" in politics. Those who had previously taken the word muhtar lightly, began to imitate and follow us, sometimes out of necessity and sometimes out of embarrassment. Of course, we cannot measure how sincere they are, but we still see it as an important step in strengthening the national will in Türkiye and reconciling the opposition with society, for those who changed their ways until yesterday when they saw a headman, organizing a headman meeting, even if it is limited to election periods for now.

Our wish; This is a permanent change of mentality rather than a tactical move made from election to election. It is also a fact that imitation always magnifies the original. Whether forced or voluntary; As they imitate us, we continue to grow and become stronger, with God's permission. Here I would like to express this with all my sincerity: As a brother of yours who has believed throughout his political life of almost half a century that democracy starts at the local level, I am pleased that the institution of headman receives the respect it deserves in Turkish politics. I am also pleased to have contributed to this success.

"WE HEARED THE PROBLEMS AND SUGGESTIONS FROM OUR HEADMEN PERSONALLY"

Our Mukhtars' meeting made significant contributions not only to the regression of the top-down, oppressive and arrogant mentality of the single party, but also to the improvement of the personal rights and working conditions of our headmen. As you know, we have made no sacrifices so that you can provide better service to our citizens and fulfill your duty better. We personally listened to the problems and suggestions from our headmen, took our notes and took the necessary steps quickly.

"WE IMPLEMENTED MUHTAR INFORMATION SYSTEM MUBIS"

You know. But I would still like to briefly summarize the work we do for our headmen here. Now my dear brothers and sisters; With the circular we published, we ensured the establishment of the Mukhtars Affairs Department in metropolitan municipalities and the Mukhtars Directorate in other municipalities. We assigned a deputy governor in our governorships, a deputy general secretary in metropolitan municipalities, and a vice president in other local government units to take close care of our muhtars. We implemented the Mukhtar Information System MUBİS so that our mukhtars can submit their requests electronically.

We declared October 19 as Mukhtars' Day and started celebrating it throughout the country since 2016. The issue of salaries and payments was the second topic we focused on meticulously. Remember, the payment made to our headmen in 2002 was only 97 lira. As of 2026, we have increased this figure to over 28 thousand liras. As the state, we have been covering the SSI premiums of our headmen since 2017. We reduced the energy expenses of our headmen by converting the energy expenses previously determined through the commercial tariff into residential status. We ensured that all our headmen could benefit from the Provincial Service Union hotels and social facilities at the rates applied to ministry members. With the Presidential decision we published in 2022, we included the Turkish Mukhtars Confederation among associations working for the public good. We paved the way for our village and neighborhood headmen to have free access to museums and historical sites in their provinces.

On the other hand, we also accelerated the construction of new service buildings. We completed the construction of 100 local service buildings in 30 metropolitan cities in 2023. In 2024 and 2025, we carried out the construction and repair of 130 headman service buildings in 51 locations within the scope of the Special Provincial Administration. We opened Ankara Mukhtar's House, the first social recreation facility project for our headmen, on Mukhtar's Day 4 years ago. We have completed the Istanbul Çapa Mukhtar's House, which is a continuation of this project, and actually made it available to you. We also met the security camera needs of all service buildings in the places where our female headmen work, in line with the demands. We made arrangements for the use of our headmen in disaster management and decision support systems with the Spatial Address Based Registration System. We have mobilized all our resources to serve our citizens in better conditions in almost every field, from gun licenses to tourism, from culture to energy. Hopefully we will continue to be with you from now on.

"THERE IS AN INCREASINGLY INCREASING CRISIS STORM EXPERIENCED IN OUR REGION"

Our esteemed headmen, my dear brothers and sisters; You see it too. There is a crisis storm in our region that is increasing in intensity. The Russia-Ukraine War, just to our north, will complete its 5th anniversary in a few months. Israel's attacks against Palestine continue unabated despite the signed agreements. Before the tension in our neighbor Iran was completely over, the fuse of a new conflict was lit, this time in Yemen. The attacks of the Houthis targeting our friend and brother Saudi Arabia have caused the tension in our region to escalate. Many of our Muslim brothers, including Umrah pilgrims, died in the attack on the airport in Riyadh. Hundreds of our brothers were injured.

We look at Lebanon, unfortunately the situation is not encouraging there either. Good news is coming from Syria, but Zionist Israel is doing its best to create confusion there, too. You know, as I say, "we are surrounded by a ring of fire"; This is exactly the situation we are in. In such a chaos and crisis environment, we are working day and night to ensure that no harm comes to Türkiye. Thank God, we have been successful in this so far. We kept our country away from the conflicts around us. We did not succumb to provocations, we did not fall into traps, we did not fall for provocations. We successfully managed all these difficult processes in a smart, patient and common sense manner.