Türkiye won’t surrender to street terrorism: Erdoğan

ISTANBUL

Türkiye will not tolerate attempts to ruin the public order and “street terrorism,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed, urging the main opposition party to act responsibly and respect judicial processes.

“Türkiye will not surrender to street terrorism,” Erdoğan said in his address on the occasion of the celebration of Nevruz in Istanbul on March 21, referring to ongoing street protests after the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu over alleged terror and corruption links.

Erdoğan’s warning came as tens of thousands of people, including the members of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) members and university students rallied on Wednesday and Thursday to protest İmamoğlu’s detention.

President Erdoğan slammed CHP Chairman Özgür Özel who called on the people to continue the protests, saying “Remember, the street that the CHP Chairman called for is a dead-end street.”

Erdoğan said the government will never allow terrorizing the streets and ruining the public order in Türkiye and called on Özel “to act responsibly and not to provoke youngsters.”

“The CHP is about to lose its status as a legitimate party due to mounting corruption, problematic rhetoric and links to marginal groups,” Erdoğan stated.

Stressing that Nevruz means “the new day” and the beginning of spring, Erdoğan underlined that March 21 will also serve for further advancing efforts to create a terror-free Türkiye.

“We will open a very new era after saving our country from the terror trouble. We will get rid of this problem that had brought a huge burden on our economy,” Erdoğan said, stressing that they will not allow any group to delay or derail this process.

“[When we resolve this problem] we will increase the impact of civil politics by reinforcing the capacity of our democracy. We will also feel the proud of removing the biggest element in front of our vision of Century of Türkiye,” he said.

Erdoğan proposes to make Nevruz official holiday

President Erdoğan said he will introduce a bill to Parliament to make Nevruz “official holiday,” under the title of the Spring and Brotherhood Feast.

“We, as the People’s Alliance, are here. Let’s take this step together,” he told at the same meeting. He stressed that he, as the president, will introduce a bill to the Parliament to this end.

“I am of the opinion that time has come to jointly celebrate March 21 by the member countries of the Organization of the Turkic World. We will propose that Nevruz be celebrated as a common day of commemoration and celebration for the Turkish world during our summit in Hungary in May,” Erdoğan stated.

He also said jointly celebrating Nevruz will serve the unity and solidarity of the Turkic world.