‘Traitors will not succeed,’ Turkish PM Erdoğan vows in Çanakkale

ÇANAKKALE/ANKARA

Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lays flowers at the tombs of soldiers who fought at the Battle of Gallipoli, March 18. AA photo

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan used his speech commemorating the hundreds of thousands of Turks who died during the battle of the Gallipoli to declare: “Traitors will not succeed.”

“Turkey will surrender neither to outside forces nor to domestic traitors,” Erdoğan said.

Stressing the “unity of the country,” he said the martyrs resting in Çanakkale “battled for a united Turkey and would prefer a united generation instead of one divided on ethnic or religious differences.”

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu delivered strong messages on the occasion of March 18 Martyrs’ Day and the 99th Anniversary of the Battle of Gallipoli / Çanakkale Victory.

“Making a sacrifice is also needed from today in the name of the values that we live for. As the staff that flies the red flag in every part of the world, we are ready for every kind of sacrifice and we are ready for every kind of test, including dying when needed,” Davutoğlu said in a speech delivered a ceremony at the Foreign Affairs War Grave in the Cebeci Cemetery.

He also recalled that dozens of Turkish diplomats have been murdered in attacks by the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA).