They were going to turn the matter into a Kurdish issue, play to Kurdish nationalism, carry out intense public opinion efforts, provoke societal tensions, mobilize our country’s international ties in this direction, lead politics into a deadlock with the methods they have been applying for years, activate the “Trojan horses” within the system and reach their aims as Turkey “yelled and shouted.”

They based their calculations on this. They adjusted all their calculations on the theory that, “Turkey cannot do anything despite the U.S.” According to them, European and U.S. media alone would be enough to achieve this. They tried it too. Even the Arab/Iranian media supported them in this regard.

Harsh statements came daily from the U.S. Old discourses from EU countries were repeated. Some Arab countries suddenly stood up against Turkey with U.S. and Israel’s instruction. There were even countries among them that were facing the threat of division within the context of Western projects.

Their plans did not work, they were not going to work and could not work. Together with the U.S. and Europe, some countries in the region tied all their plans to a terrorist organization. This was as stupid as it was shameful.

The U.S. and Europe’s inability to produce any theories aimed at the region other than its PKK theories is exhaustion. Having all their policies aimed at the region dependent on a terrorist organization is their greatest desperation since World War I. They no longer have partners other than the PKK (openly) and Daesh (covertly).

They undermined Turkey’s great transformation. They belittled the nature of the fight it has been putting up both internally and externally. They failed to grasp the great historic change, this country entering its rising period once again. They will not be able to grasp it, understand it; they are not going to be able to determine a stance against Turkey.

They said, “It’s only Turkey, we will somehow find a way to distract it and to bring it into line.” They thought, “We will threaten it, blackmail it, cause internal chaos, but we will stop it, silence it one way or another.”

They are going to continue to be surprised even more from now on. They are going to be shocked. Their plan to siege the country from the outside is about to go down the drain. Not only Afrin and Manbij, but the entire area spanning the Mediterranean and the Iranian border will be completely cleared of terrorist apparatuses; plans for any sort of foreign garrison will be negated.

All map plans will be trashed. That entire zone is going to be turned into a “Turkey shield” against those who turned Turkey’s entire southern gate, border into a front.

Do not think that this is a meagre fight against terrorism. Do not think that Turkey’s determination is temporary, that the issue is going to be over in Afrin, that this is a conjunctural attitude. This is Turkey’s fight for existence. It is its fight to protect its borders, its integrity. This is the declaration that the era of promoting threats on the inside and receiving them on the inside is over.

No threat will be received at the zero point of our border or inside the country ever again. Regardless of its origin, regardless of the country or piece of land, that is where the defense will be set up. Regardless of the terrorist organization or country, terrorism or the force behind it will receive a determined and harsh response.

From now on, this is how Turkey will be. From now on, no alliance relationship, no rapport or partnership will be above the guarantee of Turkey’s future. No Western theory, none of their plans aimed at the region will find the opportunity to stop, prevent Turkey or draw it into a trap. From now on, Turkey will take action based on its historical depth, its geographical experience and millennium-old political gene.

Yesterday, after a 24-hour intervention, the Afrin township of Bülbül was cleared of terrorist apparatuses and the West’s area of influence. One after the other, all villages, towns and cities will be cleared in the same way. After Afrin, the same will happen in Manbij, and after Manbij, in the east of the Euphrates. Forget the PKK, even the U.S. will not be able to stop Turkey in that region.

A while later, the moment it understands it cannot do it, it will withdraw on its own; it will have to withdraw. Because the north is over for the U.S. They have withdrawn toward the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-Saudi Arabia line, in other words, to the south, in other words, to the West. The U.S. and Israel’s main motivation will be the Iran-Saudi Arabia provocation. Hence, the Syrian war will end, one way or another, the PKK and the forces behind it will leave the north of Syria.

The Afrin operation is not being conducted against terrorism and the forces behind it alone. It is also being conducted against the native terrorist apparatuses, cryptos, the inside partners of certain circles in Turkey. There is a struggle being given to shape the “Turkey axis,” to unite the game-changing backbone, to form a homeland-axis resistance line and to accelerate the great march.

The circles that gain prominence with the instruction of certain circles, groups that hide secret enmities behind innocent words in every period Turkey defends itself must capture your notice. Those who publish memorandums one after the other, who find a gap and try to raise their voice must draw your attention. But they are no longer as strong as they used to be. They are no longer able to openly show enmity toward Turkey.

Because the operation that started with Afrin is not only against terrorism, but is also against intellectual terrorism. A national struggle is being given against intellectual terrorism as well; the aim is not only to end the U.S., Israel and some European countries’ policies to strike Turkey with terrorism, to bring it to line and to discipline it.

It is not limited to destroy the U.S.’s plans to include Turkey on the map of divided countries – through its partnership with terrorist organizations. It is this country’s efforts to activate its millennium-old political tradition, to break the chain of interventions that have been ongoing for a century and to reverse that sinister wind. Afrin is not the sole address for this fight; Turkey is also included.

There were those who took action during the Gezi Park incidents upon instruction from German intelligence, those who applied Israeli intelligence’s instructions in the Feb. 28 intervention, those who fulfilled the orders of U.S. and Israeli intelligence on Dec. 17 and Dec. 25, 2013 and on July 15, 2016. Take note: even today orders and instructions are being given to many on the inside from the outside. But they are not making a sound, they can’t. They cannot when the people are so unified.

The era of intellectual pride, intellectual terrorism is over: Those circles whose only capital is anti-Turkey sentiment, that have no claim to these lands, that act according to their masters’ instructions, that belittle the country, that question the government, undermine values and are enemies of history; their reign is collapsing.

As Turkey continues to fight the PKK, intellectual terrorism is also being defeated. The era of attacking Turkey in intellectual circles or nongovernmental organizations to impress certain groups is coming to an end. The era of promoting Turkey’s flaws and weaknesses in politics to gain power from the outside is also coming to an end.

The more the foreign threats are fought, the more those carrying out operations on the inside are diminishing. Both those on the inside and the outside will understand the kind of change we experienced after July 15, how we clung on to our centuries-old political gene and the kind of fight we started for Anatolia and the region.

This is why the issue is not Afrin only. It is not a conjunctural fight against terrorism only. It is a country’s, a nation’s complete rise and becoming a star.

History has turned. The game-changer role is back on our nation’s shoulders. From now on, all developments, all attacks and all defenses will be within this context. It will be a part of the great showdown. But this rise cannot be stopped.

This new period that Turkey is in will be understood not only by terrorist organizations but also by the pro-Atlantic circles. Because there will be no return from this path. Because both our rise and collapse have changed the world. The new rising era will also change it. And for a long time too…