The operation that started with Afrin and is required to continue to Manbij and the east of the Euphrates is self-defense for Turkey. It is a homeland defense and a national struggle.

If, after losing all the fronts following World War I, we fought a War of Independence to keep Anatolia, today, we are fighting another war of independence to keep Anatolia. Because that fight meant saving Anatolia; this fight means defending, protecting Anatolia.

International law, custom, morals, a country’s reflex to protect itself, are all in the frame of legitimacy in this operation. The reactions from the U.S., from European countries and as a matter of fact, from Iran, are ill-intentioned and immoral.

All of the countries showing reaction have cross-border operations, and most of them are occupying countries and breaking out civil wars. In such an atmosphere, the covert attempts by countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or Saudi Arabia to support the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) are equally as immoral.

We saw the example of the U.S. hitting Turkey with a terrorist organization on July 15, 2016. It is repeating this a second time in northern Syria. It is attacking Turkey once again through a terrorist organization. How is it that them doing this openly and determinedly, despite all warnings is not immoral or illegal, but Turkey’s efforts to defend itself causes concern? This is the perfect example of shamelessness, a complete effort to confuse minds.

Turkey has been making history on these lands for a millennium by drawing its own path – and it is not a country that will fight for its own defense by obtaining approval from others. Turkey is not a country that will cower, get scared, kneel or beg through the PKK, Daesh or another terrorist organization that they armed. For centuries now, we never begged anyone even once; we have no such tradition.

We are not a nation that gives an existence struggle through kneeling or bowing down in the face of difficulties. Our political genetics, political mind, social awareness does not suit this. Before and after World War I, millions of people from the Ottoman region lost their lives, millions of civilians were murdered, but we still didn’t cry or complain.

We will not do this again. We will not do it, regardless of who it is. We will not do it even if it is the U.S. We are going to uphold our country, homeland, nation, and political march that has been maintained since the Seljuks, without anybody’s approval, without going under the protection of any country or seeking refuge in their understanding.

Because no country can overlook a threat growing right beside it. Especially when it is clear that the threat is targeting that country. When it is obvious that in the next step, it will strike that country. When it is obvious that its main objective is to open the “Turkey front.” When it is obvious that the U.S., a NATO ally that is allegedly “strategic partners” with Turkey, is preparing to strike Turkey through a terrorist organization. What kind of enmity is this that NATO partners, the U.S. in particular, which are obliged to protect our country’s borders, shipped thousands of trucks of weapons to this organization?

We are not going to allow you to open that front.

Their “fight against Daesh” lies long failed. Daesh and the PKK-affiliated Democratic Union Party (PYD) act together. Their bosses are the U.S. and Israel. Yet, there is no Daesh there; they moved them elsewhere; they sent them to new fronts to break out civil wars in other countries. So, who are these weapons against?

They are against Turkey, we know. They are preparing to strike this country, to bring the war into Anatolia, we know. Are we such a foolish nation, such a helpless state? Never. Do we not know with which mind we came from the Seljuks to the Ottomans, from there to the Republic of Turkey?

Today, all of the countries that have taken action against Turkey’s Afrin/Manbij operations, its efforts to cleanse this region from terror organizations, are all supporting terrorist organizations. Whether it be a country in the region, or the U.S. or European countries, they are all aiming to diminish Turkey. They exposed themselves by taking action as soon as the operation started. They lined up behind an organization instead of standing by Turkey’s side; they shamelessly revealed their support of terror.

So, what is going to happen?

Are we going to keep silent or stop, thinking, “They are not happy with us”? Are we going to allow the war to just move in through our borders, thinking, “They are supporting the PKK”? Are we going to protect our region, our nation to the extent that they allow? In other words, are we going to look at the “opportunist countries” around us and cower?

We will never do this. We cannot do it; if we do, we will be destroyed. Force will foil the game. They are going to be left alone in their shame. Whenever they mention “fighting terrorism,” we are going to bring up what they did. After seeing the July 15 attack, we understood the kind of alliance front that was against us. The same alliance was in Çanakkale. They were also in the War of Independence. The countries behind the July 15 coup attempt are now hiding behind the PKK and striking Turkey; they are trying to push it into a corner, to frighten it and to stop it.

No such thing will ever happen again. The era of “What will the U.S. say,” “What will the EU say” is over. Let us leave the U.S. to deal with its own system conflicts, internal power fights and President Donald Trump’s mental health records. Let us leave certain EU members to deal with their own problems and dilemmas. We are going to go about our own business.

We are going to protect our country, our homeland, our region and future with our own hands. We will not be discouraged or frightened by these threats made through terrorist organizations, which have each become a foreign threat, and a tool of foreign intervention.

The map they planned from the Mediterranean to the Iranian border will fail. It was cracked with the Euphrates Shield operation and the west wing is being sealed with the Afrin-Manbij operation. The map that is set to strike four countries at once in the east of the Euphrates through new terror organizations is also going to fail. We will not be entrusting our hundreds-of-kilometers-long south border to any organization or foreign force.

This is a “Relentless Resistance.” This is also protecting Syria’s territorial integrity. This is preventing greater threats and wars planned for the future.

Turkey is determined. It has seen both the threat and plan and has taken position and started its fight accordingly. Our nation is determined; they are supporting the operation with enthusiasm. Because this nation is has witnessed firsthand the sufferings of the last century. It is a nation that knows what to do when the time comes, and has shown how self-sacrificing it can be.

Political decisions, social support and the power of this state are strong enough to repel the threat in question. That there is a similar destruction plan for the “opportunist countries” that act like they don’t understand what Turkey wants to do will soon be revealed.

It is now time to mobilize. It is time to unite along to “Turkey axis.” It is time to continue the march with a history-changing will and awareness, disregarding what the countries covertly and openly supporting terrorism say and their tactics that they use to distract Turkey.

Backtracking will have grave consequences, and this intervention can never be done again. This must be known. Because negating this zone is shaping the future map of the region. We need to put our own map, the region’s unification map on the table against their divided country maps.

Our knees should not shake. This is a national defense against foreign intervention. And we know very well how to do this.