This country has no choice other than being itself, other than focusing on the “Turkey axis.” While defending the homeland, while the division in the region is at our country’s borders, while everybody’s intention is clear, while we are trying to establish our defense in the depths of the region, nobody has the luxury to be pro-America, pro-EU, pro-Russia, pro-Iran or pro-Saudi Arabia.

These are all Cold War era terms. The criteria for being on a “side” have changed. The East-West philosophical, ideological differentiations no longer have any meaning. There is no longer any such thing as the West’s democracy, the East’s autocracy. The West has surrendered to autocracy and belligerence in a worse way than the East. The internal standoff in the U.S., the return in EU countries to state autocracy, policies on democracy and values being pushed back, European countries pulling away from each other and turning to new pursuits are signs of this.

The Atlantic alliance, the Russia-China axis, strategic blindness

While both the East and West are focused on the quest for power, while every country is focused on their own search of centralized power, on defense shields, while they have brought their historic theory claims to the present, while a dizzying global showdown is rapidly spreading, while it is still unclear which states or nations are going to be the ones to shape the world’s future, while alliances and enmities are constantly changing, our focusing Turkey on a single area, steering it toward a single direction, focusing solely on a pro-Atlantic or solely Russia-China axis would be a strategic blindness spreading to the 21st century that will make us pay a price.

Similarly, appearing extremely pragmatic will also create distrust. Being in one position one day and in another on another day will leave us in a difficult situation at least in fundamental matters. Continuing relations with the East and the West is something else, acting with the impact of waves controlled internally and externally is something else.

Turkey is required to stand on a strong, solid ground, have fixed measures and criteria amid the power confusion and showdown around the world and make political maneuvers within the context of these principles.

Turkey has largely achieved this stance, shaped its national state mind and clarified its perception of itself and the region. This ground needs to be further solidified. The political genetic spanning the Seljuks and the Republic is the ground for this. It is this base that needs to determine our perception of ourselves and of the region.

From now on, we can no longer be – and we should no longer be – a country that “seeks security within the area of initiative of another power alliance.” If we are, the 21st century will not be ours. Yet, we have very serious historic, regional claims and theories. We also have the strength and intelligence to largely realize these theories. We have faith in this country, its history and social insight. When we take a look back, we see that we have a millennium-long history-making role and wealth in this region alone.

We have been – and still are – under heavy attacks both internally and externally, especially during the last five years, for discovering these truths and for forming our own road map in this direction. But we need to know that these attacks will happen. We need to know that unless we resist these attacks, unless we overcome them, we cannot shape this century and cannot start a new historic rise.

Planning a future with those who attack us, with the bosses behind the attacks, will be our greatest mistake that will affect this century. Being defeated by the agendas of those who are able to activate their areas of influence on the inside after seeing all this will be disappointment.

We should have no pursuit other than the “Turkey axis.” All kinds of relations, rapport or distance should be established within this context. A regional identity, regional language, regional rise other than Turkey’s territorial integrity and it gaining power will strengthen us. We cannot shape a future by being isolated from the region; this is not possible.

They are trying to provoke the Arab world against us because they know this. They first told them “Iran is a threat,” now they are processing the “Turkey threat” theory in Arab capitals. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt seem to have accepted the tender. These countries are trying to erect thick walls between Turkey and the Arab world. If the U.S. and Israel are the architects of the terror zone in northern Syria, these countries are its main sponsors. But why? Because a new separation, a new conflict plan that will be effective for decades is being prepared.

“Ottoman” theories are being processed with plans to isolate Turkey in the works. Who is doing it? Whoever soured our ties with the Arabs in our region a century ago. Now, they are on the ground again; they are going the same thing. They are spreading anti-Turkey sentiment equipped with the U.K. mind, U.S. power and Israeli ambition in the Arab streets. The bosses are the same countries; the powers, actors are the grandchildren of the actors a century ago. Nobody left the front for a century; they are joining at the same position.

The biggest fight in the region is the Turkey battle. The main reason for all wars is to push Turkey into a tight corner, to prevent it from discovering and using its history-changing power and to thwart it from shaping itself and the region. We now know that the Syria war was started to “open the Turkey front.”

The U.S., Israel and the U.K. and France venturing to build a terror zone in northern Syria, closing all of Turkey’s southern gates is a major mapping effort aimed at the entire 21st century. They want to build this entire zone with the support of certain Arab regimes, and it is being prepared with the presupposition of “stopping Turkey.”

This plan is horrific for us. This is why the Afrin intervention is an extraordinary geopolitical intervention. But it must continue. The Mediterranean gate of the zone is closed, but if we cannot continue, that gate will be opened again. Turkey will not be safe until this entire zone is turned into a “defense shield.”

As they know this, they are trying to form a new corridor from farther south, to lead that corridor to the Mediterranean. They are trying to divide Syria right down the center, to build a barrier between Turkey and the region. They steer us toward the terrorist organizations, toward Bashar Assad and go about making greater plans – they are drawing a map of the future.

We need to be aware of that great plan. Looking only ahead of us will cause us to trip. While the issue is so big, we cannot sacrifice it to the strict political plans of certain people on the inside, to the intentions of “secret mappers,” to the secret partners of those who replaced the Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETÖ).

Today, Turkey has started the most serious rising period after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. At a time when global and regional power battles have gone out of control, Turkey is going to continue this with determined steps. This is why the battle is great. It will probably grow, but Turkey’s rise will continue.

The moment we stop at a time like this, is the moment we collapse, the moment we will be destroyed. Because all extraordinary periods are like this. You can never stop. You have no choice but to be determined and persevere. Giving support to this power, this march internally is not only a national but a historic and ancestral duty. It is the responsibility to continue the fight put up by our martyrs scattered all over the region.

The U.S., U.K. and France bombing areas under the control of the Damascus regime shouldn't make anyone happy. This has nothing to do with Syria, nothing to do with the humanitarian tragedy and nothing to do with Assad. The U.K.-Russia fight has moved to Syria. The U.K. is the one that has convinced the U.S. to launch the operation. They must have wanted to ridicule Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin in Syria. They must have attacked to challenge Russia’s power in the Eastern Mediterranean, to further settle in the region and to say, “This place is ours.”

How can we forget that the same powers were behind July 15, that they supported all terrorist organizations and that they are trying to siege Turkey from northern Syria?! If they didn’t do this in Syria, they would have had to do it in the Baltics. A new front was going to be opened; the world was going to be dragged into a bigger crisis. They just used the existing front. This is not our score to settle, it can’t be. We cannot appeal to this. We cannot shape relations with Russia or other countries based on this.

However, we saw how the “secret mappers” on the inside became hopeful when those three countries attacked Syria. We saw that the game to “use Assad as a pretext and take the region” is effective on the inside. We are a nation that has been harmed by every Western intervention for the last two centuries. There has never been a positive outcome or solution from any of their interventions.

The conservatives who have been supporting Turkey’s great turn in history in particular need to question themselves regarding this matter and refrain from focusing on certain goals and overlooking greater goals. These circles have an obligation to stand on the “Turkey axis,” to avoid being easy bait to multinational interventions. No other direction is legitimate.

Of course we are going to solve today’s problems, fights, struggles by learning our lesson from the past. But these problems are not problems that remain from the Cold War. They are very new, future-specific problems that have 21st-century characteristics. Hence, we require a very serious interpretation of the future. This is the first time the world’s power map is changing like this just a few centuries later. Both world wars were the West’s internal power battle. This time, a world that can fight the West has emerged; it is destroying that dominance for the first time. Therefore, there is no sense in repeating the same things or suggesting a solution.

The period is so dizzying, the storm is so strong that only those who are smart will remain standing. Only those who understand today well, those who interpret the future are going to make history. Those who repeat the same things, who give their own piece of mind will have trouble trying to say a few useful things today as to what the aim of the massive fleet in the Eastern Mediterranean is.

They are not going to be able to understand the kind of front-line that is being shaped from the Baltics to Eastern Europe, from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, and how this line sharpened from South Asia to Korea.

The time to talk with moderate ideas, comfortable statements is over. There is no longer a Syria war. Even the Afrin operation has the power to impact regional and global projects. While Turkey is focused on the showdown of centuries, the steps we are going to take are going to be massively effective.

Everybody is required to clearly determine their position and to give heed to nothing other than that great fight. This is what requires urgency. The entire world is on alert. A global state of emergency is in question. We are the same. Unite, clench your fists and step on solid ground.