“The Manzikert paved the way for our political sovereignty in Anatolia”

 

Addressing the 952nd anniversary celebrations of the Manzikert Victory, President Erdoğan said: “That truth should never be forgotten that the Manzikert is not an ordinary war or an ordinary victory. We stepped into Anatolia not with the Manzikert; we had already been here way earlier. Yet, the Manzikert paved the way for our political sovereignty in Anatolia.”

“We are once again together here on these blessed lands, which witnessed one of the important milestones in our history, on the occasion of the 952nd anniversary of the Manzikert Victory. At the beginning of my speech, I remember with mercy and gratitude all our heroes, martyrs and veterans as well as our sultans of the hearts, who made Anatolia home to us,” President Erdoğan said.

“THE MANZIKERT IS NOT AN ORDINARY VICTORY”

President Erdoğan stated: “We hereby once again announce our determination to protect until the last drop of our blood these lands, entrusted to us by Sultan Alparslan and the soldiers in his army. That truth should never be forgotten that the Manzikert is not an ordinary war or an ordinary victory. We stepped into Anatolia not with the Manzikert; we had already been here way earlier. Yet, the Manzikert paved the way for our political sovereignty in Anatolia. The victory achieved here first dealt the heaviest-ever blow to the Crusades by enabling the foundation of the Anatolian Seljuk state and then conduced to the conquest of the Balkans and Istanbul through the victorious endeavors of the Ottomans, who raised the flag with the same conviction. In other words, Malazgirt is the elder brother of İznik, Konya, Bursa, Edirne and İstanbul. This place is the starting point of the chain of victories that took us all the way to the gates of Vienna.”