by Max Barry

Latest Forum Topics

Advertisement

Post

Region: Greater Middle East


July 6th, 2020

Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu: 'Korea, Sahuria, and Bosnia are our core main concerns.'

Busan

‎6 Temmuz 2020

Dışişleri Bakanı Mevlut Çavuşoğlu: 'Kore, Sahuristan, ve Bosna bizim ana meselemizdir.'

BUSAN

Turkish Troops arrive in Busan / KBS

Mehmetçik in Korea after 67 years!

EAST ASIA– Thousands gathered in Busan to green the Turkish Armed Forces, including members of the Korean Government, and the Turkish Diplomatic Mission to Korea. The troops landed in Busan on the 67th anniversary of the final Turkish divisions arrival to Busan during the Korean War. Turkish and Korean forces are also set to take part in a joint military parade on the 25th of July, marking the 70th year anniversary when Turkey became the first nation to answer the UN's call to send troops to Korea. The periods President, Nihal Atsız, on the day Turkey answered the call to war addressed the nation via radio in which he said

'Yesterday, it was us who needed our Mehmetçiks survival, but today it is our brothers who need our Mehmetçiks for their survival. The call made thousands of years ago by Korea to the Göktürks for an alliance will be honored today, tomorrow, and until the end of time.'

Throughout the duration of the Korean War, President Nihal Atsız had deployed a total of 49,239 military personal to Korea. Even helping in establishing the Korean education system through the 'Ankara Schools'. However when the post World War economy began to cool down in the late 50s, Turkey once again had entered an era of neutrality. With the last Turkish troops leaving Korea in 1962. Since then around 60,000 Turks and Koreans have resettled in each others countries. This brotherhood between the Turkish and Korean people was best highlighted during the 99 Marmara Earthquake when Korea became the biggest donor of aid and personal to Turkey in a time of crisis. And later in the 2002 World Cup when Turkey played with the home field advantage due to the support of Korean fans for the Turkish Nationals. When the two nations faced off in the Third Place match for the 2002 World Cup the headline in both country read 'brotherhood'. The bond has continued into the new generation as well between the two people, with polls as recent as 2018 suggesting that Turks view Korea as Turkey's closest ally. Only second to Azerbaijan.

Over the last 30 years the two nations have continued to expand cooperation across all sectors, especially in joint Turkish-Korean businesses. Today Korea is the only the only non-Turkic Council member state whose citizens may apply for 'Blue Cards' also known as Citizenship Lite, which gives those who are granted Blue Cards all the benefits of citizenship with the exception of voting. Meanwhile Seoul has implemented a similar policy for Turkish citizens. President Meral Akşener and Empress Geunhye most recently expanded Turkey and Korea's military partnership to include 25,000 Turkish Military Personal being stationed in Korea, mostly made up of conscripts. The hope of both nations is to raise a new generation of soldiers trained with the best of the Turkish and Korean Armed Forces.


President Akşener signals an end of Turkish Neutrality

İYİ Parti convention, 2017 / İYİ Parti Medya

TURKEY – Since the 1993 elections Turkey has held a strict policy of neutrality toward its neighbors, and the world around it as the 2023 Project began to pick up steam. The joint effort by the state and populace to create a Turkish revival had finally been realized, just as Turkey's liberalization had began to see its benefits just 20 years after implantation. It was only in the late 2000s that Turkey began to move away from neutrality, this was due to the MHPs rise to prominence in the mid 2000s. With the MHP claiming victory in 2011, Akşener at the time would become the second female Prime Minister of Turkey, having previously held the post as Speaker from 1999-2010. Bahçeli though would become President, someone who saw neutrality as Turkey's key to success, while Akşener would push for increased Turkish involvement across the world. Along with infighting in the MHP between different factions, this division would lead to the eventual split of the MHP into the ÖC (Ötüken Front) and the İYİ Parti (Good Party). Though the sudden split of the MHP would lead to snap elections, the İYİ Parti would claim victory, with the ÖC falling below the 15% threshold required to enter the Assembly. Bahçeli would retire from politics a day after the election, and has yet to appear in the public eye.

Meral Akşener's election as President in 2017 made her first female President in the Republic's history, and since then Turkey's neutrality has slowly eroded. The deployment of Turkish troops to Korea has been described by many as the official end of Turkish neutrality, and the beginning of a new era in the Republic's history. This was highlighted on her May 19th Speech when President Akşener reassured the nation at the face of the Covid-19 Crisis, just a month before the vaccine would be available. Delivering a version of the Eternal Presidents 1933 address to the nation that reassured the nation on the 10th anniversary of the Republic that our future was brighter than ever.

    "The Turkish Nation! My citizens,

    97 years ago our fight for freedom and Independence began an undying fire of the Turkish people, through all hardships we triumphed. This
    is the greatest achievement the Republic. May it be celebrated for each of us. This is our moment, as a member of the great Turkish nation, I feel the deepest joy and excitement for what we have done up to this day. We have accomplished many and great tasks in a short time. The greatest of these is the Turkish Republic, the basis of which is the Turkish vallancy and the great Turkish culture. The undying spirit of our people against all evil. We owe this achievement to the cooperative progress of the Turkish nation and
    its valuable army. However, we can never consider what we have achieved to be sufficient, because we must, and are determined to, accomplish even more and greater tasks. We have raised our country to the level of the most prosperous and civilized nations of the world. We have endow our nation with the broadest means and sources of welfare. We have risen our national culture above the contemporary level of civilization. Thus, we should judge the measure of time not according to the lax mentality of past centuries, but in terms of the concepts of speed and movement of our century. Compared to the past, we will always work harder. We shall perform greater tasks in a shorter time. I have no doubt that we shall succeed in this, because the Turkish nation is of excellent character. The Turkish nation is intelligent, because the Turkish nation is capable of overcoming difficulties of national unity, and because it holds the torch of positive sciences. These are the very truths that led us to the where we are today. I must make it clear with due emphasis, that a historical quality of the Turkish nation, which is an exalted human community, is its love for fine arts and progress in them. This is why our national ideal is to constantly foster and promote, with all means and measures, our nation's excellent character, its tireless industriousness, intelligence, devotion to science, love for fine arts and sense of national unity. This ideal, which very well suits the Turkish nation, will enable it to succeed in performing the civilized task falling on it in securing true peace for all mankind. The Great Turkish Nation, we have followed in the footsteps of our Eternal President for
    the last 82 years. As he once said himself, there are two Mustafa Kemal Atatürks,
    one the flesh and blood that stood before us. The other, one that has lasted beyond his lifetime.
    The cornerstone of our civilization. The teacher of the very ideals and principles that we dream to live up to.

    O great Atatürk,

    I express my heartfelt wish that you will celebrate, after each decade
    elapsing into eternity, this great national day, in greater honor,
    happiness, peace and prosperity.

    How happy is the one who says "I am a Turk.""

Read dispatch

Afsharid Persia, Union of Israel, The Australis Republic, Greater indonesia republic, and 8 othersThe french-state, Central American Alliance, Peoples union of bengal, Pulai, Al ghaliboun, The grecian republic, The american-states, and El estado mexicano

ContextReport