In Istanbul on May 30, 2015, in a public meeting celebrating the 562nd anniversary of the fall of Constantinople, Erdogan, sounded more like an Ottoman sultan than the leader of a NATO member nation.
He praised "hoisting the flag of Islam in Jerusalem again" and "stamping the seal of Islam on Al-Aqsa Mosque." According to some media outlets, two million people attended the event and cheered him.
"What is the conquest?" Erdogan asked his audience.
"The conquest is Hijrah [expansion of Islam through emigration, following the example of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, and his followers from Mecca to Medina]. The conquest is Mecca. It is to cleanse the Kaaba, the house of Allah on earth, of all the icons. The conquest is Jerusalem. It is when the prophet Omar stamped the seal of Islam on Al-Aqsa Mosque, our first Qibla [the direction to face when a Muslim prays during the five times daily prayers] while respecting all faiths including [those of] Christians and Jews.
"The conquest is Al-Andalus [Muslim Spain]. It is to build the most beautiful architecture, literature and culture of the world such as in Córdoba and Granada.
"The conquest is Samarkand [a city in present-day Uzbekistan and once a capital of the ancient Sogdian civilization whose main religion was Zoroastrianism.]
"The conquest is Bukhara [also in present-day Uzbekistan. It was a diverse city with Zoroastrian, Buddhist, Jewish and Nestorian Christian communities]. It is to establish one of the greatest civilizations of history in the steppes of Central Asia.
"The conquest is Salah al-Din al-Ayubbi [Saladin, who in 1187 invaded Jerusalem]. It is to hoist the flag of Islam in Jerusalem again.
"The conquest is Alp Arslan [the second Sultan of the medieval Muslim Seljuk Empire, who conquered Anatolia]."
"The conquest is to open the doors of Anatolia up to Vienna for this blessed nation. The conquest is Osman Ghazi [the first Ottoman Sultan]. It is to make the sycamore [the Ottoman Empire] meet with the ground that would cover three continents and seven climates through the enlightenment inspired by Sheikh Edebali who said, 'Make the human live so that the state can live'.
"The conquest is preparation. The conquest is when the Sultan Murad II abdicated the throne to his 12-year-old son, Mehmed II. And of course, the conquest is the Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. It is, at age 21, to embrace Istanbul, the most favorite city of the world, after destroying the millennial Byzantium.
"Mehmed the Conqueror conquered Istanbul in 1453. But the conquests always continued before and after that. They continued with Sultan Selim I the Grim, Sultan Suleiman the Lawgiver, Sultan Murad IV, and Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
"The conquest is to have the courage, tenacity and sagacity to defy the entire world even at the hardest times.
"The conquest is 1994 [when Erdogan was elected mayor of Istanbul]. It is to serve Istanbul and the legacy of the Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. The conquest is to make Turkey stand up on its feet again."
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7948/turkey-erdogan-eu
Πάει τόχασε εντελώς ο Ερντογάνης.
