Turkey is face-to-face with a millennium-old showdown. Our country is under the threat of those who want to avenge the conquest of Istanbul, those who want to avenge Manzikert – which paved the way to the conquest of Anatolia – those who want to avenge the resilience aimed at the Crusader invasion in Anatolia, those who want to take revenge because we have been leading the Muslim world and shaping history and the region for centuries.

It is under the threat of those who want to take revenge from those who gave rise to the resistance of Anatolia post-World War I and set an example to the whole region, those striving to pull together the region a century later, and those who prevented the takeover of Istanbul on July 15, 2016, with incredible resistance.

Our nation, which they tried to exclude from history a century ago, recovered after its century-long patience, and started the period of ascension once again. Right at this point, efforts are made to exclude it from history and stop it again through inside operations, sieges from outside, the mobilization of terrorist organizations, and the attempt to build a multinational front within.

It is being taken under economic pressure, political pressure, with its efforts to protect itself in the defense field being sabotaged. The Gezi Park events were used to demand the cancellation of major projects. July 15 was used to demand complete submission.

A hundreds-of-kilometers-long anti-Turkey front has been built in the north of Syria. Military bases have been established at our entire southern gate, from the Iranian border to the Mediterranean, with ammunition buildups big enough for armies. The military buildup in the East Mediterranean is like no other anywhere else in the world.

Those who closed off the southern gateways on the ground are trying to close it off from the sea too. The Aegean Sea suddenly became active. The West, as well as Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) turned their focus towards the islands. Military drills are being conducted, plans to destroy the Turkish fleet are being discussed, the islands are being turned into missile bases.

A siege from the sea at the western gateway is also clearly in the open. As if this was not enough, Greek territory, the edge of our border is being turned into military bases. After Alexandropoulos, the U.S., Israel and Europe are now building up in Bulgaria and Romania.

Is nobody curious? Does nobody ask, “What is this siege from the Iranian border through the Mediterranean and Aegean to the Black Sea about?”

Is all this military buildup for Iran? For Russia? For China? Of course not, it is not for any of them. They are all for Turkey.

They want to put an end to the nationalization endeavor in the defense industry. They are saying do not build tanks, cannons, missiles, ships, helicopters, local software. Just as they opposed the presidential system and the Istanbul airport, they are recklessly opposing everything that is going to help Turkey recover.

Those who keep saying, “The U.S. will apply sanctions if you buy the S-400. Furthermore, you are going to face NATO sanctions,” what are they threatening Turkey with?

Another July 15? An attack from the ground? An attack from the sea? A new terror wave? Economic terrorism?

For what purpose were those military bases and fronts established? What is the meaning of, “Turkey is going to face very real results”? Are the U.S., Israel, NATO, and certain countries in the region going to strike Turkey together? What do these statements mean?

No country can make such a threat to Turkey. No country can make Turkey give up on establishing its own air defense force. No country can re-establish the military tutelage and doom Turkey to dependency in the field of defense.

All these discourses, attitudes and preparations lead to a single outcome: Those sieging Turkey are definitely planning something.

The blackmail, “Do not dare buy the S-400” is also aimed at leaving Turkey defenseless right when they are going to implement this plan. What, are you going to bomb Istanbul? Where are those who bombed the people’s parliament on July 15 planning to bomb now?

We have to see the approaching storm. As the U.S. and its allies are threatening Iran, an intervention against Turkey in the Aegean, East Mediterranean and northern Syria is at stake.

This is why Turkey had made big strides against the multinational front trying to siege it with the Euphrates Shield and the Afrin operations. It closed off the Mediterranean gates of the Turkey front formed in northern Syria.

Therefore, Turkey is now also sealing the sprawling front on the Eastern gateway through “Operation Claw.” It is taking the second powerful step to break the big siege that is led by terrorist organizations, regional countries such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the U.S. and Israel, as well as almost all the countries in the NATO alliance, and which they want to expand to span the Iranian border all the way to the Mediterranean.

However, the real war, the real struggle will be to neutralize that multinational front, whose Eastern and Western gateways were sealed in northern Syria.

All the closed files of our history are in front of us. Both their cases and ours. All the closed fronts of our region are on our table. Both on their table and ours.

As the region is being rebuilt a century later, whose region design are we going to accept? If we accept, if we surrender and give up, we are going to lose another century in a country they deem proper for us, in a region whose borders they redetermine, and perhaps be divided into city states.

Hence, no topic in Turkey is local or limited to Turkey. They are all part of a multinational showdown. In this country, even the Istanbul municipal elections are part of this showdown. Those who said, “oppression began in 1453” are trying to avenge both Manzikert and the conquest of Istanbul.

If they are at our borders, at our doors for this showdown, influencing our cities, infiltrating our foundations and religious movements, hitting our economy, attacking our values, trying every method to break the will that makes us a nation, our duty is to embrace the political legacy that made history in this region, that built this region, and to keep it alive and activate it.

Let there be no doubt, we were not the ones that started this showdown. They came and ruined the region. They came to our borders and started saying, “We do not want to see you in this state, you must shrink.” They feared our return to our own legacy after a history that was frozen for a century. They want to cripple us with this fear before we can fully recover and get back up on our feet. This is the issue.

What does it mean to tell a country, “We are going to devastate your economy”? What does it mean to say, “Do not dare buy the S-400, or we will apply all sanctions on your country, we are giving you two weeks”?

Let us ask again: Why are they afraid of the S-400s? They want to leave Turkey defenseless in the sky. But why? Are they going to try something? What is all the rush and concern about? They are telling us to stop our developments concerning national defense systems. What is this? Are you going to continue to seek other disguises for the inside operations?