Türkiye has the second-largest army in NATO after the USA, the largest European army in NATO, and the second-largest army in Europe after Russia. Therefore, there is no possible future for Europe without Türkiye.

However, for many years, Europe has treated us as if we are not European. They canceled our visas, refused to let us express ourselves, and labeled every effort we made to defend our country as aggression. Now, they claim we are part of Europe—because they need us to defend it.

Just a quick reminder:the beginning of the Syrian Civil War, Türkiye requested to buy Patriot missile systems to protect its people, as rockets were constantly targeting Turkish cities, killing innocent civilians, and Russian jets were violating our airspace. Terrorist organizations were also openly attacking Türkiye. Yet, all of Europe said “NO,” except for Spain.

2.Since no one was willing to sell us Patriot missile systems, we had no choice but to buy Russian-made missile systems. As a result, we were expelled from the F-35 development program and were denied the F-35s we had already paid for—along with our money.

3.Thanks to the Russian-made missile systems we acquired, along with some reverse engineering, we developed an advanced UAV series capable of evading Russian defense systems. Ukraine has benefited greatly from this.

4.European countries, particularly Sweden and France, have openly funded and supplied military equipment to terrorist organizations targeting Türkiye.

Why should we defend Europe? When we needed Europe, they said no. Now it’s our turn to say NO!