Terror discussions include old habits that have influenced the spirit of our security and politics community. The struggle lasted so long that habits became addictions. We failed to stop and think over those we needed to turn and bid farewell.

Yet, the world changed, our region changed, and most of all, Türkiye changed. It changed, but it would be wrong to say it found its place too. The change is ongoing. What remains fixed is that we now have more of the “old.”

For example, we know and see that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)-type terrorism has been crushed/defeated in Türkiye, but we are unable to accept this fact. Exceptions such as the Nov. 13 İstiklal Avenue bombing in Istanbul create intense “flashbacks.” However, they are unable to produce traumas that can change the reality. Türkiye manifestly defeated this type of terrorism in a way never before seen in the world.

Even a 40-year-old citizen today cannot fully know, or rather feel those years. This country cried every day without exception during news hours. Coffins draped in the red Turkish flag carried away our soldiers, police, babies, partners, and children.

We spent enough money to build another Türkiye. Our economy, which never found peace, poured money for this cause. Surely money is not important but they slowed us down.

No other nation in the world could endure these images, which were repeated thousands of times. Those who suffered losses continue to cry even today at the sight of the fading pictures hanging behind the national flag and the holy Qur'an on the wall.

But we won. We defeated the traitors among us, their foreign partners, the “special terror species” that attacked us through unthinkable methods. We removed them from our border.

They are now looking at us from where they belong, away from our border!

We trained hundreds of people during the same years in the fields of security, intelligence, and diplomacy towards the fight against terrorism. Especially our troops and police. We trained experts like no other on the face of the earth, who devoted their life to this land from through their position as lieutenant to general.

We trained qualified/matchless academics and diplomats in this area. The corpus formed by Türkiye on terrorism is equivalent to that of 10 universities. Though it remains superficial, our media is the same. It often takes the right position.

Is there no exception or treachery? Plenty! But they never belonged to the national chronology, and some are forgotten, while others rot in the “relevant part” of history.

The events in 2015-2016 was their last chance. They first tried to revive terrorism, then they set loose the traitors.

Yet they still failed.

There is no such thing, and can be no such thing as “zero terrorism” anywhere in the world. It is a miracle that terrorism of the kind Türkiye experienced could be reduced to the current level. Anyone who has even browsed through the said academic corpus will come across the statement, “It cannot be fully eliminated, but can be neutralized.” We went above and beyond.

We are now setting our fighting methods correctly as well. We separated terrorism from its ethnic structure. While we made it a priority to ensure justice and welfare in our country, we were ruthless towards terrorists. We not only learned intelligence and psychology, we became competent. We acted with principle and stability.

In brief, we won! We were the only country that could do it, and so we did it.

We are now on a different threshold.

We are fighting the terrorism we threw off our border, and those behind them.

There are those we need to bid farewell.

We need to purify ourselves from the ideas (some partially successful, some failed) we developed or tested while dealing with the internal-external dynamics of terrorism throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and partly in the 2000s.

For example, the constantly repeated suggestions to explain/prove ourselves to the West – especially to the Western public. This includes lobbying activities. It is still repeated on national television as a solution. Yet this is a derivative of dependency on the West, and it was tried many times. As involved a fortune, "lobby lobbyists” started to sprout.

In other words, there is a lobby that gives the impression that terrorism continues in the country, though it has been ended, and another lobby saying let’s lobby for “outside forces” to end this.

Their suggestion is to make propaganda for the one controlling terrorism to end terrorism! Very smart.

There are academics today, who appear on television saying, “You have been buying weapons from the U.S. for 70 years. Just continue the same way,” and, “We are spending a lot of money on these bombs, and they are useless.” It is the cliche claim that we are fighting “mountains and rocks.” How is this the case today? We hit the target, and we see it with our “eyes.”

Unfortunately, they belong in a museum, but they exist.

Those who are still carrying the baggage from the 1990s are suggesting the methods used back then to neutralize terrorism today. Türkiye not only overcame terrorism, it also boosted the economic sharing and services provided to all regions across the country to surprising heights. In order to compare the cities and districts that were for decades notorious for terrorism, one would have had to see them back in those years. I was there, I know.

Back then, anti-terrorism efforts were against the terrorist organization. Yet today, they are against the U.S., Russia, and in fact, China. We discuss even Israel, Iran, Iraq, and Syria when necessary.

Back then it would be above us to confront them, because they had the power. The Turkish public today scolds the ruling government saying, “You are striking the PKK, but why are you not striking the U.S.” Those who claim “It’s not easy to strike the U.S.” are right, but at least now everyone knows “who is in charge.”

Everything aside, “Why can’t they hit you?” Because not only does Türkiye have a strong army, it also has strategic diplomacy.

As all the Western organizations/countries with which you have membership or alliance are pushing on Russia, how did you manage to remain outside it all and do a perfect job? Did you do it with your old baggage?

Of course not. The bag is new.