Hagia Sophia: Those who hold back will occupy no place in history. Western monopoly over Turkey has been shattered. Power has shifted direction. Erdoğan’s signature is that of Alparslan’s, Sultan Mehmed’s; it belongs to the same political gene. A showdown is underway between the centuries-old political legacy and the pro-tutelage wing. They’re just as disturbed as Athens. So, what’s next? We’ve just begun!

Great changes aren’t brought about with hesitation and fear but with determination and courage.

Grand statements and great claims are only made by those who shoot high.

Making history, guiding nations, laying the foundations of new establishments is in the hands of those who are able to influence history with their pen and power, those who are able to make and implement decisions that change the global power map.

We all know how brave men, strong and determined leaders who are aware of their country’s strength, depth, legacy, claims, plans, goals and emotions change history when they act with wisdom and courage.

History is filled with countless examples of this. Our political history is filled with such examples. These are not events that occur in history only. What we learnt from the pages of history and ameliorated, carried to the present are things we know we “can do.”

This is such an age in which everything is moving so fast, opportunities are increasing, the boundaries of the mind are being tested; hence, this age will not belong to those who hesitate.

It will not be the age of the hesitant, the fearful, those who make fine calculations, those who are afraid of their own shadow, those who are unable to foresee the future, and those who think with the mindset of the 20th century.

If Mehmed the Conqueror had hesitated, Istanbul would not have been conquered. Hagia Sophia would never have been a mosque.

Hesitation would have prevented the rise of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, Sultan Selim the Grim, Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, Sultan Abdulhamid. There would have been no great march from Central Asia to Anatolia and Europe; Anatolia would not have existed; we would not have been able to build a region.

Those who flinch will leave no mark on history. They have no history or a future. Nations that show hesitance have all be forgotten.

The secret to why history-making nations still exist after millennia lies in the knowledge for to rise from their ashes regardless of the world’s state.

Those suggesting to us today to think twice, to keep quiet, to submit, those striving within and outside to achieve this are trying to tell us, “surrender, disappear into the dusty pages of history, fade away.”

This is what Turkey is resisting against today. It is fighting to achieve the refraction of the mind, liberation, self-discovery, remembrance of its strength and claims through the Seljuk tradition, Ottoman tradition, and the Republic.

The decisions made and implemented under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s are the same as those made by Alparslan, Kılınçarslan, Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, Sultan Selim the Grim, those who flocked to Anatolia, altered the course of history and reshaped the region. They are the present-day continuation of that generation, that political gene, those states.

They are the 20th century version of the founding of the Republic and this vast history – like the Seljuks, like the Ottomans. It must not be forgotten that Anatolia was most Islamized during the Republic period. I do not aim to legitimize the tyranny, but looking at it from that political gene, I see they are all one another’s continuation.

This nation paid dearly for everything. Millions of our people were slaughtered on the way back from the Balkans, the Caucasus. We have martyrdoms, resistances, fights, mourning and tears in every corner, every inch of land in the region.

However, this nation never cried. It did not kneel, surrender, beg or mourn to the world even when it was on the verge of destruction. It simply showed patience. It buried its grief and waited, but it never abandoned its claims and resistance.

Most importantly, it never forgot.

This nation waited for the right time and now that time has arrived. It saw this, made calculations and took action. It made its calculations now independently but also looking at the world, the power gap, the power shifts, and power’s change of hands centuries later.

The reversion of Hagia Sophia back into a mosque is the result of this power shift, this breaking point in history, the call of great claims to the present.

The systematic transformation within, the economic struggle, the strengthening of local resistance, the awakening of social memory, bring claims back from off the shelf, developing areas of influence in every corner of the region, efforts to end Western hegemony and tutelage are the signs of that great awakening.

It is now being declared that Turkey does not consist of Turkey or Anatolia alone. Of course, this challenge is going to lead to big showdowns. Hence, the biggest front for the showdown was established inside the country.

Despite knowing that they are going to fail, they are striving to realize another attempt. Thus, it is an obligation to study all that is happening within our borders, the alliances and fronts from this perspective as well.

The clash of the centuries-old political gene and the tutelage wing is now taking place within in the most painful manner. That pro-tutelage tradition is at least as disturbed as Athens now about the reopening of Hagia Sophia.

The reversion of Hagia Sophia back into a mosque signifies the end of Western tutelage over Turkey. This sovereignty can never be re-established.

The Atlantic circle, which we refer to as the West, already lost the unchecked global power monopoly it had since the start of colonialism. This is the change of centuries.

This change, this distribution of power has made Turkey one the world’s rising powers. The awareness and identity that we built right at this time requires great action, and these actions will be taken.

We have become overjoyed with this decision. However, Turkey is taking steps wisely, using political foresight, taking into account the change in its global power map, its history, claims and realities. It is taking brave steps at the right time with the right decisions.

So, what is going to happen next? What is in store?

As we always say: This is only the beginning.