It was the 96th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne on Wednesday. The Ottoman Empire had collapsed, the region had collapsed, the Islamic nation had collapsed. Muslim communities living in the vast zone spanning Morocco and Indonesia, on the main axis of the earth, were completely abandoned and hopelessly destroyed. There was nothing left to get this vast region back on its feet and form a resistance.

Efforts were being made to drive Anatolia out of history, to wipe the Turks, who centralized Anatolia, made history and built the region for centuries, off the face of the world’s political history. Anatolia was being dismissed from the regional and global power domain, condemned to a great breakdown, and constantly forced to mechanisms that would keep it under tutelage.

They tried to drive us out of Anatolia through the Serves Pact. An Anatolian resistance spoiled this game. They failed. They then decided to expel us from Europe since it did not work in Anatolia. They drove us out of Europe with the Lausanne Pact.

Because they were very well-acquainted with this nation’s history-making, region-shaping political legacy. They were not only destroying the Ottoman Empire. They were planning to eliminate our nation’s said political legacy and indefinitely prevent it from starting anew.

And we were able to protect Anatolia. We were able to hold on here. We took refuge in the “last fortress.” Lausanne was not enough for us, hence we were never satisfied. Because we were never satisfied about being limited to Anatolia.

We knew that this was a matter of condemnation, obligation and patience. Our power and options were enough for this alone. And hence, we were always patient throughout the 20th century.

Yet they were taking us hostage under the name of Westernization, Europeanization, and keeping us under control in every field concerning a state’s power domain.

They had succeeded at this. They knew how to keep this country under control by including it in NATO, by making it partner with the U.S., by dotting every corner of the country with U.S. bases, by shaping the state’s power domains, by controlling its economy, by determining its political actors, by formatting its internal political inclinations, by restricting it within the European Union mechanism, and by shaping all political circles – including liberals to conservatives.

We were not allowed to return to our historical, cultural and regional claims; we were prohibited from laying claim to our memory. They had managed to build a state mentality that estranged these values and considered it as threats.

They were not protecting us. They were keeping us under control. They were all instruments of a hostage mechanism, a tutelage mechanism. We knew it all too well. We knew it all, but we did not have the strength to resist any of these throughout the 20th century.

We knew what all this meant, but neither the inadequacy of our power, not the mental enslavement they built allowed for a way out of this quagmire. We were trying to prevent a second collapse.

We did not want to experience another Sevres. We were not going to lose Anatolia or our home. We were not going to allow them to destroy our citadel either. They would have done this; they wanted to do it – we were aware. They were trying to achieve this for four whole decades by striking us through terrorism – we were aware.

We continued to be patient, we sought refuge in patience, bided our time, and hoped the global power shifts would open up an area of maneuver for us. We waited for history to change, for that political legacy to take action again. We had faith it would happen; we were waiting.

And that time has come. That time is now. That time was the time the West’s hundreds-of-centuries-long unilateral dominance ended, the time new powers took to the stage, the time the global power map changed and power vacuums formed. That time is today, the now.

Our memory was refreshed, our regional belonging was revived, our political and cultural identity was revived, and tutelage mechanisms started to gradually break down. We were returning to our core, to our self, to our power and claims.

We weren’t anyone’s enemies. We did not want to fight. We only had things to say to our region, to the world. We only wanted to be ourselves. We no longer wanted a hostage nation or state – that is all. We could no longer tolerate – and we should not have tolerated – others bossing us around, giving us advice.

We were such a patient nation that we kept silent even as the empire collapsed, as the region was torn to pieces, as hundreds of thousands of our people were being slaughtered in the Balkans, as cries rose from the Caucasus, as Anatolia was being condemned to the most horrific scenarios. We kept silent; we did not cry; we maintained our honor and pride. Because we had never lived and would not live with another’s mercy, compassion or kindness.

Now, as history is transforming, as that political legacy is taking action, as a new rising period is starting through Anatolia, we are acting with the same honor and pride. Why do you think none of those whom we knew to be our friends supported us, why do you think “Turkey is being isolated”?

Do we not see how the alliances of which we are a part of are turning against us a few years prior to the end of the century-long patience? Because those who wanted to drive us out of Anatolia through the Sevres Pact and confine us to Anatolia with the Lausanne Pact are no longer able to continue this game – and they will no longer be able to continue it either.

They could not drive us out of Anatolia, nor will they be able to restrict us into Anatolia from now on. Neither will they be able to keep our nation under control, nor will they be able to keep the state under control. Because, one-by-one, all scenarios aimed at “stopping Turkey” failed and will continue to fail.

All the powers and their representatives that were against us at the Sevres table are against us today. The powers that were at Anatolia’s borders a century ago are once again at Anatolia’s borders today. All those coming from the Aegean, from the East Mediterranean, from Iraq/Syria are all at the same borders again.

Whatever was on the agenda a century ago, the same showdowns apply today. The same intervention that was conducted in our region a century ago is prevalent today.

They are cooperating in this country today with the same circles they cooperated with a century ago. They are cooperating today with those from the same channels with which they cooperated in politics, the economy, culture and civilian field a century ago.

Whoever resisted for this country, for these lands a century ago are the same ones resisting again today. Whoever in the Arab world opposed us on behalf of the U.K., whoever attempted revolts in Anatolia, it is the same circle on the opposite side of the front today.

July 15 was only one of these attempts. They have other July 15s on their agenda. All the powers, alliances and files on the opposite end of the table all have “a front within” the country.

We see this more clearly these days. We see how those striving to destroy Turkey are being unleashed on the ground.

But this country’s claims encompass centuries. No plan is more powerful than these claims – nor will they be, ever. We are not trying to fight but take our rightful place in the global power domain.

They set a game. We set a game.

Their game is over. We are just getting started!