Yiğit Bulut, senior advisor to Turkish President Erdoğan said in a TV interview that "they are making such a commotion [these days] that even I have reached the point of wanting revenge for the blood of my grandfather [killed a century ago by the Greeks]," and that "Anatolia [Turkey] will once more walk all over Greece, and no one can prevent it. So let Greece know its place." The interview, which aired on the Turkish TRT Haber on April 10, comes against the backdrop of ongoing tensions between Greece and Turkey over border disputes and air violations.
Following is a transcript:
Yiğit Bulut: Turkey is going to sign nuclear agreements and to carry them out. Turkey is going to use nuclear energy.
[…]
I want everybody to understand: [The Turkish lira-dollar exchange rate is said] to be 4, 4.5, or 4.10. My friend, we are fighting a war against imperialism.
Host: This is war.
Yiğit Bulut: That’s right.
Host: It’s a war more serious than the other one.
Yiğit Bulut: It’s as serious as our War of Independence.
[…]
Yiğit Bulut: Everybody needs to understand this: The age of German-supported media in this country is over. The age of Germany feeding [the media] is over. The age of England feeding [the media] is over.
Host: By feeding, you mean…
Yiğit Bulut: Turkey has set out on a path of taking national measures.
[…]
Yiğit Bulut: The Greeks killed my grandfather, but my father said to me: “You will never be the enemy of the Greeks.” We have listened for years about how they killed our grandfathers. The Greeks killed everybody’s grandfather there. My great-grandfather became a martyr in Gallipoli. Your relatives – our mothers, fathers, and grandfathers – became martyrs that year. But my father always said: “You will never be the enemy of the Greeks.” This is the way I was brought up, and I never was [their] enemy.
[…]
Yiğit Bulut: But they are making such a commotion [these days] that even I have reached the point of wanting revenge for my grandfather’s blood. If they have brought me to this point, as the honorable Devlet Bahçeli said, Anatolia [Turkey] will once more walk all over Greece, and no one can prevent it. So let Greece know its place.
[…]
Yiğit Bulut: We have no problem with the Russians, with the Greeks, with our friends on the borders, or with Iraq or Iran. Who is provoking them against us? It is America, France, Germany, and England.
[…]