Turkish lawmaker identifies national, civilisational and global geographies as priorities, highlighting the Mecca Alliance and Türkiye’s historic role in promoting stability and justice
ANKARA: Chairman of the Türkiye-Pakistan Parliamentary Friendship Group and Member of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, Ali Şahin, has said that Türkiye, under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, seeks to rebuild and revitalise three important geographical spheres: its national geography, civilisational and cultural geography, and the broader geography of humanity.
Speaking on TYT Türk News Channel’s daily news recap programme, Günün Özeti, Ali Şahin said Türkiye had been working for the past 25 years under President Erdoğan’s leadership, and for nearly the past decade in cooperation with the People’s Alliance, to rebuild and strengthen its national geography.
He said the country had now entered a process aimed at freeing Türkiye from terrorism, adding that the successful conclusion of the “Terror-Free Türkiye” process would substantially complete the efforts to rebuild and revitalise its national geography.
Şahin emphasised that Türkiye had historically never existed solely for itself, but had also played a role in serving other nations and humanity. He pointed out that Turkish people had established martyrdom cemeteries at 78 locations across 36 countries, stretching between the East and West and the North and South, reflecting the country’s historical presence in different parts of the world.
Identifying the second priority as Türkiye’s civilisational and cultural geography, he described the Mecca Alliance as part of the effort to rebuild and revitalise this wider region and bring stability to its neighbouring and culturally connected areas.
He said the third sphere was the geography of humanity, recalling that Türkiye had historically extended its presence across different regions and contributed to stability beyond its own borders.
According to Şahin, three important missions were embedded in the God-given qualities of the Turkish nation: safeguarding Islam, protecting the oppressed, and establishing stability and justice across the world.
To illustrate this historical role, he recounted an anecdote concerning the German city of Mannheim, situated along the River Rhine near the French border. He said that, according to a historical account, residents of the city had complained about repeated raids by French forces during harvest seasons and had appealed to Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent for protection.
In the anecdote, the Sultan reportedly sent a chest of Janissary uniforms rather than an army, advising the residents to have their physically strong young men wear the uniforms and patrol along the Rhine during harvest time. Şahin said the sight of the uniforms reportedly persuaded the French forces that Ottoman troops had arrived, leading them to withdraw further inland.
Concluding the account, Şahin said the example illustrated how even the uniform of the Ottoman nation, without the presence of its soldiers, was believed to have helped establish stability and bring a sense of justice to other parts of the world.
