Your Excellencies,

Distinguished Military Attaches of the Friendly Countries,

Dear Friends,

This evening, we came together in Tel Aviv-Yafa to commemorate the 101st Anniversary of the Victory Day of the Republic of Türkiye. I would like to welcome each and every one of you for joining our event in this historical building and former Ottoman Governor’s House until 1917.

The 30th of August in our calendar marks the day the Turkish armed forces and the people defeated the colonial powers and their proxies who attempted to disintegrate Türkiye more than a century ago. Under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founding father of modern Türkiye, the Turkish people who suffered of the Balkan wars, the First World War and the War of Independence which uninterruptedly continued almost 11 years reached a victorous end on 30th August 1922. The story was crowned with the foundation of the republic in the following year which we will celebrate its centennial again with our friends in coming October.

Dear Guests,

We the Turks highly value peace and our friends. Atatürk’s motto and I quote “Peace at Home, Peace in the World” is our guidance. However, Türkiye, on the world map sits on a very volatile region where most of the modern day armed conflicts are being recorded. While hosting the highest number of refugees in the world who fled mostly from the countries hit by civil wars, Türkiye can be seen in many international efforts for peace building, peace-making and mediation. I’m not referring only to the efforts of the Turkish Government in reviving the grain corridor from the Black Sea, but also the diplomacy that she plays in different geographies from Somalia to Philippines. On this occasion, I would like to extend our thanks to His Excellency the Ambassador of friendly Azerbaijan and the Charge d’Affaires of friendly Kosovo for the trust that their governments and peoples bestow upon Türkiye in peace building and peace keeping.

Excellencies, Generals, Friends,

Next year, Türkiye and Israel, two neighbours via Mediterranean will be celebrating the 75th Anniversary of their diplomatic relations. The peoples of both know each other for centuries. Their relations are all-weather and time-tested. Today, both countries are at a phase of further improving their relations to new heights in many verticals. Six months ago when 11 provinces of Türkiye were hit by two earthquakes on the same day, the humanitarian assistance teams of all our friends around the world rushed to help us. We’re grateful to your governments and peoples. Israel, in few hours, despatched a 70-member strong Search and Rescue team who reached the epicentre of the disaster and saved 19 lives from under the debris. This evening we have the distinct pleasure and honour of having Colonel Golan Vach, the commander of that team as well as his second in command and members who are Turkish by birth and serving in the Home Front Command of the IDF. I am proud of having the opportunity of knowing them. We’re grateful to them. I also would like to extend our thanks to the 350-member strong IDF medical team which also reached the said zone the next day and established one of the most sophisticated field hospitals that catered the survivors for weeks.

I would like to extend our thanks once again to all of you for joining us this evening.