Erdoğan: They Didn’t Care About Planting Trees, They Wanted to Burn Down Turkey
* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)
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President and ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke at the "11 Million Trees: Today a Sapling, Tomorrow a Breath" program in the capital city of Ankara on the occasion of "National Forestation Day" (November 11).
Erdoğan said, "This beautiful scene that we share with you here today is simultaneously taking place at 2,023 different points in 81 provinces of our country. On 11.11.2019, at 11 a.m., we are reuniting 11 million saplings and trees with soil, hoping that they will be a breath for the future. Our objective is to create a picture of an emerald green Turkey."
'Where are the ones who stirred up trouble?'
President Erdoğan also stated the following in brief:
"In the past, some people attempted to pillage our cities under the pretext of trees, they set the streets on fire for weeks, they plundered the goods and properties of our shopkeepers. And, here we are, doing afforestation.
"Where are those who stirred up trouble over trees? Those who called us every name in the book for 17 years in the name of environmentalism... Where are they now? They are nowhere to be seen, they do not have a stick in this world. Because they did not care about planting trees, all they wanted was to burn down Turkey.
'They burned trees, we have planted them'
"You have heard about what happened this summer, right? We watched how they burned down forestlands in Bodrum, Marmaris, İzmir, Antalya and many other places, right? The side branches of this separatist terrorist organization, which call themselves the PKK, announced it and said, "Yes, we set them on fire." They burned trees, we have planted them.
"The did not care about protecting the environment, but encircling Turkey in the name of some. Thank Allah that we shattered all these traps with the help of Allah and support of our nation. Just like any other issue, we are working hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart with our nation in our afforestation campaign as well."
11 thousand saplings in 81 provinces
As part of "11 Million Trees: Today a Sapling, Tomorrow a Breath" campaign launched on the occasion of recently designated "National Forestation Day", 11 million saplings have been planted in all 81 provinces in Turkey.
The program is conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Issuing a decree on November 7, President and ruling AKP Chair Erdoğan announced that from this year on, every November 11 would be observed as "National Forestation Day". (TP/SD)