This was inevitable.
Two weeks ago on the TR724 YouTube channel, in our program “Overseas” with my colleague Metin Yıkar (link to video), I had highlighted and warned about the impending danger. In recent years, especially in the last three, tens of thousands of people from Turkey fled to the USA via Mexico.
So much so that the number of Turkish people who have fled to America has exceeded 50,000. Just last December alone, 6,100 Turkish people crossed the Mexican border seeking refuge in the USA. Like many parts of the world, the USA is suffering from uncontrolled migrations. Every day, tens of thousands of people flood across the Mexican border into the USA.
We are facing a global situation.
However, what I talked about in the program two weeks ago is a situation unique to Turkey. Because the USA has designated Turkey as a ‘country of special interest’ among the asylum seekers coming from its southern border. This means: “This country has terrorism, terrorist organizations use this country for settlement and training, those coming from here could be terrorists!”
The USA announced this decision two weeks ago, and yesterday we moved to a new phase. Turkish Airlines announced that it imposed restrictions on Turks flying to five countries including Mexico and Brazil.
Turkish Airlines announced through a lengthy statement that passengers heading to Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, Cuba, and Brazil could be denied boarding even if they have visas, return tickets, and hotel reservations. Since yesterday, there have been images on social media of Turkish citizens being turned away at the gate.
So, what is happening?
Firstly, let’s note… This practice is not a decision of Turkish Airlines but of the USA. Unable to cope with the influx of refugees, the USA first increased pressure on Mexico and Turkey. The issue of Turkish asylum seekers was one of the topics discussed during Hakan Fidan and Ä°brahim Kalın’s recent visit to Washington DC.
Indeed, the regulation announced by Turkish Airlines is a result of this pressure.
Before I analyze the situation, I want to draw your attention to two news stories from Latin America, which show the depths to which the ErdoÄŸan regime has sunk. These two pieces of news arrived on the same day as the Turkish Airlines ban.
The first is from Ecuador… The former Minister of Interior claimed that the country’s number one cartel leader ‘El Pipo’, previously thought dead, is living in Turkey and continues to engage in cocaine trade with the Albanian mafia.
While we may not know who El Pipo is or his status in the cocaine market, no one could say “No, that couldn’t be true!” following the Ecuadorian minister’s statement. Because the world’s criminal organizations are now operating based on Turkey.
Anyone with money can get a Turkish passport. And if you’re someone who pays bribes upfront, you can manage all sorts of illegal activities through Istanbul. If you don’t believe it, just look at the tweets of the Minister of Interior, Ali Yerlikaya.
He brags every morning about how many gangs they’ve busted. Of course, with neither the media nor the opposition left in the country, no one asks, “Well, you’ve been in power for 22 years. Where were you when gangs from all over the world were settling in Turkey?”
There’s no need to doubt the claim of the Ecuadorian minister.
Another country, another news story… In Peru, an operation was carried out against a gang that sold weapons imported from Turkey to illegal organizations in Peru and Ecuador. The scandal extends to Turkey.
It’s possible to extend the examples of the crime relationship between Turkey and Latin America. For instance, the dealings between the ErdoÄŸan regime’s allies and Venezuela would make headlines for months if exposed. Like the dealings carried out using the airplane of Sezgin Baran Korkmaz, once a favored businessman of ErdoÄŸan! By the way, Sezgin Baran Korkmaz is living in New York and will appear before a judge in Utah next month. Revealing even a quarter of what he knows would be a nightmare for the ErdoÄŸan regime.
Returning to our topic… The ErdoÄŸan regime’s propaganda machines are busy 24/7 feeding the public. With flashy slogans like ‘The Century of Turkey’, they lull the people into a false sense of security, while the reality on the ground is completely the opposite.
Tens of thousands of people are risking their lives to flee the country. At this very moment, thousands of Turkish people are in a rush to escape the ErdoÄŸan regime. Normally, the government and its components should be ashamed, but they lost the ability to feel shame years ago.
The problem isn’t just the refugees. As I mentioned before, the USA has categorized the Turkish passport under a ‘country of special interest’ status. This is yet another ‘achievement’ of the ErdoÄŸan regime! Imagine, among tens of thousands of people from dozens of countries, including recently the Chinese using this route, flocking to the US’s southern borders, the Biden administration has singled out only Turkey for this category.
Why?
Because for years, the ErdoÄŸan regime welcomed organizations like ISIS, giving them the opportunity to settle, train, and organize in Turkey. Thousands also changed their names after obtaining Turkish citizenship by paying for it.
Even some ISIS militants were found to have been given Green Passports, normally reserved for state officials.
As a result, countries like the USA start to see you as a ‘source country for terrorism’. Here’s another aspect: you might call someone who opens a pastry at a fair, deposits money in a legal bank, or sends their child to a school affiliated with the Ministry of Education a ‘terrorist’, and submit tens of thousands of Interpol red notice requests overnight, but the world’s leading countries start to view the entire nation with suspicion of terrorism!
In short; ErdoÄŸan and his regime components have numbed the brains of the populace through the media they control. A Turkish citizen who follows the developments through ‘Pool media’ believes that the ErdoÄŸan regime is disciplining the world, that the country’s economy is booming, and that our domestic and national planes are flying high.
In reality, tens of thousands of Turkish citizens are risking death to flee the country. They promise a future to no one, except their loyalists.
The USA first categorized Turkey under a special status and now has imposed restrictions on Turkish Airlines flights. If they still can’t stop Turkish asylum seekers, it’s not hard to guess what they might do next.
