Australia News on March 20, 2019

Hi there, a Turkish citizen here. In light of recent events I, as a fluent speaker of both Turkish and English languages, decided to post a word-for-word translation of the controversial speech given by Turkish President Recep Erdogan that you saw in that short video circulating the internet right now. While I do not support Erdogan and think that his choice of words was in poor taste and his remarks were pretty reckless (especially at times like this) I would argue that the translation presented in Western media is incomplete and looks intentionally sensationalized, manipulative and misleading. Here's a full, word-for-word translation of what Erdogan has said in that 1 minute and 7 seconds long clip. I personally translated it and added some notes to make it easier to understand, feel free to ask me questions if you have any. This post is not aimed at promoting Erdogan nor am I defending him, just trying to provide the most accurate translation and bring some nuance and context into this situation.

"If you will come here in peace, just like us, just like they come every year for commemoration ceremonies, and we provide them with every kind of comfort, then ghazi Mustafa Kemal had pretty beautiful words for this that go like "they're lying here side by side... and will continue to rest here... don't you worry".

Note: I know that Ataturk's quote here is incorrect, but that's how Erdogan recited it from his memory. "Ghazi" is a title given to Muslim warriors or champions, it's often used in Turkey when referring to Ataturk.

"But this means that they don't understand things like these. Just like there were those who returned in caskets the last time, if they were to try something like that today, then this nation wouldn't hold back at giving them the same answer again.

This terrorist couldn't stand the sight of a minaret on top of Hagia Sophia. Look at the effort that your grandparents applied to try and get this job done, you couldn't even get at their level. You're immoral, you don't know this nation."

NOTE: Adjectives in Turkish language can be singular and plural depending on the suffix, in this case Erdogan's use for the word "terbiyesiz" ("immoral", "shameless", "caddish") was in singular form, specifically referring to the shooter, not to Kiwis or Aussies in general. The word "you" in Turkish language also differs depending on whether someone adresses one or several people, in this case Erdogan uses the singular form "sen", again specifically adressing the shooter, something that gets lost when translated into English where the word "you" doesn't change regardless of how many people you're adressing, making it look like he's referring to all Australians and Kiwis despite the fact that he's talking about one person.

"But this man came here and toured around for 43 days, checked the surroundings, toured for 3 days right here."

NOTE: "right here" refers to Gallipoli.

In conclusion Erdogan seems to be referring to the Christchurch shooter and people like him, nowhere in his speech did he adress regular Kiwis and Aussies and he sure as Hell didn't promise to send them back in caskets as it is presented in foreign translations. His choice of words, however, was poor and tasteless, only adding to the existing tensions, but that is to be expected from a right-wing populist - this kind of pre-election chest-beating is nothing new for politicians like him.