A nationalist pre-election manifesto was distributed by Tayyip Erdoğan to his party’s parliamentary candidates ahead of the May 14 elections.

As SKAI correspondent Manolis Kostidis reports from Istanbulthis manifesto states that:

“The Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean are one of the main pillars of our Blue Homeland and there we will protect the legitimate interests of our country as well as of the “TRDB” by using all our capabilities. Greece’s steps that violate international law and treaties threaten Turkey’s security in the Aegean and the Mediterranean. Regional energy competition is increasing.”

At the same time, Erdogan’s party states that “the islands do not have a continental shelf and we declared this to the UN”:

“We declared the outer limits of our continental shelf to the UN. On November 13, 2019, in the notification we made to the UN, we stated that our maritime borders extend to the limit of the territorial waters of the islands located in the region. We stated that the islands cannot have an influence that obstructs our continental shelf. On March 18, 2020, we informed the UN about the outer limits of our continental shelf in the Southern Mediterranean.”

Erdogan: I managed to make Hagia Sophia a mosque

At the same time, the Turkish president once again expressed his satisfaction with making the Hagia Sophia Mosque, stressing in his speech: “In the past they said ‘in this geography, it can’t be done, they can’t dare.’ We proved that everything can be done. There are examples such as the defeat of coup plotters to the reopening of Hagia Sophia as a mosque and operations across borders. The poet used to say: Hagia Sophia will open, it will open, it will open. I also read this then. So what; Hagia Sophia opened and we managed to do that.”

Turkish admiral: Anadolu is not an aircraft carrier

Meanwhile, just days after the inauguration of Turkey’s aircraft carrier, a retired Turkish admiral claims that what they called an aircraft carrier, but something else:

“Actually this is not an aircraft carrier. It is an amphibious operations ship. If you look at what is written on the ship it says L 400. It is the first letter of the word Landing. We’re talking landing craft here. There is a flight platform. I started this project and there is no one who knows better. Now we’re told it’s a drone ship. You know what this is, It’s like being told ‘we have no pants left, let’s give you a shirt’! Listen in the naval battles and in the plans there is no such ship.’

Erdogan’s dialogue with his son-in-law about drones

Finally, Turkish media broadcast Erdogan’s dialogue with his son-in-law, Selcuk Bayraktar, who is the owner of the company that makes the Turkish drones. Erdogan visited the aircraft carrier where the Kizilelma were placed and the following dialogue followed:

– Erdogan: Selcuk! When will Kizilelma take off?
– Groom: From the ship? Test flights continue. God willing in 2025!
– Erdogan: So it’s going to 2025. Takeoff and landing?
– Selçık Bayraktar: Yes takeoff and landing. But we also have Bayraktar. God willing that 2024.
– This year it will make its first flight. Then he will come to the ship and after the pre-work and preparations are done then we will proceed to Kizilelma. We are continuing work on Kizilelma and its production will be completed in 2024.
– Erdogan: How many Kizilelma do we have?
– Bayraktar: Two. We have one here and it has your signature on it.