Those who profit from terrorism and seek to plunge the region into instability will lose, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said.

“The blood merchants will lose; the opportunists who profit from terrorism will lose. The genociders who seek to plunge our region into instability will lose,” Erdogan said on Tuesday at an event marking the 955th anniversary of the Battle of Malazgirt in the southeastern Bitlis province, a historic victory for Turks in Anatolia.

President Erdogan said the rise of “a great and strong Türkiye” would be witnessed, adding that once the Terror-Free Türkiye initiative reaches its goal, “the doors to a new era will open before our nation.”

He added that humanity and brotherhood would be the winners, along with the Turkish nation and its citizens.

Referring to Ahlat, an important starting point in the victory at Malazgirt (also known as Manzikert), Erdogan said: “Jerusalem and Istanbul were conquered with the faith that took shape in Ahlat.”

“Let no one have any doubts. The dawn of a great and strong Türkiye has broken. The construction of the ‘Century of Türkiye’ has begun,” he added.

Turkish conquest of Anatolia began with the Battle of Malazgirt, also known as the Battle of Manzikert, on Aug. 26, 1071, which saw the Seljuk Turks led by Sultan Alp Arslan defeat a much larger Byzantine army.

The victory accelerated the decline of the Byzantine Empire and led to more Turks settling in the region, paving the way for both the Ottoman Empire and the modern Republic of Türkiye.

Centuries later, foreign occupation prompted Türkiye’s War of Independence in 1919, in which Turkish forces – led by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk – eventually drove the invaders from Anatolia.

By the end of 1922, all foreign forces had left the territories, which became a part of the Republic of Türkiye a year later.