Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in his speech at the northern city of Rize that Turkey had become the voice of the oppressed and the hope of the wronged all over the world. He stated that people at the villages of Yemen, the deserts of Tunisia, the mountains of Afghanistan and the poor regions of Baghdad prayed for Turkey. He emphasized that the Ottoman mosques in Bosnia, the bridges and mosques in Uskup, Macedonia and the war cemeteries in Jerusalem were no longer deserted.

Erdogan urged the people of Rize to vote "yes" in the upcoming referendum for the constitutional amendments. He emphasized that September 12 referendum would break the chains of Turkey. He also criticized the head of the Republican CHP, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, and said that they wanted to stop the reforms of AK Party by dark forces and mafia.

Source: Yeni Safak (Turkey), August 11, 2010