President Erdoğan: Turkey has been waging a struggle on different fronts ranging from the Eastern Mediterranean to Libya not only for its rights but also for its future
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech at the opening ceremony of Kalyon Holding’s PV Module Factory in Ankara.
“WE WILL NOT BOW TO THE SEVRES SOUGHT TO BE IMPOSED UPON OUR COUNTRY IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN”
Drawing attention to the crucial importance of the steps taken to protect Turkey’s rights in the Eastern Mediterranean in terms of putting an end to foreign dependency in energy, President Erdoğan said: “Turkey has been waging a struggle on various fronts ranging from the Eastern Mediterranean to Libya not only for its rights but also for its future.” Emphasizing that Turkey, just like it rejected the Treaty of Sevres a century ago, will not bow to the Sevres sought to be imposed upon it today, President Erdoğan stated: “Were we to tolerate banditry concerning this issue in which we are 100 percent right, our descendants would be ashamed of us.”
Recalling the heavy prices that had to be paid in the past because of the failure to uphold the Misak-ı Milli borders and due to the timidity displayed regarding the islands issue, President Erdoğan said: “We not only lost the lands for which we had hundreds of martyrs, we also were left out of the rich energy resources in the south. Likewise, the wrong moves made back then lie behind the chronic problems we are now faced with in the Aegean and Mediterranean.”
“TURKEY IS DETERMINED TO PROTECT ITS RIGHTS IN THE EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN”
“Turkey is determined to protect its rights in the Eastern Mediterranean until the end. No colonialist power, no threat can deprive our country of the rich resources of oil and gas estimated to exist in this region. We don’t violate anyone’s rights. We don’t seek confrontation or tension in the Mediterranean, the cradle of civilizations. We only defend the rights of our nation and the Turkish Cypriots,” said the President, and added: “We expect our interlocutors, as well, to take steps which would lower, not escalate, the tension and pave the way for dialogue.”
