President Erdoğan: Türkiye is progressing towards its goals without deviating from its route at a time when the world is going through a painful period

 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a press conference following the Presidential Cabinet Meeting at the Presidential Complex.

“Türkiye is progressing towards its goals without deviating from its route at a time when the world and our region are going through a painful period in the grip of wars, conflicts, political and economic crises, and social upheavals. Without doubt, such outcomes as high cost of living and inflation, which are the results of negative developments that affect all of the states and the whole humanity, also have implications for us. However, as different from other countries, we have managed to stick to our own roadmap, which we have symbolized by our goals for 2023 and our vison for 2053, thanks to the strong infrastructure we have built over the past 20 years and the experiences we have gained in the last 8-9 years,” the President said.  

“WE HAVE BEEN BUILDING THE GREAT AND STRONG TÜRKİYE STEP BY STEP”

Describing Türkiye as the center of new pursuits developments such as pandemics and wars have triggered in the global logistics and production system, President Erdoğan said: “While the global governance and security system, instituted following the Second World War, has been shaken deeply, we have revived the historical accumulation in our possession by means of political, economic and military reforms.”

Stressing that Türkiye not only stands on its own feet but also lends support to all of its friends, President Erdoğan drew attention to the efforts exerted with the goal of building the great and strong Türkiye step by step, and said: “We don’t allow any internal or external incident, any overt or covert plot, to deter us from that goal. We consider the prices, which we as the nation pay in this struggle, to be the assurance of our safe and prosperous future.”

“WE MAKE EVERY EFFORT IN ORDER FOR SYRIA TO ACHIEVE STABILITY”

Drawing attention to Türkiye’s efforts aimed at resorting stability in Syria, President Erdoğan said: “We have been building briquette houses in the north of Syria. Their construction is continuing. We will work to build as many of them as possible. We make every effort in order for stability to be achieved in Syria--where conflicts still rage and terrorist organizations continue their attacks, and which has yet to establish its political unity and territorial integrity. 500 thousand of the Syrians have thus far returned from our country to the zones which we have rendered safe in areas adjacent to our borders. We also ensure that 4 million people stay in the areas where they live, first and foremost in Idlib, with the support of international aid organizations. However, the fact that tensions in Idlib continue and the environment in other regions remains unsafe prevents a substantial decrease in the number of Syrians living in our country.”

Recalling Türkiye’s proposal during 2015’s G20 Summit that the G20 leaders swiftly build cities inside Syria to host 1 million Syrian refugees, President Erdoğan noted: “Unfortunately, western countries in particular didn’t lend the necessary support to this project, which could actually have been realized with a very small portion of the expenditure they make to keep refugees away from their borders. Türkiye, therefore, had to shoulder a large part of this burden both inside its borders and on the Syrian lands.”

“WE HAVE FORMED SAFE ZONES INSIDE SYRIA WHERE PEOPLE CAN LIVE IN PEACE”

President Erdoğan continued his remarks as follows: “Last year we have initiated a project with the support of NGOs to build 100 thousand briquette houses in Syria for people living in dire conditions. We have completed the construction of 57 thousand briquette houses as part of this project. Works are underway for 20 thousand of them. We will build the remaining 23 thousand houses as soon as possible. We can further increase this number. We are now taking another step to materialize our main project dating back to 2015. We will inshallah enable the construction of 200 thousand residences, together with all the necessary infrastructure including hospitals, schools, agriculture and industry, in 13 different sites on Syrian lands with funds from international aid organizations.”

Stressing that conflicts in Syria had broken out because of western countries’ encouragement and support of the opposition as well as due to the regime’s brutal attacks on civilians, President Erdoğan said: “If that support had continued, security and stability could have been restored to the country in a short span of time. However, western states, after a while, diverted their support from the Syrian people to the terrorist organizations based in this country, sending terrorist organizations truckloads of weapons, ammunition and equipment.”

Western countries’ change of strategy towards the Syrian opposition turned the region into a hotbed of terrorist organizations from where significant threats against Türkiye originate, underscored the President, adding: “This is the main reason for all of our operations including the Operations Euphrates Shield, Olive Branch and Peace Spring.” 

President Erdoğan further stressed: “In addition to opposing the regime’s persecution, Türkiye has been carrying out the most effective fight against all the terrorist organizations extending from the PKK to DAESH in Syria. As a result of our operations, we have both made our borders safe from attacks and have formed safe zones inside Syria where people can live in peace.”