President Erdoğan: We seek Turkey’s rise in economy with all its 81 provinces

 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered a speech at the Central Anatolia Economic Forum in the province of Sivas.

Drawing attention to the distance Turkey has covered in economy and defense industry over the past 17 years, President Erdoğan said that Turkey’s national income per capita has risen from $3,400 to as high as $11,000 and that its exports have increased from $36 billion to $170 billion. “What is more, Turkey now meets 70 percent of its defense industry needs through domestic and national means. On top of that, our exports in defense industry have reached 2.5 billion dollars.”

President Erdoğan further stressed: “We seek Turkey’s rise in economy with all its 81 provinces, as is the case with Sivas. We travel across the world with our businesspeople in order to find new markets and develop new relationships. We provide every support to both our own entrepreneurs and to global entrepreneurs that come to our country.”

“S-400S ARE DEFENSE SYSTEMS, NOT ASSAULT”

Also touching upon Turkey’s purchase of S-400 defense systems from Russia, President Erdoğan underlined that the S-400s, as its name suggests, are defense systems, not assault, and said that the process will have been completed in April. The President added that he told U.S. President Trump Turkey would buy the Patriots from the U.S. should they be sold with the same conditions as those of Turkey’s S-400 purchase from Russia. 

Noting that he spoke with U.S. President Trump over the phone five days ago, President Erdoğan stated that they will meet again on the occasion of the upcoming UN General Assembly.