President Erdoğan: We will defend our sovereign rights in every area from the blue homeland to cyberspace

 

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

“During today’s Cabinet Meeting, national cyber security strategy and action plan were also on the agenda. Cybersecurity, which has become an inseparable part of digitalization, is one of the most important subjects meticulously followed. A major increase in cyber threats accompanies digitalization, which already constitutes an inseparable part of our life in every area ranging from security and health to education and home appliances. So much so that the protection of national physical borders are now almost as important as the safeguarding of countries’ digital infrastructures and data,” the President said. 

“WE WILL LAUNCH INTO SPACE OUR FIRST COMMUNICATION SATELLITE IN 2022”

Drawing attention to states’ responsibility to protect their citizens’ digital data and services, President Erdoğan noted: “We actually took the first step in this direction with the formation of the National Computer Emergency Response Center about seven years ago. Taking into consideration current needs and threats, we have also taken action to set out a new strategy with a comprehensive and holistic approach regarding our country’s cybersecurity policies. We have shaped our strategy with an indigenous and national approach since we have, in the recent period, faced obstructions, some overt others covert, in the areas of, inter alia, digital infrastructures and cybersecurity.”

Stressing that Turkey will launch into space its first communication satellite in 2022, President Erdoğan stated: “We are building a strong and deterrent infrastructure by developing our own national cybersecurity technologies. In line with our aim to become a country steering technology, we will defend our sovereign rights in every area from the blue homeland to cyberspace.”

“IT IS ESTIMATED THAT THE WORLD WILL HAVE TO PROVIDE FOOD FOR A POPULATION OF 10 BILLION BY 2050”

Describing food production and its sustainability as one of the most-widely debated topics during the pandemic, President Erdoğan said: “The drought we experience has rendered this debate more critical. It is estimated that the world will have to provide food for a population of 10 billion by 2050. This means that food production will have to be increased by 60% given also the impacts of welfare rise and logistical capabilities.”

Noting that Turkey has climbed to the first place in Europe by raising its agricultural national income from 37 billion liras to 278 billion liras over the past 18 years, President Erdoğan added that it, last year alone, generated 18 billion dollars by exporting 1827 different agricultural products to 193 countries.

“TURKEY IS ONE OF THE COUNTRIES THAT SUCCESSFULLY DEAL WITH THE PANDEMIC IN EVERY FIELD”

Stating that the coronavirus pandemic is getting worse with the ambiguities caused by mutations, President Erdoğan said: “Turkey is one of the countries that successfully deal with the pandemic in every field, healthcare in particular. We work to ease the difficulties caused by the decisions we made to curb the increase of the pandemic through direct supports to individuals. Following the last cabinet meeting, we shared with the public the news about a support package of five billion liras for our 1.24 million tradesmen. In addition to this, we maintain all the support payments within our social protection shield, which encompasses short-time working payment as well. The financial support we have provided to our nation within the social protection shield has neared 45.5 billion liras.”

“WE HAVE REACHED THE STAGE OF SIGNING A FREE TRADE AGREEMENT WITH THE UK”

As regards Turkey’s export figures, President Erdoğan continued as follows: “Our export volume has surpassed all our targets for the whole of 2020 as of December 25 and reached 166 billion dollars. On this occasion, I would like to share with you the good news of a development which has great importance in terms of our foreign trade. As is known, the process which has started within the framework of the decision taken by the UK, one of our most important trade partners, to leave the European Union will be completed on Thursday. We have closely monitored this process since the very beginning with the participation of our business world in order for our trade relations not to get harmed. After long negotiations, we have reached the stage of signing a free trade agreement with the UK. The agreement will hopefully be signed tomorrow.”

“It will be our second most important trade agreement after the Customs Union agreement,” the President further stressed, and added: “A new era, in which both Turkey and the UK will win, will hopefully begin as of 2021. I congratulate our Ministry of Trade and our business world, which have contributed to the free trade agreement coming to this stage. I would like to once again underscore that Turkey will achieve its goals thanks to the economic system it has built though production, employment and export.”

“WE ARE SUCCESSFULLY CARRYING OUT EIGHT DIFFERENT VACCINE STUDIES CURRENTLY”

Undoubtedly, the greatest hope of our citizens in our country ─ just like the rest of the world ─ is the vaccine studies during the pandemic, President Erdoğan said. “It is totally impossible for us to fall behind the vaccine supply and development works in order for Turkey to manage the normalization process together with the entire world. Therefore, we closely follow all vaccine studies regardless of their origin, make the necessary examinations and sign agreements according to the results. We look at all the alternatives to overcome the setbacks. We expect the first batch of the vaccine we ordered from China to be delivered to our country before the new year. We also hope that the vaccine to be procured from Germany will arrive in our country in January.”

“Developments indicate that the pandemic will not fall off the world’s agenda for quite a long time. Therefore, we attach the greatest importance and give the highest priority to our own vaccines which we have developed with both traditional and innovative methods. Thanks to the hi-tech infrastructures we have built over the past 18 years and the efforts of our scientists, we are successfully carrying out eight different vaccine studies currently,” the President said.