President Erdoğan: We will definitely defend our national interests
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hosted a luncheon for ambassadors at the Presidential Complex on the occasion of the 11th Ambassadors’ Conference.
“OUR WORLD IS GOING THROUGH A GREAT TRANSFORMATION PROCESS IN DIPLOMACY AS WELL”
Delivering a speech at the luncheon, President Erdoğan said the world is going through a great transformation process in diplomacy as well as technological innovations, and that it is impossible to evaluate today’s world with the decades-old dynamics. “States, along with individuals, companies and societies, must well comprehend the zeitgeist and determine their policies accordingly,” the President noted.
Underscoring that the international system has evolved into a multicenter structure in the new era, President Erdoğan stated: “This change has increased the unpredictability and has led to new risks for decision-makers. Given political and economic vulnerabilities, we should actually say that we are faced with a lack of system rather than a system.”
President Erdoğan went on to say: “The fact that children continue to die in Syria, Myanmar, Libya and Yemen indicates that there is indeed something wrong with the system. A mentality which does not value humans just for being that, human, cannot ensure global security or peace.”
“WE WILL DEFINITELY DEFEND OUR NATIONAL INTERESTS”
Pointing out that Turkey must take initiative not only for its future but also for the peace and serenity in its region, President Erdoğan said: “What we recently experienced in Syria have shown us once again that you cannot have seat at the table unless you are on the ground. We will definitely defend our national interests through dialogue, elements of soft power, means of ‘coercive diplomacy’ and use of actual force if need be.”
“Turkey’s security means the security of NATO and our entire region,” President Erdoğan noted, and added: “There is no concrete data that the S-400s will harm NATO or the F-35s.” Drawing attention to many NATO and EU members’ procurement of similar air defense systems from Russia, President Erdoğan stressed: “We do not see goodwill in turning an issue, which is not a problem for other countries, into a crisis for Turkey. Above all, it is totally wrong to question Turkey’s relations with the West over the S-400s. Turkey has made not a strategic but a totally commercial choice regarding its security in the issue of S-400s.”
“WE WILL NEVER LEAVE AL-QUDS, OUR FIRST KIBLAH AND THE APPLE OF OUR EYES, TO THE MERCY OF THE OCCUPIERS”
“We as Turkey will continue till the end to defend justice and equity in the Palestinian issue,” President Erdoğan further noted, adding: “We will never leave Al-Quds, our first kiblah and the apple of our eyes, to the mercy of the occupiers. The stability of the Eastern Mediterranean is of importance to the security of the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. Stability can only be achieved in Cyprus and Eastern Mediterranean by observing the rights and interests of Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.”
