President Erdoğan: We will start the gradual normalization process in early March

 

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan addressed the nation following the Presidential Cabinet Meeting at the Presidential Complex.

“We discussed in detail all the issues on our country’s agenda from security to health during the cabinet meeting. As such, we focused on the details regarding the operation conducted in recent days in Gara in the north of Iraq,” President Erdoğan said. “First of all, I once again wish Allah’s mercy upon our three soldiers who died a martyr in this operation as well as upon our 13 citizens heinously massacred by PKK terrorists, and offer my condolences to their relatives and to our august nation.” 

“TURKEY’S SELF-CONFIDENCE IS STRONGER TODAY THAN EVER BEFORE”

Stressing that Turkey has been fighting separatist terror for 40 years and working to drain the swamp of terror by every means, President Erdoğan said: “Terror escalated in Turkey whenever our country had to grapple with political and social turbulences. For example, in the chaotic environment of the 1990s, the terrorist organization conducted brutal attacks against not only our military and security forces as well as other public officials but also against our civilian citizens.”

“Circles that have designs over Turkey reactivated the PKK by means of various tools starting from 2013. We took various steps despite all the risks back then in order to find a peaceful solution to the terror issue,” President Erdoğan stated. “However, the terrorist organization, which colluded with circles that targeted our nation’s unity and our country’s integrity, restarted its attacks. The attacks which intensified especially after July of 2015 went so far as to besiege various districts of ours with trenches.”

Drawing attention to Turkey’s military operations both at home and abroad against terror, President Erdoğan went on to say: “We carried out a lot of operations to break the terror corridor sought to be formed along our southern borders. We ensured security along a major part of our Syrian borders thanks to these operations which started with Operation Euphrates Shield and continued with operations Olive Branch, Peace Spring and Spring Shield. We formed permanent base areas beyond our Iraqi borders as well to prevent the terrorist organization from infiltrating into our country.”

Underlining that Turkey has never sided with the oppressor and has always stood by the oppressed, President Erdoğan said: “Turkey is much more hopeful about future today than ever before. Turkey’s self-confidence is stronger today than ever before. Turkey is walking step by step towards its goal of becoming a regional and global leader right in the field not in words but in deeds. Today, Turkey has a special place in the hearts of all the innocent and oppressed peoples across the world no matter what their leaderships say. Once we achieve our goals for 2023, we will have carried our country much further regarding these issues.”

“WE NEVER NEGLECT STEPS FOR DEMOCRATIC AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WHILE FIGHTING TERROR AND PANDEMIC”

“While fighting terror on one hand and pandemic on the other, we never neglect steps for democratic and economic development, either. We will write Turkey’s new success stories with our engineers, technicians and scientists who carry out unique works guided by technology. To this end, we firmly stick by our national technology vision and see our future in high technology, research and development and innovation,” President Erdoğan highlighted.

Noting that Turkey is also performing well in production, President Erdoğan stated: “Turkey’s industrial production data related to the last month of 2020 was made public last week. According to that data, our industrial production increased 9 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. We thus achieved the highest increase within G20 in terms of industrial production in the last quarter of 2020. This strong increase in industrial production once again showed that Turkey is set to be one of the rare countries to have closed 2020 with positive growth.”

“5.7 MILLION CITIZENS HAVE ALREADY BEEN VACCINATED IN TURKEY”

Regarding Turkey’s efforts to fight the pandemic and start the normalization period, President Erdoğan said: “We are taking steps for normalization without letting our guard down according to the course of the pandemic. This process will continue in accordance with the criteria and calendar previously outlined even though transition to in-class education had to be postponed due to heavy snow in various cities.”

Highlighting that 5.7 million citizens have already been vaccinated in Turkey, President Erdoğan stated that Turkey also continues studies to indigenously develop its own vaccine.

“Dividing our provinces into four categories according to the criteria set by the Ministry of Health, we will start the gradual normalization process in early March. We will classify our provinces as low-, medium-, high-, and very high-risk in line with such criteria as caseloads and vaccination rates. We will manage the normalization calendar in accordance with this classification,” the President said.