“I call on all Western actors to put pressure on the Israeli administration”

 

Delivering remarks following the Presidential Cabinet Meeting, President Erdoğan said: “We welcome Hamas’ announcement that it has agreed to the ceasefire. Now the same step should be taken by Israel. I call on all Western actors to put pressure on the Israeli administration.”

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

“TANZANIA IS A PARTNER OF TÜRKİYE IN EAST AFRICA”

President Erdoğan said: “We have focused our energy on the foreign visits and meetings which we had to postpone because of the elections since the last meeting. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s visit to Türkiye was the first-ever presidential visit from this country to Türkiye after a 14-year hiatus. Tanzania is one of our country’s trade and investment partners in East Africa. Turkish companies have thus far undertaken 14 projects worth nearly 6.5 billion dollars in Tanzania. A major part of the Standard Gauge Railway, which will traverse the entire country, is being built by a Turkish company. During our talks, we have agreed to raise our bilateral trade, which has increased from 11 million dollars to 345 million dollars over the past 21 years, to 1 billion dollars swiftly.”

“WE HAVE RE-INTENSIFIED OUR RELATIONS WITH AFRICA SINCE 2005”

Drawing attention to Türkiye’s historical ties with Africa, President Erdoğan noted that Ankara has re-intensified its relations with the African continent since 2005, and added: “We have boosted the number of our diplomatic missions from 12 to 44. The number of African embassies in Ankara has increased from 10 in 2008 to 38 at the present. Our trade volume has jumped from 5.4 billion dollars to 37 billion dollars in 2023. Turkish investments in Africa have surpassed 10 billion dollars in market value. Our contracting companies have assumed 1885 projects worth nearly 87 billion dollars across the continent. I have paid more than 50 visits to the continent to date, and we have hosted African leaders in Türkiye on numerous occasions.”

Türkiye and Africa have recently achieved a new momentum particularly in defense and security cooperation, President Erdoğan pointed out, stressing that Türkiye is one of the countries lending the strongest support to its African brothers in their fight against terrorist organizations such as DAESH and Al-Shabaab.

President Erdoğan continued his remarks as follows: “We have enhancen our cooperation with the continent in the areas of culture and education as well. Turkish universities are increasingly becoming an education hub for foreign students. During our visits to Africa, we meet with ministers, business people, academics and politicians who graduated in Türkiye and speak Turkish, acting as our nation’s voluntary envoys. No doubt that this situation annoys imperial powers that have exploited Africa’s resources for years. This is one of the reasons why anti-Türkiye reports are on the rise in international media.”

VISIT TO IRAQ

Noting that his visit to Iraq after 13 years was of historic importance in terms of its outcomes, President Erdoğan said: “With the President and Prime Minister of Iraq, we addressed in detail the issues that are on our shared agenda, particularly security, transportation, energy and water. We have surpassed a critical threshold with the quadrilateral memorandum signed regarding the Development Road Project, which will shape the future of our region. We want to further increase our trade volume, which currently stands at some 20 billion dollars.”

President Erdoğan further stressed: “The Iraqi Government’s declaration of the PKK as a banned organization is an important step in the fight against terror. We conveyed our expectation that the PKK should also be declared as a terrorist organization.”

President Erdoğan added: “We came together with our Iraqi Turkmen brothers, as well, expressing our solidarity with them. We had very fruitful, favorable and sincere talks in Erbil following our visit to Baghdad. I once again offered my gratitude to our Iraqi brothers, who welcomed us with affection.”

“WE WILL DEFINITELY COMPLETE OUR WORK IN SYRIA”

Underscoring that regardless of whether it is DAESH or PKK, the scourge of terrorism is as significant a threat to Iraq as it is to Türkiye, President Erdoğan said: “Only after the elimination of the terror threat can our region achieve economic development or political peace and stability. We will patiently continue our struggle until we completely drain the terrorism swamp in Northern Iraq. When the time comes, we will definitely complete our work in Syria, which was left incomplete due to pledges made and broken by our allies.”

“THE EU SHOULD STOP ISOLATING TÜRKİYE”

Pointing out that economic relations with the European Union, restrictions in defense industry, and the rising xenophobia were reviewed during German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s visit to Türkiye, President Erdoğan said: “Mr. Steinmeier’s visit was also meaningful in that it coincided with the centenary of the Türkiye-Germany friendship treaty. We openly told them that the defense restrictions, which do not befit two allies, should be lifted. We also conveyed our expectations for racist attacks, which lastly cost the lives of our four brothers and sisters, to be prevented and the perpetrators to be punished. We stressed the importance of the fight against terrorist organizations, particularly the PKK/YPG and FETO, which attack our people and missions. We aim to increase our bilateral trade from 50 billion dollars to 60 billion dollars in a balanced manner. Türkiye is willing to enhance its relations with the EU and its members so long as justice and the principle of pacta sunt servanda are upheld. However, the EU should first get rid of strategic blindness and stop isolating Türkiye. Türkiye is the only way out of the predicament the EU finds itself in because of the competition between the powers in its east and west. The sooner the European leaders see and accept this fact, the better for them.” 

“WE WELCOME HAMAS’ ANNOUNCEMENT THAT IT HAS AGREED TO THE CEASEFIRE”

Stressing that Türkiye welcomes Hamas’ announcing that it has agreed to the ceasefire after Ankara’s calls, President Erdoğan said: “Now the same step should be taken by Israel. I call on all Western actors to put pressure on the Israeli administration. As I have repeatedly said in the past, we seek to increase the number of our friends. We have no insurmountable problem with any country in the region. We believe that there is no door that cannot be unlocked through dialogue and negotiations. We solely need goodwill and diplomacy. The rest will surely be achieved with some efforts and some sacrifices.”