President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan answered reporters’ questions at Istanbul Atatürk Airport before his departure for Amman, Jordan’s capital.

Stating that the steps for further improving Turkey-Jordan relations will be discussed during the visit, which is the first visit at the presidential level in four years, President Erdoğan emphasized the special importance of the visit in that it coincides with the 70th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Drawing attention to the great momentum achieved in relations since 2016, President Erdoğan reminded that the Prime Minister of Jordan had paid a visit to Turkey in March of this year after Turkish Prime Minister’s visit to Jordan last year.

“Jordan gave significant support to Turkiye’s fight against FETO”

“Having immediately shut down the only FETO-affiliated school and having deported its staff, Jordan gave a significant support to Turkiye’s fight against FETO,” President Erdoğan underlined, adding that his visit to Jordan would provide an important opportunity for him to thank King Abdullah II and Jordanian authorities for this support of theirs.

Pointing to the documents signed in the past five or six years to further consolidate the infrastructure of bilateral trade relations between Jordan and Turkiye, President Erdoğan underscored that the trade volume between the two countries, however, has recently fallen from 1 billion dollars to 816 million dollars, and that they have been working in a bid to boost it.

“In this period of five or six years, we have signed such agreements as mutual incentive and protection of investments and mutual exemption of visas,” President Erdoğan said, and added: “We will hopefully have an opportunity during this visit to further increase our trade volume.”

“Muslims must be in full solidarity on the issue of Al-Quds”

President Erdoğan stressed that Turkiye and Jordan are two countries that are directly affected by regional crises, and continued: “Just like Turkiye, Jordan is also hosting a large number of Syrian refugees at the moment. We are home to about 3 million Syrian refugees, and Jordan, similarly, is home to nearly 1 million Syrian refugees. We attach great importance to the territorial integrity of Syria and Iraq, our neighbors. I know well that Jordan, too, is closely following the developments on this issue and sharing our concerns. On the occasion of this visit, we will have the opportunity to discuss with King Abdullah II the developments in Syria and Iraq. We will also address the latest situation in al-Quds and Haram al-Sharif, which are of great importance to the entire Islamic world. I would especially like to note that we attach importance to Jordan’s role in the protection of sacred sites in al-Quds.”

Underscoring that Turkiye and Jordan have achieved a significant dialogue and coordination regarding the crisis in Haram al-Sharif and that they never want the repetition of similar abuses, attacks and rights violations, President Erdoğan said: “To this end, Muslims must be in full solidarity on the issue of al-Quds. As we have always stated, we know that there is mercy in unity and wrath in the division. The biggest resource of the circles which feed off blood and tears in our region is the division and conflicts among Muslims.”

Iranian Military Chief’s visit to Turkiye

When asked about news reports suggesting an Iranian-Turkish joint military operation into Qandil and Sinjar, President Erdoğan said: “Launching such a joint operation against terrorist organizations, which have become an element of threat, is on the agenda at any moment for Iran and Turkiye, two neighboring countries that are members of the same faith.”

President Erdoğan continued: “This solidarity was discussed by the two chiefs of general staff. We exchanged views on what steps might be taken and discussed its diplomatic aspect. You know the PJAK is the PKK’s leg in Iran. They constantly harm both Iran and Turkey. We are making these efforts in the belief that these threats would be dealt with more effectively and faster if the two countries act in solidarity. I hope these efforts yield successful results.” (ILKHA)