Delivering remarks at the two-year review meeting of the Presidential System of Government, Erdoğan said: “We have paid 47 separate visits to 16 countries in 2018, 14 countries in 2019 and 10 countries in 2020, and pursued our country’s rights and interests in the international arena. During this period, we have hosted 98 visiting heads of state and government, and held 366 phone conversations with our counterparts. Turkey has become a country every leader seeks consultation from or cooperation with in resolving almost all regional and global problems.”

“The presidential system of government is the only reform of government to have been implemented directly by the will of the nation”

“The Presidential System of Government is the only reform of government to have been implemented directly by the will of the nation in our almost 200-year quest for democracy. All the other changes have taken place either under war circumstances or at extraordinary times. The owner of this reform, which suits the essence of democracy and republic, is the nation itself. What we did in this process was nothing but to do our part in the direction our nation has shown,” Erdoğan said.

“We have never let it slip our mind that “the merit is to win over the heart of the nation by ameliorating the country” in line with the will of Mehmet the Conqueror, known as “Sultanü’l Berreyn” and “Sultanü’l Bahreyn, i.e. the ruler of two continents and two seas. It was this search of ours that lies behind our decision to reconvert Hagia Sophia from museum into mosque in accordance with the foundation charter of Mehmet the Conqueror. Turkey exercises its rights of national sovereignty in the operations it conducts for border security, in all the steps it takes in line with international agreements and in the decisions, it makes at home. We are one of the rare countries with no stain of colonialism and massacre in its history. With this pride, we will continue to act as a country which doesn’t have its eye on others’ rights but always takes what rightfully belongs to it. We will distinguish ourselves by upholding justice, law, security, peace and prosperity, all the humanitarian attributes in short, wherever we are influential. By our deeds thus far we have proven that we have no designs over the lands, sovereignty, and particularly natural resources of anyone. No matter what immoralities our interlocutors commit, we will not deviate from the direction our faith and history set for us. This stance, undoubtedly, leaves no room for calculations of self-interest, dirty bargains or for turning one’s back on Al-Haqq and the people for the sake of benefit. This is how we have behaved thus far, and we, in the future as well, will carry on with our endeavors by maintaining our principled, honorable, humanitarian and conscientious stance,” Erdoğan noted.

Erdoğan continued his speech as follows: “We have paid 47 separate visits to 16 countries in 2018, 14 countries in 2019 and 10 countries in 2020, and pursued our country’s rights and interests in the international arena. During this period, we have hosted 98 visiting heads of state and government, and held 366 phone conversations with our counterparts to discuss matters on our agenda. Turkey has become a country every leader seeks consultation from or cooperation with in resolving almost all regional and global problems.”

“With regard to investments, we have reached a total amount of TL2.3 trillion in 2018 and 2019. TL309.5 billion of that amount is public investment and TL2 trillion is private sector investment,” Erdoğan highlighted.

“We have achieved historic success in the fight against terrorist organizations”

“In the past 2 years, we have achieved historic success in the fight against terrorist organizations and terrorists. We have conducted over 234 000 operations against the PKK separatist terrorist organization, including 224 000 operations in rural areas and over 10 000 in urban areas. In these operations, we have neutralized 2 354 terrorists in total, including 950 dead, 732 wounded or alive and 672 others who have surrendered. Through persuasion efforts, we have saved 530 terrorists from the organization’s claws. Therefore, the number of terrorists within our borders has dropped to 400s. In the past year and a half, we have thwarted nearly 400 attacks by the PKK. In order to fight against the FETO, the perpetrator of one of the greatest recent betrayals to our country and nation, the July 15 coup attempt in particular, we have carried out 17 000 operations.  We have dismantled, to a great extent, all networks of FETO in all areas from bureaucracy to the business world, and we continue to deal with the remaining ones as we identify them. We have carried out 2 652 domestic operations against DAESH and Al Qaeda, neutralized 635 terrorists and thwarted 5 attacks. Thanks be to Allah, DAESH has not been able to carry out a single attack in our country since the beginning of 2017. In the fight against narcotics, we have conducted 364 346 operations in total in the past 2 years. We are determined to give no respite to drug dealers who poison our citizens and particularly our youth. In our fight against irregular migration, we have increased the capacity of our repatriation centers to 20 000 with an 8 124 rise, and added 9 new centers, increasing the number of centers to 28. The number of Syrians, voluntarily returning to the areas we have cleared of terror, has exceeded 402 000. We are closely monitoring the refugees from Syria and other places who are still in our country,” Erdoğan said.

“We have further strengthened our military in all areas”

“In national defense, we have further strengthened in all areas our military, which is working day and night for the peace and security of our country and our nation. With operations Olive Branch, Claw and Peace Spring as well as Euphrates Shield, we have dealt new blows to the terror corridor sought to be formed along our southern borders. We are establishing safe zones across our borders in order to cut off terrorists infiltrating our country from the Iraqi border. In doing so, we have considerably eliminated the terror threat from this region against our country. In line with the agreements we have made, we support the legitimate government in Libya. By pushing back the putschists who threatened Tripoli, we have ensured the security of the Libyan people and helped them look to the future with hope. Our heroic military serves in many locations across the world from Afghanistan to Kosovo, from Somalia to Qatar as the assurance of peace and serenity,” Erdoğan underlined.

“We have lowered foreign dependency in defense industry from around 70 percent to around 30 percent”

“We have lowered foreign dependency in defense industry from around 70 percent to around 30 percent. In this area, Turkey, which undertook 62 defense projects with a budget of $5.5 billion back in 2002, now carries out as many as 700 projects with a budget of $60 billion. In the meantime, the number of Turkish companies operating in defense industry has increased from 56 to 1 500, with the sector turnover rising from $1 billion to $11 billion. This picture is also reflected by our exports. While Turkey’s defense and aviation exports stood at merely $248 million 18 years ago, this figure has now surpassed $3 billion. The fact that 5 Turkish companies are featured among the list of top defense companies of the world is an important indicator of the level we have achieved,” Erdoğan said.

“We have increased our exports by 5 times from $36 billion in 2002 to $180.8 billion in 2019”

“In trade, we have put into action a strategy which will support our exports, reduce our imports and change the current account balance from deficit to surplus. In this regard, we have increased our exports by 5 times from $36 billion in 2002 to $180.8 billion in 2019. In the past 2 years, we have achieved a total export volume of $346.4 billion,” Erdoğan noted.

“Turkey determinedly advances toward becoming a global hub”

“In energy, we determinedly advance toward becoming a global hub beyond being self-sufficient. In this regard, we inaugurated the section of TANAP Project, whose construction we began in 2015, from Georgia-Turkey border to Eskişehir in June 2018 and the European Connection in October 2019. We completed the offshore section of the TurkStream natural gas pipeline in November 2018 and began receiving gas as of January 1, 2020. We have built an advanced infrastructure in the areas of liquefied gas, natural gas storage, re-gasification terminal and underground natural gas storage facilities. Turkey’s first-ever offshore drilling vessel, Fatih, began drilling in the Mediterranean in October 2018. Our second drilling vessel, Yavuz, began drilling last year. With these moves, we have foiled the traps sought to be set against Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean. We will uninterruptedly continue the exploration and drilling activities in the license areas, given by the TRNC to Turkish Petroleum, and in our own continental shelf. The construction of our Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant is underway. In coal production, we have broken the record of the Republican era and reached 101.5 million tons,” Erdoğan said.

“We endeavor for the shared interests of the humanity”

“With the understanding of ‘The World is bigger than 5,’ we endeavor for the shared interests of the humanity in every field. In this regard, we have boosted our efficacy in the world by increasing the number of our foreign missions, which was 242 in 2018, to 246. We have maintained our effective position both on the ground and at the table in order for a lasting resolution to the Syrian conflict to be found, and we will continue to do so. We will continue to have a presence in Syria until the Syrian people, who are our brothers and sisters as well as our neighbors for a thousand years, find freedom, peace and security. We signed “The Memorandum of Understanding on Security and Military Cooperation” and “The Memorandum of Understanding on Delimitation of the Maritime Jurisdiction Areas” with the Government of National Accord of Libya on November 27, 2019. We enhance our cooperation with Libya on this contractual and legitimate basis. Pursuant to the memorandum of understanding we signed with Libya, we determinedly defend our country’s rights and interests in the maritime jurisdiction areas in the eastern Mediterranean. Furthermore, we take additional steps to strengthen our cooperation with Libya in the field of energy. We call on everyone, who displays aggressive attitudes against Libya’s legitimate government, to respect international law and the will of the Libyan people. We endeavor to intensify the dialogue between Turkey and Iraq in every field and at every level. We will continue our efforts for Iraq with the aim of preserving Iraq’s political unity and territorial integrity, fighting against terrorist organizations, enhancing investment and trade, and of protecting Iraqi Turkmens’ rights. We have consolidated our comprehensive cooperation with Qatar, our strategic partner in the Gulf, through efforts exerted at the highest level. Over the past two years, we have successfully carried out the term chairmanships of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). With over 30 high-level meetings we held during our term chairmanship of the OIC, we accelerated the organization’s activities. In addition to this, we hosted two extraordinary summits, one in 2017 and the other in 2018, on al-Quds against Israel’s unlawful steps. In 2020, we work to effectively carry out our term chairmanships of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue, the Developing 8 Countries, the Forum for Security Cooperation and of the Economic Cooperation Organization. We have also assumed as of July 1, 2020 the term chairmanship of the South East European Countries Cooperation Process, which is the largest regional cooperation forum in the Balkans and is joined by 13 countries in the region. Turkey’s nominee was elected for the first time as the President of the United Nations General Assembly. The United Nations Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries was founded on June 4, 2018 in Gebze. We have uninterruptedly continued our fight against the foreign extensions of the terrorist organizations that threaten Turkey. In this sense, we have exerted intensive efforts to enhance international and interinstitutional cooperation. We have worked very hard to advance our bilateral relations with European Union countries, Russia and the U.S., with which we have comprehensive relations. We have carried out highly-visible activities within NATO, of which we are a leading member. We have displayed on every platform our resolute stance regarding the Cyprus issue, our national cause. As our country is now represented in 42 out of 54 African countries, we have consolidated our relations with Africa through crucial assistances and initiatives. The number of the embassies of African countries in Ankara has increased to 37,” Erdoğan added.

“Until we have achieved our country’s goals for 2023, we will carry on our path without ceasing, hesitating or giving way to despair in the face of the obstacles raised before us and by constantly raising the bar for service,” Erdoğan underscored. (ILKHA)