“Turkey expresses its discomfort with this. We want to draw attention to a different issue. These bases are outside the borders, but it should not be forgotten that the US military bases are also within the borders of Turkey, especially Incirlik. Let us repeat once again our previous calls, 'These bases should be closed as soon as possible',” Yapıcıoğlu said in his party’s weekly statement on recent domestic and foreign issues.

"Poor countries need food assistance more than other countries"

Referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s remarks on grain shipments from Ukrainian ports to European countries instead of poor countries, Yapıcıoğlu said: "The war that broke out between two countries, which are the world's largest grain producers and exporters, brought up the global supply shortage of grain and oil. As a result, prices rose very quickly. Later, a grain corridor agreement was signed under the mediation of the UN and Turkey. Maybe this was a very pleasing and diplomatic success for the poor people living in the world to eat bread, and we expressed our appreciation for this. However, while this agreement was very important for people with low incomes to be able to eat bread cheaper and find grain, the agenda suddenly changed with Putin's statements, and the whole world learned that a large part of this grain was heading towards European countries.

“After this agreement, 105 ships carrying 2.5 million tons of grain left the Ukrainian ports. Except for 2, all the ships went to rich western countries. This is neither fair nor acceptable. The main purpose of the signed grain agreement is to provide cheap access to food products not only for a region but also for the whole world. Poor countries need food products much more than other countries,” Yapıcıoğlu added. (ILKHA)