Addressing the Economic Transformation and New Paradigms Summit, Erdoğan said: “Our resilience and our moves in the face of the global economic crisis, which was triggered by the pandemic and has been aggravated by the war, prove that we have been following the right path.”

Erdoğan stated that the world is working to understand and adapt to the challenges brought about by the post-pandemic and war period.

Noting that Türkiye, as it has been experiencing these challenges for a long time, has been going ahead of other countries, Erdoğan said: “Our approaches, particularly regarding economy policies, were considered odd by many circles when we first mentioned and implemented them. However, every global crisis that has erupted has reaffirmed that our approaches are correct, our methods are realistic, and our practices are accurate.”

“We have developed our own economic programme”

Stressing that what Türkiye has done so far can by no means be branded as reinventing the wheel, Erdoğan stated: “What we are doing is to draw up a new roadmap for ourselves by analyzing in the best accurate manner the regional and global developments and our country’s position vis-à-vis these developments, as well as our strengths and weaknesses. To be honest, political and economic sanctions unjustly and unlawfully imposed on our country has compelled us to resort to this path. We have altered our economic policy, which we had executed according to the rules of the global economic system for a long time, in a bid to get rid of these traps. However, while doing so, we have never got detached from global or local realities and the magnificent reservoir offered by financial theories, nor from centuries-old rich experiences. Quite the contrary, we have made the best use of these to develop our own economic programme.”

“Most importantly, our resilience and our moves in the face of the global economic crisis, which was triggered by the pandemic and has been aggravated by the war, prove that we have been following the right path,” Erdoğan stressed.

Erdoğan, addressing the participants, went onto say: “Given your professions, you know the best the transformation in financial paradigms and its implications for national economies. Have no doubts whatsoever that we have benefited from your views, assessments and proposals in every step we have taken thus far. We will continue to advance towards our goals following the light I believe you will be shedding in front of us through your experiences.” 

“We have taken steps to rebuild our country in every area”

Noting that either the causes or the consequences of the century-old problems besetting the country have always been related to economy, Erdoğan said: “Once we came to power 20 years ago, we launched a comprehensive work to redress Türkiye’s shortcomings in democracy and infrastructure dating back to a century ago. We have taken steps to rebuild, so-to-speak, our country in every area from education, healthcare and security to justice, transportation, energy and agriculture. Since our citizens are aware of our efforts and achievements, they have supported us with higher numbers of votes in every election.”

Noting that a new situation and picture has emerged as the country’s needs in democracy and infrastructure have been met, Erdoğan went onto say: “We noticed that Türkiye’s position in the world was not in keeping with its true potential and capacity. That is why we first laid out our goals for 2023. This program is mainly comprised of our development and macroeconomic goals. However, even that step by itself caused many scenarios to be put in front of our county that are devoid of any rational justification and concrete basis or any connection with global developments. Scenarios that are hatched up with an intention to embroil our country in political instability, social chaos, the quagmire of terror and regional crises are solely aimed at derail Türkiye’s democracy and development. Yet, we have foiled all of these plots one by one thanks to our nation’s support.” (ILKHA)