Addressing the Gathering of Turkish and Brotherly Communities event in New York, President Erdoğan said: “Muslims are expected to assimilate, not integrate. We, however, say ‘yes’ to integration, but ‘no’ to all forms of assimilation. We consider it extremely important for our people to preserve their ties to their homeland while becoming a strong part of the countries in which they live.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and First Lady Emine Erdoğan attended the Gathering of Turkish and Brotherly Communities event organized by TASC, UID, MÜSİAD and USCMO in New York.
President Erdoğan delivered a speech at the event.
“I thank all our citizens who represent Türki̇ye”
President Erdoğan stated: “We are proud of the successes of all our citizens, no matter what views they hold, as long as they do not fall into the pit of treason. I thank all our citizens who represent Türkiye’s voice, expertise and values, and endeavor to strengthen the friendship between our country and the U.S. With the successes you achieve, friendships you build and contributions you make to the communities you live in, you are natural envoys of Türkiye. Undoubtedly, this ring of love does not consist of merely our citizens. We also attach importance to the presence of our friends who, although not being Turkish citizens themselves, harbor affection for Türkiye and our nation, and raise their voices against the prejudices and injustices towards the Turkish nation.”
“Immigrants are expected to deny their roots”
Drawing attention to the importance of the children in the Turkish community abroad learning their culture and language, and preserving their ties to their homeland, President Erdoğan noted: “In fact, this is not an obstacle before integration. Today, it is totally natural for individuals to feel that they belong to more than one country. What must be objected to here is that immigrants are expected to deny their roots in order to integrate with the community they are living in. What is more, in order for a group of immigrants to integrate with the community they are living in, that community should accept immigrants and respect their rights. While the U.S. is an exceptional example for this issue, unfortunately problems occur in many parts of the world, Europe in particular.”
“It is important for our people to preserve their ties to their homeland”
“Muslims are expected to assimilate, not integrate. We, however, say ‘yes’ to integration, but ‘no’ to all forms of assimilation. We consider it extremely important for our people to preserve their ties to their homeland while becoming a strong part of the countries in which they live. Underpinning this strong sense of belonging, which is to be passed down from generation to generation, are our language, faith, culture and shared memory,” President Erdoğan further stressed, and added: “We want the individual successes achieved by our people to turn into a legacy that is passed on to next generations, strong institutions and lasting structures. The path to combat Islamophobia, xenophobia and all kinds of discrimination in a stronger manner lies here. The path to saying ‘Stop!’ to those who want to plunge the Islamic geography into blood and tears lies here. The path to prevent the genocide taking place in Gaza from reoccurring in other places lies here. Also, the path to refuting the aspersions cast on Türkiye lies here. The path to increasing the trade, investments and economic cooperation between Türkiye and the U.S. lies here as well.”
