“Türkiye-Senegal: Strong Friendship from Past to Future” Senegal is unique among African countries in that it holds a special place in our nation’s heart. Human relations between the two brotherly peoples date all the way back to six centuries ago. Since the 1960s, Turkish-Senegalese relations have grown stronger on these firm roots. Senegal played a vital role in our country's African partnership policies. Indeed, Senegal and Dakar have become one of the first addresses for our country to re-unite with and embrace Africa. Our embassy in Dakar, which opened in 1962, is one of the first in Africa. In 2007,...
Articles Written by the President
Türkiye is an integral component of the Balkans, while the Balkans are a crucial area of interest for Türkiye. Türkiye's perception of the Balkans is influenced by their shared history and culture. In particular, throughout the past two decades, Türkiye has endeavoured to foster closer and friendlier relations with the Balkan states. This approach places Albania at its centre. Türkiye considers Albania to be both a natural ally and a friend. Türkiye believes that a rise in Albania's prosperity and stability will contribute to peace and tranquillity in the entire region. In this regard,...
Around this time last year, Turkey’s military struck the Syrian regime’s positions to stop the latest attack on Idlib, the opposition’s final stronghold, and prevent the displacement or murder of innocent people. Over the course of eight days, we saved millions of lives. Countries that sang Turkey’s praises at the time quickly forgot about the humanitarian crisis in Syria, partly due to the coronavirus pandemic. The civil war went back to being yesterday’s news — until the West’s next crisis of conscience. Now, as talk of democracy, freedom and human rights are in...
The Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP), one of the most outstanding indicators of the unifying role of energy, is a regional peace project. TANAP is a concrete example of the excellent relations between Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia based on mutual trust, and a symbol of the deeply rooted friendship between our countries. TANAP constitutes the backbone of the Southern Gas Corridor, which aims to deliver natural gas from the Caspian Region to Europe, through Georgia and Turkey. Thus, it forms the most important part of this corridor, with a length of around 3,500 kilometres. The change and transformation that...
Libya has been grappling with a bloody civil war for almost a decade. And yet, so far, the international community has failed to live up to its responsibility to end the violence and restore peace and stability. Today, we’re witnessing the consequences of that apathy. Libya’s government, which the United Nations recognizes, has been under attack by the warlord Khalifa Haftar for several years. His armed group, which seeks to carry out a coup d’état in the country, enjoys support from the anti-democratic governments of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates among others. ...
By Recep Tayyip ERDOĞAN Since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, no country has felt the pain of the ensuing humanitarian crisis more severely than Türkiye. We took in 3.6 million Syrian refugees—more than any other country—and spent $40 billion to offer them education, health care and housing. Our culture of hospitality compelled us to shoulder the burden of hosting millions of war victims with very little help from the international community. Yet at a certain point, Türkiye reached its limit. My administration repeatedly warned that we would be unable to stop refugees from flooding into...
By Recep Tayyip Erdogan The murder of Post contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi was arguably the most influential and controversial incident of the 21st century, barring the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. No other event since 9/11 has posed such a serious threat to the international order or challenged the conventions that the world has come to take for granted. That, one year on, the international community still knows very little about what happened is a serious source of concern. Whether all aspects of the Saudi journalist’s death will ever come to light will determine what kind of world our children will...
By President Recep Tayyip ERDOGAN Türkiye and China have major responsibilities as a new world order emerges. Despite their geographical distance, Türkiye and China have maintained close economic and cultural relations for centuries. The Chinese and Turkish people, both representatives of ancient civilizations on the opposite ends of the Asian continent, have served humanity greatly by watching over the Silk Road and promoting commercial and cultural interaction. The centuries-old cooperation between our nations continues to grow stronger today thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) under the leadership of Xi Jinping, China's...
Fifty innocent people lost their lives in last week’s terrorist attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand. Dozens of other Muslims, who had gathered at local mosques to perform the Friday prayer, survived the assault with injuries. There were many historical references on the murder weapons and in a manifesto that the suspectedterrorist published online. The number of times he mentioned both Turkey and myself was both curious and worth deeper consideration. In the wake of the New Zealand attack, Turkish authorities discovered that Brenton Harrison Tarrant, the alleged gunman, had visited Trukey twice in 2016 and spent time in...