In a thread on his Twitter account, Director of Communications Fahrettin Altun made remarks on the G20 Extraordinary Leaders’ Summit, which was held with an agenda on the coronavirus (Covid-19) and attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan via video conference.
Noting that President Erdoğan conveyed his condolences to the world leaders whose countries have been impacted by the coronavirus and who have lost their citizens, Altun said, " He also expressed Turkey’s readiness to help and cooperate on fighting the virus. President Erdoğan outlined the drastic measures we took very quickly and from early on.”
Stating that right from the start, they established an emergency scientific committee to monitor and confront the disease and that they are also working on producing test kits and developing a vaccine and medicines, Altun made the following remarks:
“Our President emphasized that this virus has reminded us that we have a common destiny even if our languages, religions, and countries might be different. Turkey is working at home but also abroad. We’re doing everything we can to help friends and allies to tackle this threat.
Our President underlined that none of us has the luxury to implement protectionist and unilateralist policies. A free, open and rules-based international trade system would help reduce the negative impact of this pandemic. Our decisions should be in line with the WTO principles.”
Pointing out that knowledge and experience about the diagnosis and treatment of the coronavirus should be shared, Altun said, “G20 countries have a great responsibility, they must assume it and show global cooperation to inspire confidence. Swap agreements between central banks should be enlarged to all G20 countries to reassure the global markets. If every country acts alone, we can’t avoid the negative economic impact of this crisis. No country can overcome this challenge on its own.”
Altun stressed that many developed countries have struggled severely in the face of this pandemic and noted the following:
“President Erdoğan recommended that G20 establish working groups to address various challenges especially in war-torn areas like Syrian refugees and IDPs and in high-risk communities. President Erdoğan called upon all G20 countries to cooperate effectively until we overcome the corona virus threat. Humanity is facing a common enemy and Turkey is ready, as always, to come together in the spirit of solidarity and cooperation.”