President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan answered questions from members of the press and made statements on current affairs whilst on the flight back from Kazakhstan, where he had travelled to attend the 6th Meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council and the Informal Summit of the Organisation of Turkic States (OTS).
President Erdoğan expressed his gratitude to President Kassym Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan and the Kazakh authorities, noting that the Kazakh leader extended exceptional hospitality throughout the entire visit.
President Erdoğan stated that during the talks in Astana, they had the opportunity to assess relations and regional and global developments in depth and that they reaffirmed their satisfaction with the course of relations and their determination to deepen cooperation in all areas.
Noting that the successful 6th Council meeting held historic significance for ties between the two brotherly nations and expressed hope for positive outcomes, President Erdoğan recalled that they signed the “Declaration of Eternal Friendship and Partnership” with President Tokayev, alongside 12 other documents in various fields.
President Erdoğan stated that Central Asian nations were among the first to assist Türkiye following the 6 February earthquakes. He further mentioned that this visit provided the opportunity to hold an opening ceremony in Astana for the school in Gaziantep, built by Kazakhstan and named in honour of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi.
President Erdoğan mentioned that he participated in the Business Forum and spoke to Turkish and Kazakh business representatives alongside President Tokayev, saying:
"In recent years, trade, investments, and energy have served as the primary driving forces behind our relations with Kazakhstan. We are talking about a Kazakh economy that has expanded by an average of more than 5 per cent over the past five years. Kazakhstan boasts Central Asia's largest economy, with total foreign trade reaching 145 billion dollars. Nearly 5,500 of our companies hold investments worth 6 billion dollars there, covering sectors from construction and finance to tourism and information technologies.
Our contractors have undertaken projects worth around 30 billion dollars. We intend to raise our trade volume to 15 billion dollars from its current level of 10 billion dollars. We also have significant cooperation in the energy sector. We place great importance on Kazakhstan's agreement with Azerbaijan to transport Kazakh oil via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan Pipeline. During our visit, agreements were finalised between the Turkish Petroleum Corporation and its Kazakh counterpart concerning the management of oil and gas fields. I believe our collaboration on energy will become even stronger in the coming years."
The President pointed out that during the second part of the Kazakhstan visit, they took part in the Informal Summit of the Organisation of Turkic States in Turkestan, a spiritual capital of the Turkic world. He added that they signed the "Turkestan Declaration" alongside Turkic state leaders to enhance current cooperation by leveraging opportunities in artificial intelligence and digitalisation.
President Erdoğan stated that the declaration reflected a mutual agreement to strengthen institutional integration processes among Turkic nations to match digital age demands, noting, "The attendance of President Tufan Erhürman of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus gave this summit further significance for us. We attach great importance to the involvement of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, an essential component of the Turkic world, in the Organisation's activities. And the Turkic world is doing its part by embracing the Turkish Cypriot people. God willing, during our term presidency, which we will assume when we host the 13th Summit this autumn, we will take the Organisation to new heights. I hope that the consultations we have held, both in Astana and in Turkestan, will be auspicious."
"We have always been a government that attaches importance to relations with the Turkic world"
President Erdoğan answered journalists' questions after his remarks.
When asked what the most important vision and objective he hoped to achieve in relations with Turkic states going forward, within the framework of the "Century of Türkiye", President Erdoğan said that they have always been a government that attaches importance to relations with the Turkic world and that they take pride in having crowned this with the Organisation of Turkic States.
President Erdoğan stated that, within the Organisation, which they regard as a family council, they discuss all forms of cooperation and strive to make the most of every opportunity, noting that they believe in progress and development achieved through collective effort.
The President recalled that he stated on all platforms that the Turkic world can play a more effective role in ensuring peace, stability and security in the region and added that, in line with the importance the AK Party attaches to Turkic world initiatives, they have established a chairmanship responsible for the Turkic world and prepared Türkiye’s first “Turkic World Vision Document”.
Emphasising that the Turkic world has enormous potential in economic, cultural and strategic aspects, President Erdoğan said, "We are striving to harness this potential and make further strides in every field, particularly in diplomacy, energy, trade, transport, security and defence. Just as our forebears once cemented the strength of the Turkish people through peace and justice across the world, we believe we will re-establish this today as the strong and sovereign countries of the Turkic world. This year, the Leaders’ Summit of the Organisation of Turkic States will be hosted by our country. During our term presidency, we will exert great effort to strengthen the Organisation both internally and externally. God willing, I don’t think we’ll have any problems with this."
"We believe that the region’s problems can be resolved by the region’s countries"
In response to a question about why the US-Israel-Iran war has not ended, President Erdoğan answered:
"One of the main factors behind this crisis, as I have emphasised at every opportunity, is Israel’s ceaseless provocations. Carried away by certain fantasies and utopian ideals, Israel has repeatedly shown that it has no qualms about setting our region ablaze for the sake of its own ambitions. Israel wants this war to spread throughout the region and for the turmoil in our region to intensify further. First, Israel’s provocations must be neutralised, and then a genuine peace needs to be built. As Türkiye, we are doing and will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that this chaos is resolved before it escalates into a more complex situation. We believe that the region’s problems can be resolved by the region’s countries. Together, we must increase our efforts to achieve calm, stability, and peace and put an end to these bloody games. If lasting stability is to be achieved in the region, everyone must set aside their short-term calculations. Countries should defend the rights of their own and their citizens, not those of international companies or external actors."
In response to a question on Türkiye’s hosting of the NATO Summit in the near future, President Erdoğan emphasised that the NATO Heads of State and Government Summit, to be held in Ankara on 7–8 July, is of critical importance in the Alliance’s history.
President Erdoğan noted that recent developments both in the region and the world have further increased the importance of the Ankara summit and said, "We expect important decisions to be taken in Ankara regarding the future of the Alliance and the future shape of the global security architecture. Today’s world is not a continuation of the old world that existed when NATO was founded. A new world has been established, and NATO’s position in this new world is very different. Threats have grown more complex, risks have diversified, and the global system has eroded; in short, the world has changed dramatically. Fair burden-sharing, sincere cooperation and a shared understanding of security within NATO are of the utmost importance for the Alliance’s future. As Türkiye, we are ready to do our part to ensure a more resolute NATO that is better prepared to face threats."
"Türkiye represents a major opportunity for the European Union"
In response to a question regarding Türkiye’s vision of full membership of the European Union, President Erdoğan stated that they had not put forward this vision in order to compete with or undermine anyone and continued:
"We sincerely wish to strengthen both our country and the European Union as a part of the Union. But unfortunately, the European Union is unaware of this. Just because the European Union is unaware of this, we cannot abandon our ideals. Let me say this very clearly and plainly: we have been firmly defending this vision for years and taking consistent steps. Although Türkiye has at times been subjected to certain ambivalent and, at times, outright discriminatory practices so far, we remain faithfully committed to our membership bid. Rather than burdening the structures to which it belongs, Türkiye is a nation that shares those burdens. Every platform we take part in is a rising value. Let me state this clearly as well: Occasionally, we notice very regrettable, shortsighted remarks about our nation coming from within the union. We convey to our peers that such a mindset harms the European Union at a time when the world is transforming across all sectors. Türkiye represents a major opportunity for the European Union, and the Union needs to make a historic decision to seize it. As I have previously said, Europe has arrived at a crossroads, and at this juncture, it must evaluate the situation with much greater care."
Answering a question about Türkiye's potential return to the F-35 programme, President Erdoğan remarked, "Our expectations concerning the F-35 remain clear. Our officials are maintaining contacts with their American counterparts. We hope to achieve a positive outcome."
"KAAN marks our initial step; we will go on to build even more powerful ones"
President Erdoğan stated regarding Türkiye's domestically produced national fighter jet, "Progress on our KAAN project continues steadily day by day. Once the process is complete, a completely new chapter will open up in this domain. KAAN marks our initial step. We can and will go on to build even better, more powerful ones. Have no doubt in this regard. Beyond KAAN, many of our defence industry products are successfully capturing global attention.
At SAHA-2026, held in İstanbul, our power and effectiveness in the defence industry sector were fully demonstrated. Over 150,000 visitors witnessed the level our nation has attained in this field, alongside the tangible results on display. Over 200 new products were launched, while a business volume of 8 billion dollars was successfully generated. These figures both demonstrate the level we have achieved and further motivate us to reach our goals."