Regarding the Air Operation Claw-Sword, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, "There is no way this could be restricted to merely an air operation. Our relevant units, our Ministry of Defence, and our General Staff will collectively decide on the appropriate level of involvement by the Land Forces; we will consult and then take the necessary steps."
On his return flight from his visit to Qatar to attend the FIFA World Cup 2022 Opening Ceremony, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan answered journalists' questions and commented on current affairs.
President Erdoğan stated that his visit to Doha at the invitation of Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar had concluded, thanking the Qataris, and Sheikh Tamim in particular, for hosting him and his delegation.
President Erdoğan congratulated Qatar on the successful organisation of the FIFA World Cup 2022 Opening Ceremony and wished success to all teams competing in the approximately one-month-long tournament. Hoping the event to be concluded in peace and safety, in line with the spirit of sportsmanship, President Erdoğan called attention to the significance of this international sporting event, which is expected to attract more than one million spectators, as the first World Cup to be held in Islamic geography.
President Erdoğan remarked that relations with Qatar, the strategic partner, are excellent, adding that under the resolution passed by the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, the TCG Burgazada corvette is conducting operations in the territorial waters of Qatar, several teams of the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) are stationed there as part of Operation World Cup Shield, and 2,242 members of the Turkish National Police, the majority of whom are riot police officers, are still on duty there.
President Erdoğan stated that they observed the successful fulfilment of duties by personnel assigned to Qatar for the visit and ceremony and continued, "We are proud of all of our security officers that represent our country and nation there. They are deserving of the utmost praise."
President Erdoğan noted that they took this occasion to come together with the heads of state and government and senior officials present at the opening ceremony, wishing that the FIFA World Cup 2022 would serve as a model for the region and all of humanity, be auspicious, and be remembered as an event dominated by the spirit of fair play, with messages of brotherhood and friendship, and instilling hope and confidence in young people.
"There is no way this could be restricted to merely an air operation"
Upon the question "Will the Air Operation Claw-Sword against northern Iraq and Syria continue with the ground operation?" and "If this is true, what kind of anti-terrorism process will the joint operation of Moscow and Ankara bring to the region?" regarding the allegation that "Russia opened the regions under its control to the Turkish Armed Forces," President Erdoğan continued as follows:
"First and foremost, this operation in northern Iraq and Syria was not carried out haphazardly, with the thought, 'I wonder who will say what and how will it happen.' As I previously stated, if someone disturbs our country and lands, we will make them pay the price. In fact, there are terrorist organisations in the south of our country that plan numerous attacks or carry them out and pose a threat. They exist on both the Iraqi and Syrian sides of the border. As I always say, 'We may come suddenly one night,' and I didn't say it for nothing. Because these steps were taken as soon as the expected, designed, and the planned time arrived.
As a matter of fact, the operation carried out last night was a perfect reflection of this. Because rendering these terrorist organisations harmless and eradicating them is an indispensable duty of our security forces right now. There is no way this could be restricted to merely an air operation. Our relevant units, our Ministry of Defence, and our General Staff will collectively decide on the appropriate level of involvement by the Land Forces; we will consult and then take the necessary steps. We have already established diplomatic relations with the countries that have a presence there, and we have taken and continue to take our steps accordingly."
"Despite our repeated reminders, they did not comply; they cannot"
When asked whether the inclusion of Ayn al-Arab (Kobani) in the Euphrates Shield region is on the agenda of these operations, President Erdoğan replied, "This region has always been one of the targets, and the steps have already been taken accordingly. In fact, there were two significant regions in this target this time in the same way. One of them was northern Iraq, and the other was northern Syria. We have taken steps toward these regions and will continue to do so."
Noting the agreement with Russia in Sochi in 2019, President Erdoğan said, "They were responsible for eliminating the terrorists in the region. Unfortunately, despite our repeated reminders, they did not comply, and they cannot. We stated that we would not remain silent against them and would take action against terrorists if they were unable to do it themselves. Within this framework, we neutralised 12 terrorist targets settled in Kobani by striking them yesterday. There are no restrictions here. There is continuity in this operation. We did whatever was required on land and in the air. We will continue to do so."
"I am proud of our security organisation"
When asked about the terrorist attack in Beyoğlu, President Erdoğan said:
"We have thoroughly evaluated all of our strategies for neutralising these terrorists on the field, and accordingly, we have continued and are continuing these efforts. Think about it, such a security organisation that, in less than 12 hours, they caught the perpetrator and all the people they were related to, nearly 50 people with whom they were related at their homes, where they were, where they worked and arrested them all. The number one perpetrator of the incident was immediately arrested in the same manner."
Emphasising that more than 100 cameras were monitored on İstiklal Street alone and the necessary action was taken immediately, President Erdoğan said, "This is also an indication of the strength of our security organisation, our Ministry of the Interior, and our entire heroic police force, as well as the fact that they are strengthening and advancing. Therefore, I am proud of our security organisation."
Pointing out that the international police organisation's acknowledgement of the Turkish Police Organisation's strength and their statement that "The Turkish Police Organisation is the most respected police organisation in the world" was not incidental, President Erdoğan said:
"How does this happen? It happens through such practices, with the success they achieve. We see that terrorists are caught and killed even in the world's most developed countries. Our police, on the other hand, do not tend to kill; they went after them by catching them alive, asking them questions and revealing where they had connections with, and we are still in their tracks. In addition, here, they identified that the action derived from Syria, and they uncovered from where else they infiltrated into our country, and we are going against them. At the moment, their proceedings are still ongoing."
"Around 70 combatant and support aircraft and UAVs took part in the operation"
Upon the question, "Would you mind providing a little more concrete information regarding the operation's scope? How many kilometres, for instance, did this operation in Iraq and Syria cover in terms of depth of area? Which targets were hit? How many aircraft took part in this operation? How can the aftermath be described?" President Erdoğan said, "Around 70 of our combat and support aircraft and UAVs took part as a combined force in the execution of the Air Operation Claw-Sword."
Noting that in the operation, a total of 89 targets including hideouts, bunkers, caves, tunnels, ammunition depots, so-called headquarters and training camps belonging to terrorists who threaten the country, nation and border security in Syria and northern Iraq were successfully destroyed, President Erdoğan said:
"This is not an ordinary event. Many terrorists have been neutralised there. They were in caves. These caves are all being bombed. Who died there, who was neutralised, and all of this will come out later. As of right now, 44 terrorist hideouts in Syria at a depth of approximately 20 kilometres and 45 terrorist hideouts in northern Iraq at a depth of about 140 kilometres have been bombed with direct hits. Thanks be to Allah, our forces who took part in the operation made it back to their assigned bases safely. I met with General Hulusi at 04.00 a.m. while the operation was taking place, and he briefed me on the most recent developments. We ended the night with a successful operation."
“We have not had a meeting with either Mr. Biden or Mr. Putin regarding the operation”
Regarding the question, “Did you talk about this operation? What was their attitude?” President Erdoğan stated that he recently met with US President Joe Biden in Bali and has regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and continued to note the following:
“We have not had any conversations with Mr. Biden or Mr. Putin regarding this operation. But both Mr. Biden and Mr. Putin are aware that we have the ability to act in this manner at any time in this region. Like in this case, we always say, we may come suddenly one night. It is Türkiye’s security organization; it does not operate with permission. If we are to take a step, we will decide to do it and do it now. Now, America ought to be aware of us. I guess it does. In any case, we play a considerably bigger role in the upcoming process. I hope everyone will understand that we should take these steps and that we will do so decisively.”
President Erdoğan noted that while Türkiye is a member of NATO with the United States, they were upset that the US had given thousands of tools, weapons, and ammunition to the Syrian terrorism zone.
“This has been going on since Mr. Obama’s administration, has persisted under Mr. Trump, and has continued under Mr. Biden. Well, did we share this with them? We did, indeed. I shared these with Mr. Obama; I shared them with Mr. Trump and with Mr. Biden. I told them, “As two significant allies, we are in NATO with you. You are putting us in danger by supporting the terrorist groups here, especially given the threat that emanates from the south. These problems are not something we can live with. When necessary, we will have to respond to them accordingly.” They cannot say anything. We have already taken the necessary steps, we are still taking them, and we will keep doing them. We can never make concessions because such concessions would be detrimental to our country.”
“We were with Mr. Guterres; he expressed his appreciation and thankfulness once more”
Upon the question, “You have used the phrase ‘suddenly one night’ in reference to operations for several years. While these operations have been ongoing intensively since August 2016, the Turkish Armed Forces are experiencing its most operational period; some still say, ‘The elections are coming. They are using it for that’. Upon the question, ‘What is your opinion on these?’ President Erdogan said, “There is actually no opinion we can have on these.”
Emphasizing that they have not just started the fight against terrorism, President Erdoğan continued his words as follows:
"Consider the situation of terrorism a few years ago. Terrorism was at the top of the list of problems, wasn't it? How do you rank terrorism now, among other problems? It is now further down the list. So what about the economy? The Central Bank's foreign exchange reserve has already reached $123 billion. Our foreign exchange reserves will likely hit $130 billion by the end of this month. I am calling out to the opposition; we are familiar with these figures. During my tenure as Prime Minister, our foreign exchange reserves grew to $135 billion. Türkiye is familiar with this. We can catch it again and soar beyond it. We will take the necessary steps for this too. With all their provocative approaches, they think that 'if we say so, the government will collapse'. No, it won't collapse with any of these initiatives because we continue on our path with steady steps, winning the world's confidence at this point."
Stressing that Türkiye's stance in the Russia-Ukraine War, the message it gave to the world, the grain corridor it established, and the steps it took regarding fertilisers and ammonia are evident, President Erdoğan said:
"As a result of all these efforts, every leader we meet tells us, 'You have done great things, you are accomplishing fantastic things, and the world is breathing a sigh of relief thanks to you right now.' This evening, we were with Mr. Guterres, and we talked. He expressed his appreciation and thankfulness once more. They say, "If Türkiye had not been involved in this process, we would not have been able to achieve this." Have you heard anything like that from the opposition? Do they thank us for this? No, because our opposition focuses on negativity, not on giving credit where it is due. We continue on our route, whether they accept it or not."
President Erdoğan said that President Putin proposed to him, saying, "Let's send this grain to underdeveloped, or poor, countries free of charge," and he continued:
"We agreed, too. We even made such a plan that we would buy wheat if necessary, mill it into flour in Türkiye, and then ship it as flour to those underdeveloped countries. As we talked to Guterres, we are now planning to buy wheat, mill it into flour and ship it as flour to underdeveloped or poor countries; we will take their blessing for doing so."
When asked about his conversation with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt during the opening reception, President Erdoğan said:
"We said that a process may begin. A move has been taken here to begin such a process, and we have had fruitful discussions. I hope we can carry the process that began with our ministers to the next level with high-level meetings. Because in my opinion, it is not just a meeting of leaders between Türkiye and Egypt; the historical unity between the Turkish nation and the Egyptian people is very important to us. Why not again? Why not start again? We gave a signal. Hopefully, we will take this step if no unforeseen circumstances arise. Obviously, our sole demand from them is that, through these negotiations, we establish peace against those who take a stand against us in the Mediterranean and, hopefully, continue on our path.”
"We need to see the first matches for the favourite"
When asked which team from the 2022 FIFA World Cup he favours, President Erdogan replied:
"These are the first matches. It is difficult to say that this team is the favourite. To begin with, we may say that we do not fully know these teams, but there are several countries that have always put their mark on football from the past to the present, such as Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay... As you can see, these countries are changing as well. So what is the current scenario in these countries is also unknown. That is why you must assess the situation when the matches are completed. After that, perhaps a decision can be made. For example, I really liked Ecuador tonight. It's a strong team. On the other hand, Qatar is participating in such a championship for the first time. This group, for example, is quite powerful. We have the Netherlands, and Senegal in that group. These are all strong teams. Not ordinary teams. That's why we need to see the first matches. Then, we can say, 'This country will take the lead'."
"Türkiye's organisational skills are well known throughout the world."
When President Erdoğan was reminded about Türkiye’s bid to host the 2028 and 2032 European Football Championships and asked about the initiatives related to the process, he replied:
"We have made our application both for 2028 and for the future. We have no doubt that Türkiye will host the best of these events, thanks to our most modern and newest stadiums in the world, as well as our technical strengths and capacity. Türkiye's organisational skills are well known throughout the world. As you may be aware, the 2023 Champions League final will be held in Istanbul in June. Türkiye is no longer a demanding country on these issues, but rather a demanded country. That's why we trust ourselves. Last year, we held more than 200 international organizations. Indeed, the infrastructure that appeals to each different branch is well present in our country. I believe that this will be a step forward for world football from now on. For instance, I watched Türkiye's matches with Scotland and Czechia. In these two matches, I saw that the team has made a comeback and it is more vibrant. And our team is now younger and in a different mood. They will continuously bounce back and emerge victorious from the future official games to be played with this spirit, which will boost their self-confidence. We wish them success. Besides, we have a very young team. Hopefully, we can convince people that "We are also present in the world."