President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, addressed journalists following his visit to Albania, and responded to the questions.
President Erdoğan stated that they conducted fruitful tête-à-tête meetings with Prime Minister Edi Rama of Albania as well as meetings between delegations, and expressed that they were pleased with the progress made in recent years.
"We have reiterated our mutual political will to develop and expand our Strategic Partnership relations into new areas. We agreed to convene the first meeting of the High Level Cooperation Council, which we established last year through the Joint Political Declaration we signed. Our foreign ministers will hold talks among themselves, and then we will most likely hold this meeting by the end of this year.” President Erdoğan said.
President Erdoğan noted that they also exchanged views on regional issues that were on their common agenda, and added, “We have assessed security developments as two NATO allies. We discussed potential steps to meet Albania's defence industry needs. We specifically reviewed our joint struggle against FETO structuring in Albania with Prime Minister Edi Rama.”
President Erdoğan stated that they made various agreements that would further strengthen bilateral cooperation, and that seven agreements were signed in this regard. He also stated that the delegation's ministers and representatives of relevant institutions met with their Albanian counterparts. President Erdoğan said that he addressed the Albanian Parliament during his visit, and that they held a ceremony to deliver 522 earthquake houses built by the Housing Development Administration of Türkiye (TOKI), in the city of Laç following the 2019 earthquake in Albania.
“Following the restoration by the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), we witnessed the reopening of Ethem Bey Mosque, a heritage of our ancestors, located in the most picturesque site in Tirana's city square. Ethem Bey Mosque is of particular importance as it is the only historical mosque remaining from the eight great mosques built during the Ottoman Period in Tirana, the capital. The maintenance, repair and restoration works initiated by TIKA in 2018 were completed last year. Along with our Namazgah Mosque, this mosque serves as an excellent example of a historical monument as well.”
President Erdoğan stated that he and Prime Minister Rama visited the Ethem Bey Mosque and left a replica of The Ahmed Karahisari Qur’an at Topkapı Palace as a souvenir, and he added:
"Inshallah, this mosque will be highly crucial to all of our Muslim brothers and sisters in Albania. We now plan to complete the Namazgah Mosque before the end of Ramadan. This mosque has a capacity of 3 thousand and 250 people. Inshallah, this will be a beautiful work. KOMAŞ incorporation, an affiliate of Türkiye Diyanet Foundation, is leading the works of that mosque. Various problems occurred because of the FETO issue. It was delayed due to these problems. In fact, we were on the verge of stopping the work. However, as a result of Mr. Edi Rama's promises to us, we said "OK" today. With Allah's permission, we'll shoulder and start the work as long as the other issues are resolved. We are hoping that they carry out this plan by the end of February, and then we will step up our efforts."
"We are present in the Balkans as Türkiye"
When the journalists asked, "Will there be any new projects or collaborations in the fields of culture, art, and education in addition to those already underway? For example, in November or December, the Korkut Ata Turkish World Film Festival took place. Will something similar be organised in the Balkan countries? " and reminded that the Maarif Foundation, through which Türkiye revived several works in the Balkan geography, opened new schools, President Erdoğan said, "We want to take a step in the Balkans, in each Balkan country; to safeguard our past there particularly through TİKA and to do whatever is necessary for culture and art through TİKA. TİKA is working in practically all Balkan nations at the moment. It continues to operate at a high level of efficiency. There, TİKA works extensively on mosques, bridges, and other such projects. "
Noting that 568 works have been created only in Albania to date, President Erdoğan said, "Apart from that, we are pursuing these endeavours vigorously in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and Macedonia, in all of those locations, all the way up to the Alevi Bektashi lodges. You know some say 'There is a distinction between sect and disposition.' That is not the case. If such were the case, we would refrain from assisting them. However, we have a presence in each of those nations. We assist them in whatever way we can, and we also construct and revive them there. One cannot conceive of the Balkans without thinking of Türkiye. We are present in the Balkans as Türkiye. "
"We need to remove war from political history"
When asked, recalling the latest developments in Ukraine, "Türkiye has good relations with both sides of the crisis. Is it possible for you to negotiate a solution to this crisis with the parties, although it isn't called mediation? What will Türkiye's position as a NATO member be if there is a threat of a Russian invasion of Ukraine?" President Erdoğan responded that he did not believe Russia's invasion of Ukraine was a realistic approach.
Expressing that Ukraine was not an ordinary country but a powerful country, President Erdoğan added:
"Furthermore, for Russia to take this step, it must assess the global situation as well as its own. President of Azerbaijan Aliyev was in Ukraine. Now I'm going to speak with Mr. İlham. Of course, we'll have to talk to Mr. Putin about these issues as well. Any region can no longer tolerate war. This wouldn't be right, either. Now is the time to remove war from political history. These things defy the logic of 'I will occupy the lands of a region.' What did Russia do in Ukraine, for example? It invaded Crimea. I always tell Mr. Putin that we oppose the invasion of Crimea in every encounter we have with him. Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs also conveys these facts to its counterparts. So, our policy on this subject is quite clear."
President Erdoğan commented on the situation in Syria, saying:
"We're looking south. The United States has bases across a large portion of Syria. Russia, too, has bases. Terrorist organisations, on the other hand, have received and continue to receive significant support from the United States. Is it possible to act as though they've vanished already? No. We repeatedly brought this up in our talks with Biden. We made this point during our discussions with Trump. We made this point during our discussions with Obama. 'You support terrorist groups,' I always told them all. They supplied trucks loaded with thousands of weapons, ammo, and other vital supplies to terrorist groups operating in our country's south and northeast of Syria. They did exactly that as Coalition Forces in Iraq and as Coalition Forces in Syria, and they continue to do so. 'We have retreated; we are retreating. We do not support terrorist groups here,' they say. They certainly do not speak the truth. Russia, for its part, is not leaving the region. At the moment, Assad would be unable to stand if Russia withdrew its support from Syria. Assad is currently standing firm with the support he gets from Russia. Obviously, Iran is on board. So, there is that. We hope that peace and tranquillity will prevail in the region as soon as possible and that we will be able to rid ourselves of them."
In response to a journalist’s question, "How do you interpret the United States' withdrawal of its support for Greece's Eastern Mediterranean pipeline project, which is being carried out in collaboration with Israel and the Greek Cypriot side?" President Erdoğan said:
"This project is, in fact, not feasible. They ran all of the necessary analyses and discovered that there was no positive outcome. That is, cost accounts didn’t add up. The United States is a country that takes all of its steps based on capital. Since the cost analysis of this did not work, it withdrew its support, saying, ‘This won’t do.’ What have we talked about until now? This issue cannot be addressed without Türkiye because if gas is to be transferred to Europe, it can only be done through Türkiye. Even when Mr. Albayrak was the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, his Israeli interlocutor came with that offer at that time. It was going well. Maybe then we could have agreed on that with Israel. Well, is there no hope for an agreement now? The parties should sit and discuss the terms because the interest analysis in this matter is highly important. We have reached a certain level. We are having meetings with Israeli President Herzog. Israeli Prime Minister Bennett sends messages on various levels. As you know, I recently received members of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States at the Presidential Complex, and we had meetings. If we are to engage in politics, there shouldn’t be any fight. We have to handle politics in the line of peace."
Emphasising that Türkiye's stance in the Eastern Mediterranean was clear, President Erdoğan said: "We have an agreement with Libya. With the agreement concluded with Libya, we have put the matter in an official text. We continue to work on this official text. Additionally, we have purchased four drilling, two seismic research vessels. Did we purchase them for nothing? They will work in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean as well. We will have the strongest infrastructure in this regard. That's why the United States' concern is purely economic analysis. As a result of these analyses, they realised that they will gain nothing from it."