Addressing citizens following the Presidential Cabinet Meeting, President Erdoğan said: “Urban transformation is undisputedly a matter of survival for Türkiye. Most importantly, this is an issue above politics, above political parties.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a press conference following the Presidential Cabinet Meeting at the Presidential Complex.
Making remarks on the topics addressed during the meeting, President Erdoğan said: “As the government, we continue our efforts to ensure calm and peace in the region. We have had a very busy agenda particularly in foreign policy since the previous cabinet meeting.”
“Our visit to Algeria, one of our top trade partners in North Africa, was highly fruitful in terms of our economic relations, particularly for energy and contracting sectors. We crowned our visit with the addition of a strategic aspect to the existing council mechanism between our countries. Algeria is one of the leading defenders of the Palestinian cause. During our meeting with my brother, President Tebboune, we reaffirmed our strong support for the Palestinian cause as two brotherly countries,” stated President Erdoğan, and added: “During the virtual G20 leaders’ summit, we have had the opportunity to review the latest developments in the global economy.”
“WE SUCCESSFULLY IMPLEMENT OUR STRATEGY OF ELIMINATING TERROR AT ITS SOURCE”
Touching upon the agenda items of the last National Security Council meeting, President Erdoğan said: “During the November meeting of the National Security Council, we addressed a wide range of issues from the fight against terror to the developments in our region. We successfully implement our strategy of eliminating terror at its source. An atmosphere of peace and security prevails in the areas we have cleared of terrorists in the north of Syria. We will also ultimately secure the places near our borders where terrorists cluster, particularly Tal Rifaat.”
“We have pushed the separatist terrorist organization away from our borders with the operations Claw-Lock going on in the Iraqi area. With the surgical strikes from air and ground, we constantly step up the pressure on terrorists. We have brought the separatist organization to the point of extinction inside our borders. We are determined to fully rid Türkiye of the scourge of terror inflicted on our nation 40 years ago.”
Stressing that Türkiye will by no means allow a terrorist organization in Türkiye's south, Syria's north, or Iraq's north to exist, President Erdoğan stated: “We are well aware of the struggles to resuscitate and instigate the separatist terrorist organization, which has entered a state of coma as a result of our operations. We are fully aware of who is doing what and who is colluding with whom. Just like we have done before, we will not hesitate to come suddenly one night and dismantle these scenarios.”
“CLIMATE CRISIS IS A RESULT OF UNCONTROLLED GROWTH AND EXCESSIVE CONSUMPTION”
Touching upon the climate change and its effects, President Erdoğan said: “We are increasingly feeling the adverse effects of the climate change. Located in the Mediterranean basin, Türkiye, along with other countries with which it shares the same geography, is one of the states that feels the painful consequences of the climate crisis the most and suffers from it the most. The sooner we face the reality of the climate crisis, the faster we can control its impacts on our country.”
President Erdoğan went onto say: “While talking about climate change, we shouldn’t miss that point: The main culprits of this crisis, which affects the lives of 8 million people today, are the developed, wealthy and prosperous Western countries. Climate crisis is a result of uncontrolled growth and excessive consumption ambition. The mentality which sees nature not as a value entrusted to us but as a commodity needed to be exploited has caused immense damage to our world over the last two centuries. We cannot stop climate change without a radical change in this mentality. As Türkiye, we express this fact at every platform.”
Further stressing that the fight against climate change shouldn’t cause new injustices and new modes of exploitation, President Erdoğan said: “It was inevitable that the countries polluting the world the most would have to take more financial responsibility to fight climate change. We are sharing the burden on the issue of climate change as a requirement of our responsibility towards humanity and future generations. Even though we have very little historical responsibility for the greenhouse gas emissions, we are taking very important steps with our own means to contribute to humanity’s common future. Accordingly, we plan to achieve our announced net zero emission target by 2053. We openly expressed all of these issues with their pros and cons during the World Climate Action Summit held in Dubai. We also highlighted the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in Gaza at the summit.”
“WE WILL STRENGTHEN OUR COOPERATION WITH THE COUNTRIES OF THE REGION”
Pointing out that the visit he paid to Qatar was of great importance in terms of both the bilateral relations and the ties with the Gulf Cooperation Council, President Erdoğan stated: “We successfully convened the 9th meeting of the Türkiye-Qatar Supreme Strategic Committee, which we had founded in 2014. We signed 12 documents in various areas during the committee meetings. On the second day of the visit, we attended the 44th Summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council as the guest of honor of Qatar, the term president. We will further increase our trade volume with the council members, which we have increased to 23 billion dollars with a rise of over 20 billion dollars in the last 20 years.”
President Erdoğan went onto say: “We are going to Greece tomorrow. Afterwards, we will visit Hungary on December 18. We will strengthen our cooperation with the countries of the region, starting with our neighbors, on the basis of mutual respect and shared interests.”
“BEING A HUMAN IS ENOUGH TO OPPOSE THE OPPRESSION INFLICTED ON THE GAZAN PEOPLE”
Stressing that Türkiye stands with all the oppressed and victims all across the world without any distinction of faith, color or race, President Erdoğan said: “Being a human is enough to oppose the oppression inflicted on the Gazan people. Israel will be held accountable for every oppression it inflicted on the Palestinian territory since World War II, there is no escape from this. I don’t know where Netanyahu can flee. The massacres Israel has been perpetrating in refugee camps and the war crimes it has been committing in Gaza since October 7 will have a distinct bearing on the trials of the rulers of this country that will take place in the near future.”
“ISRAELI RULERS WILL SOONER OR LATER BE TRIED IN THE COURT OF HUMANITY”
“With the likeminded countries and NGOs, Türkiye will follow and bring up this issue at every platform, working relentlessly to achieve concrete results. Israeli rulers will sooner or later be tried in the court of humanity, receive the punishment they deserve, and take their place in the dustbin of history. More importantly, the western countries that emboldens the Netanyahu administration and cover up its crimes against humanity will share the same destiny. If the America and the European countries didn’t provide unlimited political, military and economic support to Israel, the rules of this terror state wouldn’t be acting so recklessly and brutally. Indeed, the history of the West is quite dark in this respect and is full of examples of barbarity and brutality. We know well their intentions from Bosnia, from Macedonia, from Greece and Bulgaria, from Çanakkale, from Armenia, from Palestine, from Iraq, from Syria, and from their atrocities and treacherous schemes in these places. Those stalling the world for centuries with the chicanery of Western values have repeatedly proven that they actually have no values other than their own security and prosperity. As a matter of fact, all the elements of faith, philosophy, law and science which the West presents as its own value belong to other geographies and societies. The West’s faith originates from Al Quds Nazareth, philosophy from the Aegean and Western Anatolia, law from the Mediterranean and the Roman, science from Al-Andalus and the Eastern world. The sole feature that genuinely belongs to the West is barbarity. This has always been a visible feature of the West, which slaughtered 4 million people in the Crusades, 50 million people in the colonies, and 70 million people in the World War I & II.”
“UN HAS FURTHER DISTANCED ITSELF FROM THE QUALITY OF BEING THE SHARED ROOF OF THE HUMANITY”
Underscoring that the West, an accomplice in the massacre in Gaza, is casting aside all the values it had stolen and is once again being driven by the barbarity in its nature, President Erdoğan said: “The Western administrations, which don’t utter even one single sentence against Israel but fiercely clamp down on those who tell what is going on in Gaza, have lost their human attributes at the individual level and state attributes at the institutional level. Likewise, institutions like the United Nations and its most important organ, the Security Council, have further distanced themselves from the quality of being the shared roof of the humanity with the weakness they displayed in the face of this oppression. Secretary-General Mr. Guterres’ sincere efforts have been thwarted by some permanent members of the Security Council. We have been highlighting these facts and protesting these injustices for years by shouting out that ‘the World is bigger than five.’ Let me say it openly that the more the Israeli administration, hiding under the skirt of the West, scales up its oppression, the heavier the price it will pay. Killing innocent children, women, the elderly and the helpless with the most modern weapons of warfare is a pitiful act reserved for cowards like Israel's rulers. Israel, whose heart and legs tremble in the face of a handful of civilians in Gaza, will be torn to pieces when faced with a real army and a real power. We hope that the Israeli administration will come to its senses before such a painful outcome becomes a necessity. We would like to reiterate that peace can come to the region only after the establishment of an independent, sovereign and geographically-integrated Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with Eastern Al Quds as its capital.”
“URBAN TRANSFORMATION IS THE ONLY WAY TO BUILD SAFE CITIES”
Also touching upon the ongoing urban transformation effort across the country, President Erdoğan underscored the importance of building earthquake-resilient structures. Drawing attention to the urban transformation law enacted for the first time in Türkiye in 2012 as well as the amended building inspection law, President Erdoğan said: “With the projects implemented since the enactment of the urban transformation law, we have completed the transformation of 2.2 million independent units throughout Türkiye with an investment of 480 billion Turkish liras. Currently, some 400 thousand independent units across the country are going through the transformation process. There are nearly 36 million independent units in Türkiye, nearly 31 million of them residences and 5 million commercial areas. 6 million of them are faced with the earthquake risk. What is more, nearly half of them need urgent transformation. Therefore, urban transformation is the only way to build safe cities. The last and most important example attesting to the importance of urban transformation is the February 6 earthquakes. Neglecting or postponing this fact or attempting to abuse it for political interests is tantamount to treason. Urban transformation is undisputedly a matter of survival for Türkiye. Most importantly, this is an issue above politics, above political parties.”