President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said, "Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories continues to escalate with its attacks on Gaza. Israel must recognize the existence of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders. The road to peace, stability, and economic development in our region passes through the establishment of the State of Palestine."
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the World Government Summit held in the United Arab Emirates as a guest of honor.
During his speech at the summit, President Erdoğan made the following remarks:
I believe that the summit, held under the theme of shaping the governments of the future, will have a positive impact. As Türkiye, we are building the future of our country, especially in the context of the centenary of our Republic. Over the past 21 years, we have propelled Türkiye forward in every field, achieving growth rates of threefold, fivefold, and tenfold. With its growing economy and its impact on the international stage, Türkiye stands as a reality. We are proud to build such a Türkiye. Despite the pressure of migration and terrorist acts, we have reached this point without ever deviating from the path of stability.
We experienced one of the greatest natural disasters in history on February 6th last year. We lost more than 53,000 lives in the earthquakes we experienced. We cleared the debris before a year had passed. We met the urgent housing needs of our citizens. We delivered more than 31,000 completed houses to earthquake victims. By delivering 15,000 to 20,000 houses every month, we aim to deliver 200,000 houses by the end of the year. As a nation that experienced the disaster of the century just one year ago, we are quickly healing our wounds. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all our friends, especially the Emirates, who did not hesitate to stand by our nation.
We host over 4 million refugees, including more than 3.5 million Syrians. It was certainly not easy for our country, surrounded by a ring of fire, to reach its current position. As a government that has left its mark on the last quarter-century of Türkiye, we have never walked an easy path. Behind each success we have achieved lies immense effort, patience, experience, and perseverance. Regardless of how great the obstacles were, we continued our struggle with determination.
We have always guided ourselves by the principle of "keep the people alive so that the state can live." By keeping people alive, touching people, elevating people, we have kept the state alive, grown it, and strengthened it. As we took care of our people, our people took care of their state and us. Without the power and support of our people, we could not have achieved any of this. Today, we continue on the same path. Our goal in politics is to leave behind a beautiful legacy that will be remembered with good deeds, gratitude, and prayers.
As you may recall, we witnessed this in the health aspect during the COVID-19 pandemic. Just when we thought we saw the light at the end of the tunnel, we were shaken by the Russia-Ukraine War. This war plunged the already struggling global economy and politics into an even greater whirlwind of uncertainty. We faced additional problems from energy prices to food crises. Türkiye has always been in favor of peace from the very beginning. We put our hands under the stone to achieve a ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war. We prevented the food crisis with our Black Sea Initiative. We made many political and diplomatic moves. We still believe that fair peace is possible.
Every unresolved issue has grown larger. We see that sweeping problems under the rug cannot solve them. The most bitter example of this is the crisis in Gaza. Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories continues to escalate. Israel has not abandoned its decades-long policies of occupation, confiscation, and destruction. Even a glance at the Israel-Palestine maps from 1948 to the present day shows the severity of the situation. If we do not correctly identify the source of the problem here, we cannot find a solution. Israel must recognize the existence of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders and put an end to the conflicts. Israel must acknowledge the basic rights of Palestine. The road to peace, stability, and economic development in our region passes through the establishment of the State of Palestine. We have expressed our readiness to take responsibility. We have made every effort, are making efforts, and will continue to do so. We have sent 34,000 tons of humanitarian aid materials to Gaza so far. We are hosting and providing medical treatment for a total of 380 patients and 344 attendants in Türkiye. We will never leave our Palestinian brothers helpless, helpless, and alone. We are concerned about and disturbed by the current Israeli administration. I wish for peace to be established in the region before more tears are shed, and our region comes under further threat.
I would like to emphasize that we also regret the increasing character assassination attempts towards the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. I invite all conscientious countries to support the Agency, which is a lifeline for 6 million refugees living in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and occupied Palestinian territories. See, I'm not just saying these things as the president of a Muslim-populated country. I say it as a descendant of a nation that opened its doors to Jews who were subjected to the Inquisition five centuries ago and served Jerusalem under the guidance of Abraham Halilullah for four centuries. Moreover, we are not content with just saying it; we are also at the forefront of international efforts to achieve our goals. Unfortunately, the international community has not been successful in this regard. Progress towards the goal of zero hunger by 2030 has been moving further away.
The 3rd Antalya Diplomacy Forum, which Türkiye has launched with the mission of strengthening its contribution to the theory and practice of international peace, will be held from March 1st to 3rd. Through the forum, which we will hold under the theme of highlighting diplomacy in times of crisis, we will be delighted to host you in Antalya, the capital of our tourism.
