"From Palestine and Jerusalem to Kashmir, from Rohingya Muslims to everyone who lives under the pressure of security and poverty in Africa, we will keep our hearts open for everyone," Erdoğan stressed in his address to the Turkish lawmakers on Friday.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delivered a speech at the Turkish National Grand Assembly in the capital Ankara.
"We will defend the rights of our Crimean brothers in the territorial integrity of Ukraine, and we will follow the Uyghur Turks' enjoyment of human rights in the broadest sense on the basis of China's territorial integrity," Erdoğan said in a statement.
Erdoğan praised Turkey's enterprising and humanitarian foreign policy, criticizing western nations for their policies towards refugees.
"While Turkey alone opened its arms to 4 million oppressed people, there were some who panicked in the face of a few thousand refugees based on its borders, and showed inhumane behavior by leaving aside the rights and the law. The fate of tens of thousands of refugee children who disappeared in Europe is still unknown," Erdoğan pointed out.
"Thanks to our new understanding of security, which is based on finding and eliminating threats at their source, we prevented the creation of one or more terror corridors on our borders," The Turkish leader said while underlining the importance of Turkey's fight against terror groups both at home and abroad.
Touching upon Turkey and Azerbaijan ties, which rest upon the principle of 'one nation two states', Erdoğan called for further cooperation to turn the region into a peace basin.
"The difficult struggle that lasted for 44 days resulted in a victory for Azerbaijan. Thus, the Azerbaijani lands and Karabakh, which had been under occupation for nearly 30 years, were liberated."
Erdoğan also reiterated Turkey's determination to protect its interests and the rights of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean.
"While protecting our rights and interests in the Mediterranean, we supported the steps taken by our Turkish Cypriot brothers towards a two-state solution. In this context, we have taken and will continue to take many important steps, especially the reopening of the Maras region," the president concluded.
