Erdoğan says 'We want to bring a new excitement to Turkey'

Key highlights from Erdoğan's statements are as follows:

-Israel has been bombing our Gazan brothers and sisters for 168 days. This barbarism is being watched by Western states. There is almost no actor standing against Israel and its Western supporters. We are trying to alleviate their pain, even if only slightly; we stand against oppression with our hands, our tongues, and our hearts. We look with sadness at the drama of the oppressed in Gaza through arguments placed in the hands of those who oppose Turkey. We leave those who make baseless accusations to our Lord. Even if they do not see it, all the oppressed in the world, along with the Palestinian people, are witnesses to Turkey's efforts.

-As for those who call our Palestinian brothers and sisters who resist oppression and occupiers terrorists, we do not even take them into account. I was not yet Prime Minister, I was on a trip to the US, and they asked me, 'How do you view Palestine in particular?' They asked, 'How do you view these people in Palestine?' I said, 'I view them in the exact opposite way; we are ready to provide whatever support we can to them until the end.' It is very clear what is behind this matter.

-The reality of a Turkey that makes Israel apologize, rather than one that apologizes to Israel, disturbs some lobbies in our country. We will continue to express in the strongest terms the brutality Israel displays against Palestinians in Gaza. Our people have mobilized for the people of Gaza. I believe our business people are also doing their part during these blessed days.

"WE SAVED THE COUNTRY FROM A CRISIS ENVIRONMENT"

-Whenever we became weak, we faced existential threats even in our own homeland. From coups to social chaos, from terrorism to political instability, all of these had a heavy cost. While the countries we started the race with were making progress, we lost time and energy. Nothing else could be expected in a picture where the average lifespan of governments did not even reach one and a half years. We saved the country from a crisis environment. Our country has gained a significant advantage in its development journey.

-We are moving towards our goals with patience and firm steps; despite all the troubles, tensions, and the war that has been going on for 2 years, we have not deviated from our course. For us, every piece of data announced for 2023 is proof that we are on the right path. Even though we faced an additional burden of 104 billion dollars just because of the earthquake, the economy grew by a rate of 4.5 percent. National income exceeded 1.1 trillion. For the first time, per capita national income exceeded 13 thousand dollars.

-Unemployment is at its lowest in the last 10 years at 9.4 percent. In February, we had the highest exports with 21.1 billion dollars. We closed the year in tourism with 57 million tourists. The share in health tourism is also increasing. 1.2 million applications were made to our hospitals.

"WE ARE STRIVING TO DO WHAT IS BEST FOR THE TURKISH ECONOMY"

-We have no doubt that we will reach these goals with the efforts of our business world. Our biggest problem is inflation, and we are also fighting against greed. We are determined to wage war against opportunists who try to ruin our nation's livelihood with motives that have no economic basis.

-They tried every way to panic the nation in previous elections as well, but they were not successful. We did not take paths that would cost our nation dearly during a period when groundless activities with no substance were flying around. We are not trying to save the day, but to do what is best for the Turkish economy.

-Today in Ankara, we held a rally at the Millet Bahçesi (Nation's Garden) that my brother Murat built during his tenure; the attendance was around 200 thousand.

Tomorrow, we will hold a rally in Istanbul that will reach 1.5 million; Istanbul is hungry, hungry for service. We lost 5 years to catch this, but we cannot wait another 5 years. I took this duty from the CHP; at that time, Istanbul was garbage, pits, and mud. The Haliç Congress Center was where the slaughterhouses were; there were tripe shops.

"IF THE GOLDEN HORN DOES NOT SMELL, IT IS THANKS TO US"

The Golden Horn (Haliç) was unbearable due to the smell. As an Istanbul boy, I know the state of these places very well. But we took it this way, first we cleaned it, and we transferred the filth we removed from here to a stone quarry in Alibeyköy, 9 km away. Today's youth do not know this. We turned that approximately 600 thousand square meter stone quarry into a rose garden; there are playgrounds there now, and we transferred all that cleaned water back to the Golden Horn. If the Golden Horn does not smell now, it is thanks to us. A few kilometers away, the current mayor went to a groundbreaking ceremony without a foundation.

-How much service have you provided to Istanbul? There is no such passion in them. With my cabinet and the friends who will come in local administrations, we have asked for Istanbul, as well as Ankara and Izmir, from our brothers and sisters in Izmir, and we wanted to bring a new excitement to Turkey, and we will succeed.

News Source: 12punto