Erdoğan reacts to Palestinian leader: 'We invited him, he didn't come; he needs to apologize to us'

AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reacted to the applause for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent speech at the US House of Representatives, stating, "Rolling out the red carpet for someone like Netanyahu and going even further to applaud his lies until their hands are sore is a major mental breakdown for America.

On one side, there are those in the House of Representatives applauding the speech of that Hitler-like figure. But on the other side, you see thousands of people outside the House of Representatives condemning them," he said.

Regarding the invitation of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to Turkey, Erdoğan said, "Some political parties in my country say that the government should invite the Palestinian president to Turkey right now and have him speak in parliament. Well, who told you that we didn't invite him? Mr. Abbas, who did not come despite our invitation, should excuse himself. First, he needs to apologize to us as well. We invited him. But he didn't come. We are waiting. Let's see if he can come. Whether he comes or not. But we are already voicing what needs to be said on behalf of the Palestinian people and our Palestinian brothers everywhere, in every meeting," he stated.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the RTEÜ Development Foundation Board of Founders Meeting held at Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, which bears his name, following the Ayder Plateau Protection and Renewal Project and the City-Wide Urban Transformation and Disaster Housing Key Delivery and Mass Opening Ceremony held in front of the Rize Governorship today. Afterwards, Erdoğan met with representatives of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Rize for dinner.

"THEY ARE POURING GASOLINE ON THE FIRE"

Delivering a speech after the dinner at the Ramada Hotel, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan first reminded that the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has been continuing for 2.5 years. Noting that there are no winners in the war other than Western barons, Erdoğan said, "You are also following the events happening in Turkey's immediate vicinity. As a nation, we wake up almost every day to a new crisis erupting in our region. Russia and Ukraine are our two neighbors across the Black Sea.

Unfortunately, the war between these two neighbors has been going on for 2.5 years. Tens of thousands of people have died. Cities have been destroyed, children have been left orphaned. Apart from the Western war barons, no one has benefited from this sea of blood. They are still pouring gasoline on the fire. They are doing their best to fuel the fire. We, on the other hand, are working for the establishment of peace and stability. We have done this from the very first day.

We have fought for this. By acting fairly and pursuing a balanced policy between our two neighbors, we have prevented this fire from spreading to the Black Sea. Those who criticized us, spoke against us, and even provoked Turkey when the conflicts started are now admitting we were right and acknowledging our efforts," he said.

"WE ALL WATCHED THOSE DISGRACEFUL SCENES TOGETHER"

Stating that the same situation applies to Gaza, Erdoğan said, "Since October 7, Turkey has become the conscience of humanity by standing against oppression. Without fearing anyone, without holding back our words, and without looking at what anyone says, we have taken action for our Gazan and Palestinian brothers. We are the country that sends the most aid materials to Gaza in terms of quantity in humanitarian aid. In all international meetings we attend, we have brought up the massacres Israel has committed in Gaza. The Western world, on the other hand, has really failed a very bad test in this process. They stood by Israel at the expense of trampling on the values they claim to defend," he said.

"We all watched those disgraceful scenes in the American House of Representatives the other day together," said Erdoğan, adding, "Frankly, we were ashamed on behalf of humanity in the face of what we saw there. We felt a great sense of embarrassment as we thought of the people waiting in food lines, the children shot while sleeping in their tents, and the babies killed in hospital incubators. We once again witnessed that unchanging truth that finds its meaning in Mehmet Akif's expression, 'What you call civilization is a monster with a single tooth left.' Look, I want to say this clearly here. Rolling out the red carpet for someone like Netanyahu and going even further to applaud his lies until their hands are sore is a major mental breakdown for America.

Some political parties in my country say that the government should invite the Palestinian president to Turkey right now and have him speak in parliament. Well, who told you that we didn't invite him? Mr. Abbas, who did not come despite our invitation, should excuse himself. First, he needs to apologize to us as well. We invited him. But he didn't come. We are waiting. Let's see if he can come. Whether he comes or not. But we are already voicing what needs to be said on behalf of the Palestinian people and our Palestinian brothers everywhere, in every meeting. No one who has even an ounce of humanity in their heart, who carries a heart instead of a stone in their body, can legitimize such a lack of conscience.

This is exactly what the Crusader mentality that is trying to be revived is. On one side, there are those in the House of Representatives applauding the speech of that Hitler-like figure. But on the other side, you see thousands of people outside the House of Representatives condemning them. As we see those who applaud the murderer of 40 thousand innocents, we worry not only for humanity but also for our own future. Who can guarantee that those who are razing Gaza to the ground today will not set their dirty eyes on Anatolia tomorrow?

Who can claim that those who do not speak out against the massacre in Gaza today will react when the same thing happens to other countries? That is why we say at every opportunity that Turkey must be strong, must be a deterrent, and must be self-sufficient in every field," he expressed.

THE GOAL OF A FULLY INDEPENDENT TURKEY

Stating that they are striving to reach their goal of a fully independent Turkey in economy, defense, politics, tourism, security, agriculture, and other fields, Erdoğan said:

"The struggle we are waging has only one purpose. We do not want to leave our country, which has suffered greatly from being dependent on others in the past and has paid the price for this, to face the same choice again. We have worked really hard to realize this claim in the last 22 years. Despite all the betrayals, sabotage, and attacks we have been subjected to, thank God we have achieved significant successes in every field. We have recorded an average annual growth of 5.5 percent in the economy. We have increased our national income from 238 billion dollars to over 1.1 trillion dollars. We have moved our country to the 11th place in the world according to purchasing power parity. We took our exports from 35 billion dollars. We have increased it to approximately 256 billion dollars. We have achieved a great success by increasing the number of tourists to approximately 57 million and our tourism revenues to 54.3 billion dollars. In the defense industry, our foreign dependency, which reached 80 percent when we took office, has now reversed. It has dropped to the 20 percent level. We are now meeting many of our needs ourselves. We are even exporting more than 5.5 billion dollars worth of defense products per year."

Explaining the point reached in the fight against terrorism, Erdoğan said, "We have largely ended the presence of terrorist organizations within our borders. We are not giving terrorists any breathing room outside our borders either. With the ongoing Claw-Lock Operation in northern Iraq, we have pushed the separatist organization far from our borders. We had already achieved the same in our operations in Syria before. We will hopefully complete the missing parts of our security belt in the Syrian field when the time comes. We are determined to hand over a country to our children where there is no terrorist threat," he said.

"OUR CENTRAL BANK RESERVES ARE INCREASING RAPIDLY"

Noting that they do not deny the difficulties they face in the economy while doing all this, Erdoğan continued his speech as follows:

"We have started to see the positive effects of the medium-term program we implemented last year in order to overcome these. Our Central Bank reserves are increasing at a speed we have never seen in any period of our history. Our risk premium has fallen from the 700 basis point level to below 260 basis points. We have exited the grey list, where we were placed mostly for political reasons.

Even the credit rating agencies that have been unfair to us for years are forced to acknowledge our rights. The heat of inflation will start to fall faster from now on. In the last 2 years, balancing has gained speed, especially in sectors where price bubbles formed.

While we are healing the wounds of the February 6 earthquakes at full speed, we are also improving budget balances. Good news continues to come regarding employment. Finally, the May labor force data came in at an even better level than the 2023 annual data, where we broke records. The unemployment rate decreased by 1.1 points compared to the previous year and stood at 8.4 percent. Hopefully, we will implement our program decisively without allowing any road accidents and without falling into the trap of populism.

I request all my brothers here to continue to trust us, our government, and our policies. Please do not listen to the prophets of doom. Please do not give credit to those who aim at our unity and solidarity. Please do not fall for the games of those who harbor hostility towards Turkey. Never forget this. Turkey will be a very different country at the end of this process. The Turkish economy will run towards its goals much faster after getting through this period. Just as today's Turkey cannot even be compared to 20 years ago, rest assured that tomorrow's Turkey will be far ahead of today. We do not have the slightest doubt about this. I say may God be our helper and supporter."

News Source: 12punto