President Erdoğan's 'Turkey will reach its destination' statement: A message of a future without terror

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made important statements following the cabinet meeting.

Here are the highlights from Erdoğan's statements:

I send my respects and love from here to all our citizens who follow us in our 81 provinces as well as in different countries around the world.

At the very beginning of my speech, I congratulate our nation and the entire Islamic world on the recent Eid al-Fitr. As we do every year, we strove to observe the holy month of Ramadan in a manner befitting its meaning and spirit. Throughout Ramadan, we took care to experience our feelings of kindness, sharing, and solidarity at the highest level.

Despite those who tried to cast a shadow over our Ramadan joy, as 86 million people, thank God, we felt the warmth in our hearts of being a remedy for each other's troubles, and of being friends, brothers, neighbors, and companions to one another.

Our 'Ramadan at the Presidential Complex' program, which we organized for the second time this year, received great interest from our public. 592 thousand citizens, mostly children and young people, visited our complex on this occasion.

Our children, in particular, enjoyed the Ramadan joy to the fullest in the 12 thousand square meter area prepared for them; they had fun and learned. We observed with pleasure that the Ramadan program at the Complex, where over 8 thousand events including conferences, concerts, talks, and book signing days were organized, met a very important need in Ankara.

"I PRAY FOR GOD'S MERCY UPON OUR MARTYRS"

I would like to thank all our citizens who turned the holy month of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr into a mobilization of brotherhood, affection, and solidarity; all our teachers who instilled our national and spiritual values in our students through the events they organized; our foundations, associations, and philanthropists who reached out to the oppressed and victims in the world along with those in need in our country; and our security forces who ensured that our citizens traveled safely during the holiday.

My prayer to the Almighty is that He brings us to those auspicious days in our region where the sounds of gunfire are not heard, where the noise of bombs and missiles is replaced by the joyful screams of children, and where holidays are experienced as true holidays.

The painful news we received from Qatar on the third day of the holiday unfortunately broke all our hearts. One Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) personnel and two ASELSAN personnel were martyred due to a helicopter crash while conducting training activities within the Qatar-Turkish Combined Joint Force Command. I pray for God's mercy upon our martyrs.

"NECESSARY ACTIONS ARE BEING TAKEN REGARDING THOSE WHO TRY TO PLAY WITH OUR NATION'S NERVES"

Distinguished members of the press, as you know, the second day of this year's Eid al-Fitr coincided with Newroz, the harbinger of spring and the symbol of nature's rebirth. Newroz has been celebrated in a festive atmosphere for centuries by brotherly peoples in many places from Anatolia to the Caucasus, from Central Asia to the Middle East.

Although there were some unpleasant incidents in previous years that did not befit the spirit of Newroz, we see that these events have decreased significantly in the last two years, partly due to the effect of our process for a Turkey without terror. We are doing what is necessary regarding those who try to play with our nation's nerves by using Newroz as an excuse, especially in Diyarbakır and Istanbul.

We will not allow any provocation that casts a shadow on the values that Newroz represents. Such provocations, which aim to undermine our process for a Turkey without terror, whose strategic importance is better understood these days, will receive the necessary response from us.

Neither the provocateurs nor the powers behind them will have the strength to turn Turkey back from this auspicious path it has entered.

We will hopefully bring the process we are conducting with great common sense to its destination. Our path may be uphill, but our country's path is clear, its horizon is open. With God's permission, its future is bright.

'TURKEY WITHOUT TERROR' MESSAGE

I would also like this to be known here: Just as our process for a Turkey without terror disrupts a half-century-old bloody game, our ideal of a region without terror also puts a barrier to the plans of those who want to build walls of discord between Turks, Kurds, Arabs, and Persians.

We saw this first in the developments in northern Syria. Finally, we saw this in the dirty plan that was intended to be orchestrated against Iran. Looking at just these two regional developments is enough to understand the accuracy and strategic value of the vision we have put forward.

As our unity and solidarity strengthen, as our brotherhood consolidates, and as the era of weapons and violence comes to an end – I emphasize this particularly – the winner, as we have always said, will be our country, our nation, and the brotherly peoples in our region. Let no citizen of ours have any doubt about this.

Look, we have been living together in this geography for a thousand years. As the ancient inhabitants of the region, we have always been one in our sorrow and our joy. Today, our hearts beat together, and our tears flow together. We will not surrender to the language of violence, hatred, and malice; we will hopefully continue to exalt the universal language of love, peace, and brotherhood in our region.

"WE HAVE MADE OUR PREPARATIONS FOR THE NEW CONJUNCTURE"

My dear brothers and sisters, the global system has been undergoing a profound change and transformation as painful and turbulent as it has been since the 2008 crisis. This change is seriously intensifying the competition between actors on four main axes.

In the world order that is evolving towards polarization, who the new power centers will be is also hidden within these questions. Just as it was a century ago, our region is once again coming to the fore as the field of struggle for the new world order.

While classical alliances are dissolving, new collaborations are being established between countries facing similar threats. In this process, we see that regional cooperation has gained more importance than ever before.

As Turkey, we have made our preparations for this new conjuncture. We have strengthened our energy supply security; we have activated our domestic resources while increasing resource diversity. We have made great breakthroughs in the field of transportation. The infrastructure our country has built on the uninterrupted railway line extending from London to China plays a critical role.

On the other hand, we have strengthened our financial system; we have made our banking infrastructure resilient against possible shocks. We have established high-level cooperation councils with a total of 47 countries. We have developed our relations with different geographies, especially Africa and Latin America. We have expanded our infrastructure by establishing 182 new organized industrial zones and 85 new technoparks in industry and production. The successes we have achieved in the defense industry represent a significant transformation that is now the subject of academic studies.