Speaking at DEİK's Financial General Assembly: Erdoğan declares 'We have added strength to Turkey's economic power'

Highlights from President Erdoğan's statements are as follows:

We are celebrating the 40th anniversary of DEİK this year as the locomotive organization of the Turkish business world in the international arena. We see that the sapling planted 40 years ago has turned into a giant plane tree today, with 153 business councils, 92 founding organizations, and nearly 5,000 members, extending its arms to every corner of the world. A moment ago, Mr. Nail expressed the place and meaning of the number 40 in our culture in a very concise manner. I believe that DEİK will continue its path even more strongly with the accumulation, experience, and maturity of its 40 years. Many more 40 years full of success are coming for the DEİK family.

WE FOUGHT TO OPEN PATHS FOR OUR BUSINESS WORLD ABROAD

I want to underline a fact here that you all know very well. We have strongly supported DEİK, a legacy of the late Özal, both during our prime ministry and throughout our presidency. We have sincerely fought to open paths for our business world abroad, to solve the problems you encounter, and to eliminate your difficulties.

WE HAVE ADDED STRENGTH TO TURKEY'S ECONOMIC, COMMERCIAL, AND PRODUCTION POWER

We have stood by you everywhere, from the previously unvisited countries of Africa to South America where our presence was limited, and from the depths of Asia to the most troubled regions of the Middle East. During our foreign visits, we always make time for DEİK's activities. We have dealt one-on-one with every issue you have conveyed to us and our ministers, from your problems at customs to the issues of our truck drivers, from bureaucratic obstacles to letters of guarantee. We chose the difficult, not the easy. We put our hands under the stone, and thank God, together with you, we have added strength to Turkey's economic, commercial, and production power.

WE WILL CONTINUE TO WORK WITH SENSITIVITY

No matter where in the world they do business, we have made our businessmen, industrialists, investors, and exporters feel very closely that the Republic of Turkey is behind them. We will continue to work with the same sensitivity from now on. We are aware of the unease caused in our business world by both the conflicts in our region and the ongoing uncertainties in the global economy. We read the geopolitical risks very clearly, which started with the genocide in Gaza and then increased with Israel's attacks on Lebanon, Yemen, Iran, and Syria. It is obvious that our business world is trying to navigate in a stormy sea. The Turkish business world is among the segments with the highest ability to adapt to new situations.

WE NEITHER REMAIN SILENT TO OPPRESSION NOR CHASE ADVENTURES

We see that our companies, especially our exporters, are successfully managing this painful period by finding new markets and establishing new partnerships. We are also closely following all these developments and trying to position our country in the best way in the reshaping global system, taking into account both the risks they will create and the potential opportunities. Another sensitivity of ours is this, dear friends: To keep Turkey away from conflicts and tensions without compromising our foreign policy that centers on conscience, justice, human life, and dignity. For this, we are pursuing a fine policy where every step is carefully calculated. We neither remain silent to oppression nor chase adventures. We neither act timidly nor give credit to the provocations of the opposition. We are determinedly implementing what is best for Turkey, for all eighty-six million, and for the oppressed who have turned their faces to our country.