President Erdoğan: "Romanian citizens will be able to travel to our country with their national ID cards"

Erdoğan held a joint press conference with Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. AKP Chairman and President Erdoğan stated that he was pleased to host Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu and his delegation on the occasion of the first meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council.

Noting that he has observed that Turkey-Romania relations are developing day by day through mutual high-level visits, Erdoğan said, "The recent visits to Romania by my Vice President Cevdet Bey and my Ministers of National Defense and Foreign Affairs have been quite beneficial.

During my tenure as Prime Minister in 2011, we elevated our relations with Romania to the level of a strategic partnership. Today, with the joint declaration we signed with the Prime Minister, we have ensured the establishment of the Turkey-Romania High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council. We chaired the first meeting of this mechanism. In this way, we have reached another historic turning point in our relations,” he said.

Stating that their relations were discussed comprehensively during their meetings, AKP Chairman and President Erdoğan noted that economic and commercial ties between the two countries form the locomotive of bilateral relations.

Emphasizing that the mutual trade volume has exceeded the 10 billion dollar level for two consecutive years and that their goal is to reach 15 billion dollars, Erdoğan said that they are moving forward with confident steps in this direction.

MENTIONED INVESTMENTS IN ROMANIA

Expressing that approximately 19 thousand Turkish companies operating in Romania make significant contributions to this success and the friendship between the two countries, President Erdoğan said, "Our companies' investments in Romania have approached 8 billion dollars, including those from third countries. We focused on ways to increase our cooperation in the field of energy.

Our cooperation in the defense industry and military field constitutes one of the important pillars of our relations with Romania. We have gained significant momentum in recent years both in this field and in defense industry cooperation. We contribute to the security and stability of our region by engaging in joint activities with Romania, both at the bilateral level and under the NATO umbrella. Our 4 F-16 fighter jets served in Romanian airspace for 4 months until the end of last March as part of the NATO air policing mission,” he said.

Stating that they work together with Romania as two littoral countries of the Black Sea and NATO allies, Erdoğan said, ”As you know, with the participation of Bulgaria, we established the Black Sea Mine Countermeasures Task Group. The fight against terrorism was also on the agenda of our meetings. I shared our expectations from Romania regarding the fight against terrorist organizations such as the PKK and FETÖ with the Prime Minister. We see the Turkish and Turkish Tatar communities living in Romania as a bridge of friendship between us. We are pleased that our kinsmen live in harmony with the Romanian society. We thank the Romanian authorities for enabling this,” he declared.

"THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY ARE CLEAR"

Announcing that they have implemented the regulation that will allow Romanian citizens to travel to Turkey with their national ID cards, Erdoğan said, "We believe that this will increase our human-to-human relations. We also exchanged views with the Prime Minister on developments in our region and the world. Of course, at the forefront of these was the Israeli oppression taking place in Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories.

The responsibilities of the international community in stopping the Israeli brutality and ensuring the security of our Palestinian brothers are clear. However, despite this, steps to prevent the massacre are still not being taken. Netanyahu and his unhinged government continue their genocide policies at the expense of endangering the safety of their own citizens.

This must be put to an end now. I believe that our ally Romania will also make the necessary contributions to the international efforts being carried out on this issue,” he said.

Expressing that they also discussed the course of the war in Ukraine, which is entering its third year, in his meeting with the Romanian Prime Minister, Erdoğan said, "Since the beginning of the war, Turkey has made and continues to make significant contributions to ending the conflicts, ensuring global food security, and maintaining navigation safety in the Black Sea. We will continue to work to advance our relations with our NATO ally, strategic partner, and Black Sea neighbor Romania in line with the interests of our countries. With these thoughts, as I conclude my words, I wish that the decisions we took at our council meeting and the agreements we just signed will be auspicious. Hopefully, we will hold our next meeting in Bucharest. I thank the Prime Minister and his delegation once again for their visit,” he said.

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu also stated that AKP Chairman and President Erdoğan is a visionary leader who knows who his true friends are. Ciolacu said, "We can say that Turkey is one of our most important allies in NATO; a strategic partner, a good neighbor, and a friend. I also thank President Erdoğan for the special gesture he made. With today's decision, Romanians will now come to Turkey with their ID cards,” he said.

On the other hand, 6 important agreements covering cooperation in different fields were signed between Turkey and Romania. The agreements were signed in the presence of President Erdoğan and Ciolacu.