In his press statement following the Cabinet Meeting, Erdoğan announced that the death toll from the explosion in İzmir had risen to 16, stating, "16 of our brothers and sisters have passed away in İzmir."
AKP Chairman and President Erdoğan made statements at the Presidential Complex following the Cabinet Meeting.
Key points from Erdoğan's remarks are as follows:
16 of our brothers and sisters lost their lives in the explosion in İzmir. 13 of our citizens were injured, 2 of them seriously. The investigation into the explosion is ongoing. It will be revealed who had negligence or responsibility. First and foremost, I pray for God's mercy upon our workers who lost their lives. I offer my condolences to their grieving families. My dear brothers and sisters, I wish a speedy recovery to our injured citizens from the Almighty.
Immediately following these events, upon the instruction of our Cabinet, our Ministers of Energy and Interior quickly arrived at the scene. A judicial and administrative investigation has been launched into the explosion. It will be revealed why and how this painful event that scorched our hearts occurred, and who is responsible. Once again, I wish for God's mercy upon those who lost their lives, and I convey my best wishes to their families, relatives, and our citizens.
In our meeting, we evaluated the issues occupying the agenda of our country and our nation. We had the opportunity to comprehensively discuss the events and developments that have taken place in foreign policy recently.
As you are closely following, Turkey is experiencing one of its most turbulent periods since the Second World War. Turkey, under the leadership of experienced, hardworking, and resolute cadres, is, thank God, at the forefront of countries successfully managing this challenging process.
Despite the spiral of instability surrounding us, we continue our journey of development in stability and confidence without interruption. The export and tourism figures announced just last week have reaffirmed Turkey's shining star right in the middle of regional tensions.
Despite all the pessimistic scenarios and all the smear campaigns, our upward trend in exports is continuing without slowing down, thank God. In October, we increased our exports by 8.1 percent compared to the same month of the previous year, reaching 25.9 billion dollars. With this figure, we achieved the third-highest monthly export and the highest October export in the history of our Republic. Our exports for the January-October period increased by 5.5 percent, breaking a new record with 236.8 billion dollars. Our annualized exports in October reached the highest level in its history with 285.6 billion dollars. As you know, we had set our annualized goods and services export target for the beginning of 2026 at 410 billion dollars. It is understood that we will reach a new peak with 413 billion dollars.
We achieved another success in exports in technology. Our medium and high-tech product exports reached 18.6 billion dollars with an 8.8 percent increase. We also achieved significant success in defense and aviation exports. In October, our exports in this field increased by 61 percent compared to the same period last year, reaching 1 billion 140 million dollars. On a twelve-month basis, it increased by 37 percent to 11 billion 357 million dollars. While our foreign trade deficit decreased by 11.4 percent in October, the ratio of exports to imports increased by 3.4 percent. I wish it to be auspicious. I congratulate all our exporters, our companies, and all the links in the chain from our workers to our transporters who contributed to this success, each one individually.
TOURISM REVENUES REACHED THE HIGHEST LEVEL
Dear friends, we see a similar graph in tourism as well. In the January-September 2026 period, we hosted a total of 49 million 132 thousand visitors in our country. We increased our tourism revenue by 2.4 percent compared to the same period of 2025, reaching 51 billion 278 million dollars.
With this figure, we have brought tourism revenues to the highest level in terms of both quarterly and nine-month periods. In the same period, while the average length of stay of visitors in our country was 10.34 nights, the average daily expenditure per person increased by 4.6 percent to 107.7 dollars. The average daily expenditure per person for foreign visitors approached 120 dollars. I wish our tourism figures to be beneficial to our economy and our sector.
ACCOMMODATION TAX ANNOUNCEMENT
Another piece of good news is that we are extending the accommodation tax reduction application, which we started in April, for another year. We have also decided to extend the employee support we provide to our facilities with Ministry of Tourism operating certificates until 2028. May it be auspicious.
I would also like to underline this here: These increases we have achieved in both exports and tourism are not increases that occurred spontaneously or were affected by global trends. Behind all of these are the efforts, sweat, and contributions of our exporters and tourism professionals who work with great devotion. These increases are also the work of the investments our government has implemented, the incentives it has provided, and the support it has offered. These increases are the result of the stable growth of our Turkish Airlines, the spread of Turkish TV series to the world, and the increase in Turkey's brand value.
MESSAGE OF A TERROR-FREE TURKEY
As Turkey changes, as the Turkish economy grows, and as Turkey's international reputation rises, we receive positive news in many fields, especially in tourism and exports, as a nation. Of course, these, as I always say, are just a beginning. Hopefully, we will reach much better levels in the coming period. Especially the Terror-Free Turkey process, which we are carrying out as a state project, will have one of its greatest reflections in tourism and exports when it reaches its conclusion in this sense.
Just as we can confidently present the historical and touristic beauties of Istanbul, Antalya, and all our cities to the world's appreciation, we will also be able to present all the beauties of Hakkâri, Şırnak, Van, Bitlis, Diyarbakır, Mardin, and Ağrı to the world's appreciation. In an environment where peace, brotherhood, friendship, and fraternity are reinforced on the streets of Turkey, the winner will be 86 million. When the process progresses successfully, not only the regions that have faced the threat of terrorism for years but all of our 81 provinces will benefit from the economic benefit that will emerge. When the shadow of terrorism is completely withdrawn, our cities, which have been crushed under the pressure of sadness and insecurity for years, will hopefully rise again. As Turkey, we will make the real big leap in the economy then. We will realize the real breakthrough in tourism, trade, investments, and other fields in the climate of a prosperous, free Turkey.
I want this matter to be known by all ministries. We are determined to successfully continue this strategic project, which is the locomotive of a great and strong Turkey, far beyond a public order process. As I have stated many times before, we do not want to turn back from this path, which leads to peace, prosperity, brotherhood, and development at the end. For this, we are striving to continue the process with common sense, prudence, and the broadest social consensus.
"WILL REACH SUCCESS IN THE SHORT TERM"
Finally, a valuable step has been taken towards the establishment of state authority in Iraq. In the previous week, the integration of more than a hundred organization members into the Iraqi security forces began. Positive developments are taking place regarding the evacuation of caves.
We are carefully advancing the process without compromising on security sensitivity. We are looking ahead. We are focusing on our work. We are focusing on resolving this issue permanently as soon as possible. I sincerely believe that with the intense efforts of our security units and relevant colleagues, the strong support of political institutions regardless of party affiliation, and the prayers of our beloved nation, we will reach success in the shortest term.
"WE ARE MAKING MOVE AFTER MOVE IN ENERGY"
My dear citizens, another problematic area that is intensifying in our region and whose negative effects we see is energy security and management. We are making move after move in the field of energy. And with the efforts we call diversification and our effective energy diplomacy, we have minimized its impact on our country. Nevertheless, we are a country that has grown by an average of 5.4 percent in these 23 years and will continue its growth momentum from now on. We aim to increase our exports to over 300 billion dollars and our tourism revenues to over 50 billion dollars.
Our population is expected to exceed 88 million in 2030 and reach 94 million in the 2040s. This situation requires us to use our energy resources more efficiently. While our energy consumption is increasing, we attach special importance to meeting this demand with the safest, most stable, and most cost-effective way by increasing our production and drilling activities. The issue we focus on with sensitivity in this process is the mobilization of our domestic oil and natural gas resources. You cannot find without searching. We know this truth: We have taken many steps both in our seas and abroad. We worked, we struggled, we invested. We did not give up in the face of obstacles. And thank God, we have written these important discoveries into our country's earnings account.
News Source: 12punto
