Anadolu Agency/Daily Sabah November 9, 2020
“The World is bigger than five”
Turkish President Erdogan questions efficiency of global system tilted against poor countries
The Turkish president on Monday called for a change of approach in times when the current global system is failing to respond to crises occurring all around world, especially amid the coronavirus outbreak.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the remarks at the 12th Ambassador Conference held in the capital Ankara.
Stressing the existing global system favored a handful of strong actors over righteous masses and rich over poor people, the president said this system could no longer continue and systematic change was needed.
The world came to a new crossroads with the emergence of the outbreak, the president said, noting that international organizations failed to respond to the ongoing crises, which exposed their inertia in the wake of the pandemic.
Erdogan, who had coined "the world is bigger than five" slogan at a UN gathering, said a new establishment based on justice, not power, has to be regulated in order to ensure safety and stability of the common future of human beings.
"The tendency of multi-centricity and regionalization is becoming increasingly important in international relations," Erdogan said, adding the global political and economic arena was reshaped at the time of the outbreak and production and logistic centers were reestablished.
YPG/PKK terrorists
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized Western countries for allowing foreign terrorist fighters to freely carry out activities and accused the European Union of “strategic blindness” that has forced the bloc to part ways with Turkey.
“We cannot understand how foreign terrorist fighters deported by Turkey can freely carry out activities in Western countries,” Erdoğan said at the 12th Ambassadors Conference at the Presidential Complex in Ankara.
He was referring to Western countries’ indifference toward YPG/PKK terrorists and their poor handling of Daesh terrorists.
A Daesh terrorist who recently carried out an attack in Vienna last week was handed to Austrian authorities by Turkey, only to be released shortly afterward, showing the incapability of European states to subdue foreign fighters.
Austrian authorities confirmed that the 20-year-old assailant was known to police as he was arrested last year for attempting to travel to Syria to join the Daesh terrorist group.
Paris and Brussels attackers were also deported by Turkey.
Turkey has long criticized European authorities for tolerating PKK activities on the continent and has pressured them to take stricter measures against the propaganda, recruitment and fundraising activities of the group.
According to research published in July, the PKK terror group’s affiliates in Syria have recruited many Western individuals from far-right and far-left organizations including Antifa groups operating in European countries, the U.S., Canada and Australia.
Support of the YPG in Syria by France, the United States and several other Western countries has become one of the stumbling blocks in bilateral ties between Turkey and its two NATO allies.
Back in April 2019, French President Macron hosted a delegation of the so-called SDF, which is dominated by the YPG terrorist group.
Islamophobia
“Anti-Muslim hatred is encouraged and supported by state leadership,” Erdoğan said, in reference to French President Emmanuel Macron’s Islamophobic remarks and initiatives.
He continued by highlighting the necessity of fighting Islamophobia as part of Turkey’s responsibility toward its citizens living abroad.
“Islamophobia and xenophobia have become an existential threat for the Turkish diaspora living abroad. Mosques and other places owned by Muslims are frequently targeted in anti-Islam attacks,” he said.
“The perpetuity of the global system, which protects the strong rather than the rightful, a small minority rather than the majority and the wealthy rather than the poor is not possible anymore”
The president also reiterated Turkey’s determination to strive to take steps to enhance the mechanisms at regional and global organizations.
“Turkey will strive to enhance the efficiency of organizations like the Organisation for Islamic Cooperation (OIC), D8 and the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation in the near future,” Erdoğan said.
Turkish foreign policy
Among the topics Erdogan touched upon were developments in conflict-zones, including Syria where millions were displaced and hundreds of thousands were slaughtered following eruption of a civil war in 2011.
The president said Turkish operations in northern Syria ensured safe return of some 411,000 Syrians as Ankara's military operations cleared the region of YPG/PKK and Daesh/ISIS terrorists.
"We thwarted a new humanitarian tragedy and huge migration influx with our presence in Idlib [province of northwestern Syria]," the president said, adding that Turkey welcomed 4.5 million refugees.
The Turkish leader criticized some countries, without naming any, for not extending a helping hand -- despite their prosperity -- to weary Syrians while Turkey did not hesitate to help them in line with its humanitarian approach.
Erdogan noted that Turkey also continued its efforts to ensure Syria's territorial integrity and political union.
Libya/Eastern Mediterranean
Commenting on developments in Libya, where the administration fights militants affiliated with warlord Khalifa Haftar, Erdogan said Turkish support to the country on the request of the Libyan government prevented a possible civil war and fall of the capital Tripoli.
Asserting that Turkey's contributions paved the way for hopes of a political solution in Libya, Erdogan said: "We will continue to be with the Libyan people in all fields, including training, military cooperation, energy, health, trade, and economy.
Referring to the developments in the Eastern Mediterranean, Erdogan said Turkey could not allow anyone to ignore legitimate Turkish rights in the region.
We have always been patient and calm regarding the Eastern Mediterranean issue despite provocations of Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration, Erdogan said, adding Turkey was always open for negotiations as his country was confident that it was in a righteous position.
The Turkish leader also called on the EU to abandon its "strategic blindness", which he said was pushing Ankara away from the EU and reiterated his call for organizing a multinational conference including all littoral countries along with the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in the Eastern Mediterranean to resolve the dispute.
He further noted that Turkey was encouraged by the discovery of 405 billion cubic meters in the Black Sea region and hopeful for new discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean.
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