“Erdoğan: “Our preference is to resolve political and economic disputes in the Mediterranean on an equitable basis”

Turkish President Erdoğan said: “We primarily opt for a settlement of disputes regarding the sharing of political and economic potential in the Mediterranean on an equitable basis.”

Speaking at the opening session of the 4th Legislative Year of the 27th Term of the Turkish Grand National Assembly (TGNA), President Erdoğan said: “As Turkey, we are never in pursuit of conflict, tension, injustice, and unlawfulness in the Mediterranean. Our only demand is to respect the rights, laws and interests of our country. We primarily opt for a settlement of disputes regarding the sharing of political and economic potential in the Mediterranean on an equitable basis. However, the attitude of Greece and the Greek Cypriot side since 2003 has unfortunately been far from this principle. The European Union, on the other hand, has turned into an ineffective, visionless, and shallow structure as a prisoner of the caprice of Greece and the Greek Cypriot side. There is not a single problem that has emerged in our region and has been solved with the initiative and influence of the European Union. On the contrary, every crisis in which the Union has been involved has grown by gaining new dimensions. Under these circumstances, there is no option left for Turkey other than to use its own facilities and to resolutely implement its own policies. The agreement we made with Libya is one of our responses with regard to attempts to completely eliminate our country from the Mediterranean. With this agreement, we had the opportunity to expand the efforts that we initiated to protect the rights of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Those who have ignored our country in the region for years and confronted us with maps and demands that would imprison us into our coasts first tried the language of threat and blackmail following the steps we took. In the face of the firm stance of Turkey supported by land, sea, and air elements and the intelligence of our gallant military and our country’s political and diplomatic power, they were forced to accept the method of dialogue. We will maintain our determined stance that keeps the dialogue channels open to the end.”