Erdogan: Turkey to resist economic instability

By Azernews

By News Center

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that the government will resist the economic instability that recently emerged in Turkey, Yeni Shafak has reported.

Erdogan made the remarks at the academy awards ceremony of the Science Dissemination Society organized in Istanbul.

"We are of course aware of the volatility in the exchange rate, the instability it creates on prices, and the uncertainties it causes, but we will resist them just as we resisted tutelage, terrorist organizations, coup plotters and global power barons,” Erdogan stressed.

Calling on the members of the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TUSIAD), Erdogan emphasized that the Turkish folk won’t let these circles attack and overthrow the current government.

Commenting on the ongoing economic challenges in Turkey, which have been accelerated due to the pandemic, Erdogan said the government is working to change the situation in favor of the Turkish nation.

He added that Turkey had faced multiple similar challenges throughout its history and always survived all of them.

“We suffered a lot, we sacrificed a lot, we paid a great price, but thank God we never dropped the flag of struggle. In particular, our last two centuries have passed with the pursuits that we are constantly thrown from one extreme to the other," Erdogan underlined.

Emphasizing that Turkey's past 19 years are a symbol of transitioning to a new phase, Erdogan said that they strengthen democracy and expand rights and freedoms in the country.

Erdogan said that with the strong infrastructure established in the country, from education to health, from security to justice, from transportation to energy, from urban planning to sports, they have brought the nation to the living standards that it deserves.

"If Turkey is so resilient against global crises and has such confidence in turning crises into opportunities, there is this strong infrastructure behind it. Now we are fighting the same struggle in the economy,” Erdogan stressed.

By drawing parallels between economic and terror attacks that were directed against Turkey, he claimed that all these activities aimed to overshadow the country’s international and economic successes.

Erdogan also criticized the circles that want Turkey to remain dependent on foreign countries with its industry, technology, finance and infrastructure, instead of growing with investment, employment, production and exports.

Reminding the government’s 19-year struggle for implementing superstructure works, Erdogan said that Turkey increased the number of its airports from 26 to 56 and this fact enables citizens to travel across the country in half an hour.

Commenting on the assessment that Turkey may need a state of emergency in the economy, Erdogan underlined that those who want to drag the nation into pessimism and scare the markets by spreading false news should not be respected.

Underlining that the economic policy implemented by the government is advancing completely in the direction they have determined (apart from the cyclical fluctuations in the exchange rate), Erdogan noted that the Turkish economy will continue on its way in line with the rules of a free-market economy, as it has done so far.

"Likewise, we do not consider those who bring up nonsense such as the controlled 'exchange regime' to the agenda. We will ensure the stability in the exchange rate, not with such nonsense methods, but within the functioning of the market,” he stressed.

The Turkish president also called on citizens to support the state and government in the ongoing economic struggle.

He stressed Turkey’s $23.5-billion debt to the IMF when he took the office and said that the Central Bank's foreign exchange reserve was $27.5 billion at that time.

“During my tenure as a prime minister, we increased this foreign exchange reserve to $135 billion. Then there was a fall, I was not there. I was president. Now, we have a foreign exchange reserve of over $100 billion again. We will round up, this figure will go higher,” he emphasized.

“If we all do our part today, I'm sure in a few months we will see the doors of a much stronger, bigger and prosperous Turkey open before us. We wholeheartedly believe in this. We invite every citizen who believes in us and trusts us to embrace this vision, which is the determinant of the next half-century, a century of our country, with the spirit of mobilization,” Erdogan concluded.