Gov’t to walk toward the ‘Century of Türkiye’ vision: Erdoğan

ANKARA

The government has achieved progress toward its 2023 goals so far and will walk towards the vision of the ‘Century of Türkiye’ from now on, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on April 3.

Drawing attention to the challenges Türkiye had faced during its first centenary, Erdoğan said: “This first century of our republic was also quite ups and downs in itself. We experienced the transition from a single-party era to a multi-party political life, the coups that followed, economic troubles, and terrorist attacks,” Erdoğan said while speaking at an iftar dinner in the capital Ankara.

One can add many more issues to these challenges, from the repercussions of the incidents that have taken place in the region and the tensions the country has had with its neighbors and allies, Erdoğan noted.

“The place Türkiye has reached today is the pinnacle of its first centenary, which we are about to leave behind, but is also the very first step of the Century of Türkiye, which we aim for from now on. We have so far taken our steps in line with our goals for 2023, and from now on, we will march towards the Century of Türkiye vision,” he said.

The government managed to turn the “fluctuations, which even the greatest economies had had a hard time coping with, into an advantage,” Erdoğan noted.

They had done this during the pandemic and during the crises and conflicts that had erupted in the region, and they would overcome the earthquake disaster in that way as well, Erdoğan added.

Referring to the executive presidential government system, Erdoğan said some people objected to the new administration system even before seeing its implementation, but the new government system was “tested” with several crises.

“The system was tested with many crises in its first period, from the COVID-19 global pandemic to the war, and with its reflections within the country. Also, the disaster of the century,” he said, while referring to the Feb. 6 earthquakes that claimed thousands of lives.

“Like in other tests, we did not fall under the earthquake disaster, and by Allah’s will, we will not [in the future, too]. We will raise our cities in a short time and ensure that our people look to their future with hope. Thanks to the rapid decision-making and strong enforcement capability provided by the system, our country has managed to emerge from the global crisis with the least loss and the most benefit. Hopefully, we will also overcome the earthquake disaster in the same way,” he stated.