Turkey has boosted foreign aid over AKP’s tenure: Erdoğan

BURSA

DHA photo

Turkey boosted its aid to foreign countries from a mere $85 million in 2002, the year the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power, to $4.5 billion in 2014, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Dec. 20, while addressing students and academics at Uludağ University. 

“I have to say bluntly that Turkey has become the third most generous country in the world with $4.5 billion in aid as of 2014 to more than 140 countries, without imposing any discrimination by saying ‘this country is Muslim and that one is not,’” he said at the school in the northwestern province of Bursa, where he was attending a honorary doctorate conferral ceremony. 

When the ratio of the amount of aid given by Turkey to its gross domestic production is considered, the country tops the list in terms of increase in foreign aid, he said

“We do not have oil rigs, natural gas reserves or other underground treasures. But we have a conscience as big as Anatolia,” he said.

During his speech Erdoğan also warned university students to keep away from “marginal organizations that emulate violence.” 

The president later participated in the opening ceremony of the Bursa Büyükşehir Belediye Stadium, the new home pitch for the Bursaspor club known as the “Alligators.” Erdoğan, a former football player, made the kickoff before a friendly at the opening ceremony.