Türkiye challenges imperialism, Erdoğan says

AFYONKARAHİSAR

The Turkish government has objected to the global system established by the imperialists, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on April 18.

“Türkiye has only been able to reach its centuries-old dreams with our breakthroughs in the last 21 years. Our entire political life has been spent fighting the imperialists and their subcontractors. We challenged imperialism while breaking the power of tutelage,” Erdoğan said, addressing a rally in the western province of Afyonkarahisar.

“Holding the hands of all the oppressed and victims, we said ‘stop’ to the imperialist colonial order. We objected to the global system established by the imperialists. Shouting from the United Nations, I said, ‘The world is bigger than five,” he stated.

“Together with our nation, we shielded our chests against the musketeers of the imperialists,” Erdoğan said, referring to the coup attempt on July 15, 2016.

The president criticized the opposition bloc for embracing “imperialist” circles and said his party has made efforts for many years against imperials order. The members of the opposition have been in dialogue with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and had several closed-door meetings with the representatives of this organization, he said.

Erdoğan recalled that Ali Babacan, now the chair of the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), was the finance minister of his cabinet.

In Davos, he had a meeting with the head of the IMF, and Babacan also participated in the meeting, Erdoğan said. “Who was the person next to us, Babacan? He’s ranting now.”

“I told the head of the IMF, ‘You are sending your men. They receive installments from us. But you cannot manage Türkiye. I rule Türkiye,’” the president said.

“We cut off the money taps of the imperialists by not allowing the interest lobbies that sucked the blood of the nation like leeches for years,” he said while criticizing economists defending high-interest rates.

The government has kept Türkiye away from conflicts in the region and worked for peace, and invalidated “the disaster scenarios of the imperialists,” Erdoğan stated.

Türkiye also increased the local production ratio in defense industries from nearly 20 percent to 80 percent, and thus, “failed the imperialists who coveted the sovereignty” of the country, he emphasized.