Türkiye supports grain deal with shipment to Africa: Erdoğan

ANKARA

Türkiye supports the Black Sea grain export process by making grain shipments to Africa, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Nov. 28.

“We believe that the extension of the Black Sea grain corridor agreement for 120 days as of Nov. 19 will alleviate the suffering of our African brothers in particular. Hopefully, we will support this process by carrying out the grain shipment with priority to the African continent,” Erdoğan said, speaking at the 38th Ministerial Session of the Standing Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (COMCEC).

Ankara has been working hard to end the war between Russia and Ukraine from the first day, the president also said.

“We have demonstrated that a diplomatic solution is possible by realizing the grain corridor and the prisoner exchange agreement over the Black Sea,” he explained.

More than 11 million tons of grain through the Black Sea were exported to world markets thanks to this deal at a time when the energy and food crisis affected the whole world, Erdoğan added.

For Syria to get rid of the spiral of conflict, humanitarian crisis and terror, Islamic countries should put a stronger will and actively support the efforts for a political solution, Erdoğan also stated.

Citing the problems of the Muslim Turkish community in Greece, the president said for years, “unfair and unlawful” practices have continued against the Turkish minority in Greece.

The religious leaders of the Turkish minority in Greece are not recognized, their foundations and property are seized, and they are not allowed to teach their mother tongue, while their identities are denied, he stated.

“The Islamic world should no longer be a spectator to the plight of our brothers and sisters who were persecuted in Greece,” Erdoğan added.

Elaborating on the Palestinian issue, Erdoğan said Türkiye supports the establishment of an independent, sovereign, and geographically integrated Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with Jerusalem as its capital.

“We are doing our best for the Palestinian people to have their own state and legitimate rights and to preserve the status quo in Jerusalem and Masjid al-Aqsa,” he said.

He underscored that the global crisis, which sparked off with the pandemic, deepened with the increases in energy and commodity prices and further worsened by hot conflicts, is continuing.

“Inflation and unemployment rates have hit all-time highs of the past 50-60 years. Efforts to take inflation under control by increasing interest rates have failed to produce the expected outcomes. Power cuts have become a serious source of concern in many European countries. The problems brought about by the crises in supply chains have only temporarily resolved,” he said.

Although Türkiye “successfully manages this process thanks to the measures” the government had timely taken and the policies it has been pursuing, the country “feels some of the repercussions as well,” Erdoğan said.

“That expectation of a recession increases all across the world indicates that the light at the end of the tunnel has yet to appear. Advancing our trade and economic cooperation as the Islamic countries will contribute to our efforts aimed at turning the crisis into an opportunity,” he added.