President Erdoğan addressed the coordinators of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) at the Presidential Complex. In his speech he emphasized that Turkey has increased its development assistance even during its most troubled periods, and said: “The sincere stance our country displays with regard to development assistance has attracted the attention of international organizations, as well. We especially focused on the 47 least developed countries while others were laying the groundwork for their own political and commercial interests under the cover of assistance.”
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a speech during his reception of the TİKA coordinators at the Presidential Complex.
Stating that Turkey has turned into a country which no longer receives aid but rather provides the largest amount of development aid globally as a result of the efforts made over the past 15 years, President Erdoğan said that Turkey ranked second only to the U.S. with the $6 billion aid it made in 2016 and that it is by far the top country in terms of development aid when the GDP is taken into account.
“IF THE OIL-RICH MUSLIM COUNTRIES GAVE THEIR ALMS, THERE WOULD BE NO POOR LEFT ACROSS THE WORLD”
Calling on the oil-rich countries, President Erdoğan said: “If the oil-rich Muslim countries determined and gave their alms to the poor countries, there would be no poor left across the world. Are they doing so? No, they aren’t. If they were to give their share of alms for only the oil they are extracting, those poor countries would become prosperous, as well.”
“THE MONEY SPENT ON ARMAMENT WOULD BE ENOUGH TO PROVIDE FOR ALL THE POOR IN THE WORLD”
Stressing that it would actually be possible to achieve at least a minimum level of prosperity in the rest of the world with the money that the West spends to stir up trouble, to encourage terrorist organizations and to make people kill one another, President Erdoğan said: “The money spent on armament or for the incidents in, no need to look farther, the Middle East alone, or the money spent for wars would be enough to provide for all the poor in the world.”
HUMANITARIAN DIPLOMACY AT THE HEART OF TURKEY’S FOREIGN POLICY
Underlining that Turkey has placed humanitarian diplomacy at the heart of its foreign policy, President Erdoğan said that the sincere stance Turkey displays with regard to development assistance has attracted the attention of international organizations, too, and that Turkey especially focused on the 47 least developed countries while others were laying the groundwork for their own political and commercial interests under the cover of assistance.
