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<\/p>\nTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that T\u00fcrkiye would continue pushing for stronger regional cooperation, deeper defense capabilities and renewed diplomatic engagement with both NATO allies and the EU, while also calling for stability in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters aboard his return flight from Kazakhstan on Friday, Erdogan said: \u201cFirst, Israel\u2019s provocations must be neutralized, and then genuine peace must be built,\u201d referring to US-Israeli attacks against Iran.<\/p>\n
He underlined that Israel\u2019s \u201cendless provocations\u201d are among the main drivers of the ongoing regional crisis, warning that Tel Aviv seeks to expand the war across the Middle East for its own ambitions.<\/p>\n
The president said T\u00fcrkiye would continue exerting maximum efforts to prevent the current turmoil from evolving into a more complicated crisis, while emphasizing that regional problems should be solved by regional countries themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf lasting stability is desired in the region, everyone must put aside short-term calculations. Countries should defend the rights of their own citizens, not the interests of actors outside the region,\u201d Erdogan added.<\/p>\n
He also said lasting peace in the Middle East would require an end to escalating actions and short-term political calculations.<\/p>\n
Turkic leaders focus on cooperation, partnership<\/p>\n
Erdogan said that T\u00fcrkiye and Kazakhstan elevated bilateral ties through a new Declaration on Eternal Friendship and Expanded Strategic Partnership signed during his visit to Astana and Turkistan.<\/p>\n
Erdogan said he held comprehensive talks with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on bilateral relations as well as regional and global developments during the sixth meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe confirmed our satisfaction with the course of our relations and our determination to deepen cooperation in every field,\u201d Erdogan said, noting that 12 agreements were signed in various sectors alongside the joint declaration.<\/p>\n
Highlighting growing economic ties, Erdogan said nearly 5,500 Turkish companies have invested around $6 billion in Kazakhstan across sectors ranging from construction and finance to tourism and information technology, while Turkish contractors have undertaken projects worth nearly $30 billion.<\/p>\n
He said the two countries aim to increase bilateral trade volume from $10 billion to $15 billion and stressed the importance of energy cooperation, including the transportation of Kazakh oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.<\/p>\n
Erdogan also attended the informal summit of the Organization of Turkic States in the Kazakh city of Turkistan, where leaders signed the Turkistan Declaration.<\/p>\n
\u201cTogether with the leaders of Turkic states, we signed the Turkistan Declaration, which aims to make our existing cooperation more effective through digitalization and artificial intelligence opportunities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough the declaration, we also agreed on the need to strengthen institutional integration processes among Turkic states in line with the requirements of the digital age,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Erdogan also emphasized the importance Ankara places on the participation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in the Organization of Turkic States (OTS).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe attach great importance to the TRNC\u2019s participation in the organization\u2019s activities. The Turkic world is embracing the Turkish Cypriot people by fulfilling its responsibilities,\u201d Erdogan said.<\/p>\n
He also stressed that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is \u201can inseparable part of the Turkic world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The president also said T\u00fcrkiye would seek to strengthen the OTS during its upcoming chairmanship following the bloc\u2019s next summit.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring our chairmanship, which we will assume with the 13th Summit we host next fall, we will take our organization to higher levels,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
NATO summit in Ankara expected to yield key decisions<\/p>\n
The Turkish president also addressed the upcoming NATO summit, saying Ankara expected key decisions on the alliance\u2019s future and the global security architecture.<\/p>\n
\u201cRecent developments both in our region and around the world have further increased the importance of the Ankara summit,\u201d Erdogan said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe expect important decisions to be taken in Ankara regarding the future of the alliance and the future shape of the global security architecture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The president stressed that today\u2019s world is no longer the same as when NATO was founded, stressing that threats have become more complex, risks more diverse and the global system increasingly fragile.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe world has changed significantly,\u201d Erdogan said, underlining that fair burden-sharing, sincere cooperation and a common understanding of security are essential for NATO\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs T\u00fcrkiye, we are ready to do our part for a more determined NATO that is better prepared against threats,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
EU faces \u2018historic decision\u2019 on T\u00fcrkiye<\/p>\n
Erdogan said T\u00fcrkiye remains firmly committed to its European Union membership vision despite discriminatory attitudes and inconsistent policies from the bloc over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did not put forward our full membership vision to the European Union to compete with or obstruct anyone,\u201d Erdogan said. \u201cWe sincerely want to strengthen both our country and the Union as part of the EU.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said T\u00fcrkiye has consistently defended its EU membership goal and taken \u201cconsistent steps\u201d toward that objective despite facing \u201cambivalent\u201d and, at times, \u201copenly discriminatory\u201d practices from the bloc.<\/p>\n
\u201cT\u00fcrkiye is not a country that becomes a burden to the structures it joins, but one that shoulders responsibility,\u201d Erdogan said, adding that every platform T\u00fcrkiye participates in becomes \u201ca rising value.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Turkish president also criticized \u201cunfortunate and shallow statements\u201d directed at T\u00fcrkiye from within the EU, warning that such attitudes harm the bloc at a time when the world is undergoing major transformations.<\/p>\n
Erdogan further described T\u00fcrkiye as \u201ca major opportunity\u201d for the EU and said the bloc faced a \u201chistoric decision\u201d on whether to make full use of that opportunity.<\/p>\n
He added that Europe has reached \u201ca crossroads\u201d and must assess the situation more carefully.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Defense ties with US remain on agenda<\/p>\n
On defense cooperation with Washington, Erdogan said talks over the F-35 fighter jet program were ongoing.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur demands regarding the F-35 are clear. Our officials are continuing talks with their American counterparts. We hope for a positive outcome,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also highlighted T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s domestically developed fifth-generation fighter jet project, KAAN, describing it as the beginning of a broader transformation in the country\u2019s defense industry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the process is completed, a new chapter will begin in this field. KAAN is our first step. We can and will build even better and stronger ones,\u201d Erdogan said.<\/p>\n
The Turkish president added that not only KAAN but many of T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s defense industry products have attracted global attention, pointing to the SAHA 2026 defense fair held in Istanbul.<\/p>\n
He said more than 150,000 visitors attended the event, where over 200 new products were introduced and business volume reached $8 billion, figures that \u201cdemonstrate the level we have reached and encourage us to work even harder toward our goals.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that T\u00fcrkiye would continue pushing for stronger regional cooperation, deeper defense…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43,180804],"class_list":["post-444767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-sitekeywords"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}