Erdogan says Turkey wants region to become ‘island of peace’

Turkish president tells party congress he is determined ‘to increase the number of friends and resolve hostilities in the region’.
Turkey wants to resolve conflicts and make more friends while turning its region into an “island of peace”, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday.
Speaking to thousands of supporters at a party congress held amid a new surge in coronavirus cases, Erdogan said he was “determined to increase the number of our friends and resolve hostilities in the region”.
“We will continue to shape our relationships with every country from the United States to Russia, from the European Union to the Arab geography in line with Turkey’s interests and our people’s expectations,” the Turkish president told his ruling Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) congress in the capital Ankara.“As a country located in the heart of Africa, Asia and Europe, we do not have the luxury to turn our backs on neither the East nor the West,” he said.
Despite a big jump in new COVID-19 cases, which reached 26,000 on Tuesday, the congress was packed with thousands of AK Party members and delegates who travelled from across the country, drawing criticism online.
But Erdogan talked up Wednesday’s address as an important moment in Turkish politics, in which he intended to lay out the country’s future course.
Reassuring investors
Erdogan also tried to reassure foreign investors spooked by the dismissal of the market-friendly central bank chief, saying Turkey’s economy will prevail.
“I call on foreign investors who invest in our country to trust Turkey’s power and potential,” Erdogan said.
“The fluctuations of the past few days most definitely do not reflect the fundamentals of Turkey’s economy, real dynamics, potential or its tomorrow,” he said.
Erdogan last week dismissed central bank head Naci Agbal, who had raised investor confidence and shored up the Turkish currency following a series of interest rate increases. He replaced him with Sahap Kavcioglu, a banking professor who has argued for lower rates, in line with Erdogan’s economic thinking. The move raised fears about Turkey’s possible return to unconventional monetary policy and caused the Turkish lira to plummet.
Source: aljazeera.com