The presidential system has enhanced Turkey’s ability to instantly respond to regional crises and emerge as a critical player, Vice President Fuat Oktay said Sunday.

Speaking at an event in the central province of Konya, Oktay said Turkey is located in a fragile geography, noting that the country has been striving to survive amid the ongoing developments on its borders.

"The only rule in this region is to survive. If you want to survive, you need to remain strong," Oktay said, adding that both countries and the people need to remain mentally, physically and spiritually strong.

Ankara wants peace in the region as conflicts seriously affect the country, Oktay said while accusing countries that call themselves superpowers of not caring about conflicts or humanitarian tragedies.

"We want peace in our region. We want calm, stability in our country. This is why we believed the system of governance had to be changed," Oktay said, adding that Turkey has become a country that takes immediate action during regional crises.

"If Turkey was to have the previous system of governance, it probably would have been involved in one of the ongoing crises, or it would have been too late by the time it wanted to take action to step in," Oktay said. He continued by saying that the presidential system has significantly sped up Turkey’s capacity to become involved.

The vice president said the presidential system’s dynamism and stability paved the way for the solution to the Karabakh crisis and Ankara has been carrying out a foreign policy that prioritizes the rights and interests of Turkey.

"Turkey has sought its interests in all fields and has opened its doors whenever there was a humanitarian tragedy. Turkey has welcomed everyone with open arms, regardless of religion, language, race, whether it is in Syria or Iraq or elsewhere," Oktay said.

He also noted that the attempts to isolate Turkey have failed and that Turkey’s cooperation with its neighbors will continue.

"Hopefully, this will also have positive repercussions in the fields of development and progress," Oktay said, adding that this includes the energy issues in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

It has been more than five years since Turkey switched from a parliamentary system to the current presidential system after the majority of Turkish voters opted to create the new system. Turkish voters narrowly endorsed an executive presidency on April 16, 2017, with a referendum of 51.4% votes in favor. The official transition to the new system took place when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was sworn in as the president in Parliament after the 2018 general elections, which he won by a majority of 52.6% votes.