Our seas have turned into refugee graves, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sunday following the G-20 leaders summit in New Delhi and called for a fairer world as well as the elimination of global inequalities.
“Regardless of our belief or culture, we are all members of a family of 8 billion people. None of us can feel safe in a world where children die of hunger, our seas are rapidly turning into a huge refugee cemetery, millions of people leave their homes due to wars, and human life becomes worthless. We believe that a more just world is possible,” Erdoğan said at a press conference.
Saying that Türkiye provides the most aid in proportion to national income, the president reiterated that Ankara hosts around 4 million Syrian refugees while trying to ensure the safe return of Syrians to their country by eliminating terrorism.
Some “600,000 Syrians have returned to their country. This number will increase as the projects increase,” he said.
As the G-20 summit concluded, Erdoğan praised India’s role as host and pointed out that several global challenges, including climate change, were discussed thoroughly between the leaders.
“We are among the countries that have contributed the most to the Paris Climate Agreement and Net Zero Emission projects. We are fifth in Europe and 12th in the world regarding renewable installed capacity. Our investments in energy prevented 90 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually. We doubled our goal. We work for a greener, cleaner, more livable world,” he highlighted.
Erdoğan also said he welcomes the African Union’s membership to the G-20. The African Union at full strength has 55 members, but six junta-ruled nations are currently suspended. It has a collective gross domestic product (GDP) of $3 trillion with some 1.4 billion people.
On the other side, regarding the recent tensions in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region, Erdoğan said he spoke with Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on Sunday while he might also hold a phone call with Armenian Prime Minister Pashinian on Monday to discuss the latest developments in the region.
“We have no other choice but to invite the region (Karabakh) to calm,” Erdoğan said, indicating that the so-called elections in the area “are not right and cannot be accepted.”
On the increasing attacks against the Muslim holy book, the Quran, Erdoğan said: “Burning the Holy Quran under police protection is a clear provocation, a hate crime. No one can expect us to remain silent about this. I believe that for the sake of the common future of humanity, all countries where hostility toward Islam has increased should now follow more determined policies on this issue.”
“With the proposals and efforts of our country, attacks on holy books were also condemned in the G-20 statement,” he added.
The president’s words came after an unidentified man desecrated the Holy Quran in front of the Turkish House (Türkevi), which houses Türkiye’s diplomatic mission in New York City, on Friday.
“Sweden’s possible accession to NATO is at the discretion of the Turkish Parliament,” the president reiterated.
The Quran burnings became a major dispute between Türkiye and Sweden, where several such incidents and PKK protests occurred, which led Ankara to halt the country’s admission into NATO.
Alarmed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland threw away their longstanding policies of military nonalignment. They applied to join NATO, but the process has been held up by the Turkish government’s objections to their accession on the grounds of security concerns. Türkiye ratified Finland’s membership earlier this year.
Erdoğan also said that Sweden’s NATO membership bid came up in talks with his US counterpart Joe Biden during a brief conversation at the G20.
"We had a quick word with Biden. We also discussed the F-16 issue,” Erdoğan said. "Unfortunately, friends keep bringing Sweden up when it comes to the F-16 issue. Such an approach seriously upsets us.”
Ankara requested F-16 fighter jets and modernization kits in October 2021. The $6-billion deal would include the sale of 40 jets as well as modernization kits for 79 warplanes already in the Turkish Air Force's inventory. The State Department has informally notified Congress of the potential sale.
However, key lawmakers at Capitol Hill have vowed to nix the deal over several demands, including making the purchase contingent on Ankara's approval of Sweden's NATO membership bid.
The president also met several leaders on the sidelines of the meeting. On Sunday, Erdoğan came together with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, European Council President Charles Michel, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. The meeting with el-Sissi is the first between the two leaders since ties were frayed for several years.
“Türkiye-Egypt relations, increasing the trade volume, new cooperation in the field of energy and regional as well as global issues were discussed at the meeting,” the Turkish Presidency said in a written statement.
Erdoğan pointed out that the two countries entered a new period by appointing mutual ambassadors and said that ties would reach the level they deserved in a short period.
Emphasizing that the Egyptian administration’s support to Turkish investors and companies is important, Erdoğan underlined that they attach importance to reviving cooperation in liquefied natural gas (LNG), nuclear energy, culture and education.
Although Cairo is not a member of the G-20, term president India had invited the leaders of Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Egypt, Mauritius, Oman, Singapore, Spain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to attend the summit.
This July, Türkiye and Egypt raised their diplomatic ties and appointed ambassadors.
Normalization between the two accelerated after el-Sissi and Erdoğan shook hands in Doha at the World Cup in 2022 and began to take off following the deadly February earthquakes in Türkiye and Erdoğan’s reelection in May.
Diplomatic relations between Türkiye and Egypt have been maintained at the level of charge d’affaires on both sides since Egypt’s 2013 military coup, which overthrew the late President Mohammed Morsi.
A day earlier, Erdoğan also held bilateral meetings with Emirati, South Korean, Brazilian and German leaders and leaders of MIKTA (Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Türkiye and Australia).
On the other side, the G-20 leaders, on the first day of talks in New Delhi on Saturday, praised the efforts of Türkiye and the United Nations in bringing Ukrainian and Russian grain to the world market to hinder a global food crisis.
In the G-20 declaration, the leaders called for "the full, timely and effective implementation of the grain deal to ensure prompt and unhindered delivery of grain, food products and fertilizers from Russia and Ukraine.”
“This is necessary to meet the demand in developing and least developed countries, particularly those in Africa,” it said.
The consensus was a breakthrough as the Group of 20 is divided over the war in Ukraine, with the West said to be pushing for condemnation in the declaration.
Türkiye’s efforts were also discussed during the several meetings President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held with world leaders on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in the Indian capital, New Delhi.
Türkiye was a key player in the now-on-hold deal that allowed for the safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments via the Black Sea despite the blockade of its ports after Moscow launched its invasion in late February 2022.
