Erdogan: “Only Turkey can save the European Union from the impasse”

“Only Turkey can save the European Union from the impasse it has reached,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said after a meeting of the Turkish Cabinet in Ankara.

The Turkish president painted a bleak picture for Europe, highlighting the rise of far-right forces in the elections, saying in particular: “Unfortunately, the last elections proved that our concerns were justified. One of the reasons for this is the inability of Europe’s central political forces to read the spirit of the times correctly. Liberal democracy, which was attractive in the last century, has entered a serious crisis and impasse. Liberal democracy has lost its former strength, prestige and influence.”

Erdogan pointed out that “just like life, politics does not accept a vacuum” and “as was shown in the recent elections, the vacuum in European democracies is being filled by far-right demagogues.” To this situation, which he claimed the West had fallen into, the Turkish president added the “ambiguous”, as he said, “position of the West towards the 471-day genocide in Gaza”, accusing Western organizations and leaders “who witnessed the massacre of more than 61 thousand civilians, mainly children and women”, of failing the “humanity exams” in Gaza.

“With these developments, it has become clear that Western values, which for years were presented as an example for the rest of the world, are far from the goal of the common good for humanity”, the Turkish president added.

According to Erdogan, “it is not possible to recover the loss of reputation and trust in a short time.”

“In the face of this picture,” he continued, “what comes first for us is the protection of our interests. Similarly, we attach great importance to the peace and well-being of our citizens who have lived in Europe for four and five generations. We are closely monitoring developments in order to ensure that the presence of the far right does not pose a threat to European Turks and Muslims.”