Erdoğan: Türkiye to establish ‘belt of security and peace’ around world

Re-elected as Türkiye’s 13th president, Erdogan hopes to build the “Century of Türkiye” in his new term.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who recently got re-elected as Türkiye’s 13th president, has stressed that the country aims to “establish a belt of security and peace” all around the world.

“Our goal is to establish a belt of security and peace from Europe to the Black Sea, from the Caucasus and the Middle East to North Africa,” Erdogan told the 79th general assembly of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Türkiye in the capital Ankara on Tuesday.

Erdogan also vowed that they would settle Türkiye’s European Union visa problem, “which has lately been used as political blackmail,” as soon as possible.

The re-elected president hopes to build the “Century of Türkiye” together with the business world, civil society, and political establishment as the Turkish Republic is set to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its official Republic Day on 29 October.

Erdogan added that rebuilding quake-hit zones and the economy remained a top priority for his government.

Winners of the election marathon

“Turkish democracy and Turkish nation won the election marathon,” Erdogan said in his speech.

On May 28, Türkiye went to the polls for the presidential runoff election after no candidate crossed the 50 percent threshold needed for an outright victory in the first round on May 14.

Erdogan won the race with 52.14 percent of the vote, while opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu got 47.86 percent, according to the Supreme Election Council.

“Every citizen who trusts the national will, dreams for our country, and feels that they belong to this land is the undisputed winner of this election,” Erdogan said.

Türkiye successfully completed “one of the most important” election processes in its history, Erdogan said, adding: “We held both elections with a perfection befitting our democracy.”