President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is making important statements at the NATO summit in The Hague. Erdoğan’s statements are summarized as follows: In the Council session, we decided to increase our defense spending to 5% of our gross domestic product in 10 years. This decision, taken in a climate where current crises are deepening and additional crises are emerging every day, constitutes a necessity for NATO. We are the ally most harmed by the threat of terrorism and directly affected by many crises in our region.

Almost all the events that currently dominate the international agenda are happening in Türkiye's immediate vicinity. We are trying to keep our country away from all these crises, hot conflicts and tensions. We attach great importance to increasing our deterrence and strengthening our defense. The great breakthroughs made by the Turkish defense industry in recent years are admired worldwide. We have a say on a global scale in many areas, especially in armed and unarmed and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Our defense spending is currently above the two percent target of previous peaks. In fact, we are among the countries closest to reaching five percent in terms of our current infrastructure and defense industry investments, the resources we allocate to innovation, and our international efforts. I find it right that many allies are aligning with us in taking on more responsibility in the face of threats and challenges. Of course, it is not possible to improve the effectiveness of the alliance by simply increasing defense spending. Mutual understanding and cooperation must also be sincerely established among the allies. In this context, we first pioneered the reflection of the understanding of removing the barriers to trade in defense industry products between the allies in the alliance documents.

We hope that this will be implemented with all its elements. I emphasized that the European Union's defense and security initiatives should be complementary to NATO. I emphasized that it would be in the interest of all of Europe to fully include non-member allies in the union's defense industry initiatives. Ultimately, increasing defense capabilities in Europe are in the interest of the entire European Atlantic Region. We hope that this comprehensive approach will prevail throughout the continent. The NATO Secretary General's approach based on defense industry development from Texas to Ankara is extremely valuable in this respect.

As you know, he is one of the allies who highlight the alliance's role in the fight against terrorism. In fact, terrorism has been recorded as one of the two main current threats to NATO. This time, I emphasized in The Hague that the fight against terrorism can only be achieved with the sincere solidarity of the allies. I ensured that this threat was reflected in the summit declaration.

RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR

The war in Ukraine, which has been going on for more than three years, has had both regional and global effects. The loss of life and destruction are increasing on both sides. As Turkey, we continue our intensive efforts to end the war with a just and sustainable peace. In the talks we hosted in Istanbul in March 2022, which were incomplete , we had achieved concrete results such as the Black Sea-Grain initiative and the exchange of prisoners of war. When our belief in diplomacy combined with the trust the parties have in us, we started mediation once again in Istanbul. In the talks we hosted, significant progress was made on additional prisoner and body exchanges. Also, have an open exchange of views on a possible ceasefire. I am convinced that a window of opportunity has opened for a ceasefire and lasting peace. This should not be wasted. Our goal is to pave the way for a process leading to lasting peace by supporting additional concrete steps among the supporters.  With the support of our allies, I maintain my hope that the war will end as soon as possible. As I always say, a just peace has no losers.

We see that the threats and crises in the Middle East are becoming more serious every day. I would like to draw your attention once again to the oppression that has been going on for almost two years against the Palestinian people in Gaza. Look, so far, 56,000 Gazans, mostly children and women, have lost their lives in Israeli attacks. Again, 129,000 Gazans, mostly children and women, have been injured. 80% of Gaza has been destroyed. 95% of the health infrastructure has been destroyed. Churches, mosques, schools and hospitals have been bombed. Over 2 million of our Gazan brothers and sisters are struggling to survive under very difficult conditions amidst the ruins as bombs are constantly raining down on them.

The Israeli government is preventing even the most basic necessities from entering Gaza. Due to Israel's obstructions and attacks, the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza has turned into a humanitarian disaster. No person with a conscience can remain silent in the face of such savagery. One remains silent when babies are sleeping, but one cannot remain silent when babies are being killed. From here, I call on everyone who values human life to raise their voices against oppression. However, we observe that the international community, especially the relevant institutions, are inadequate in stopping Israel.

Our organization is full of examples of how you can't get anywhere with war, destruction, aggression, and threats. We welcome the ceasefire that was achieved through the efforts of the American President Mr. Trump. We expect the parties to unconditionally comply with the call of my dear friend Trump. We hope that the de facto ceasefire declaration will be transformed into permanent calm as soon as possible. I believe that everyone, including allies, should do their part to ensure peace in the Middle East.

ISRAEL - IRAN CERTIFICATE

We welcome the ceasefire achieved through the efforts of US President Trump. We expect the parties to comply unconditionally with my friend Trump's call.

NEXT NATO SUMMIT IN Türkiye

We will continue to do our part in this regard. Esteemed members of the press, we held meetings with many leaders within the scope of the summit. During our meetings, we discussed ways to develop our bilateral relations with our allies and the issues on the summit agenda. Our country's proposal to host the NATO summit next year was also finalized at our summit. We are very pleased to host our allies in Türkiye next year.

Will there be tension between Türkiye and Israel? Will there be a conflict?

Dear Friends, as long as there is no attack on Türkiye, there is no such thing, Turkey is a country of peace in its region and is making every effort to ensure that peace prevails in its region. However, of course, in addition to all this, especially against this unbearable attitude of Israel, we will continue to stand against oppression there. And until today, as in Gaza, we have stood against oppressors in the region, we have stood against oppression, and we continue to do so. We continue to stand especially by the strange gureba, and just think, right now, for months, no aid has been sent to the oppressed people in Gaza. Now, if the same aid does not go to these people, what will happen to these people? Of course, we are saying to the countries that are powerful right now, come and stand against Israel and what needs to be done to open the doors to Gaza so that this same aid can be sent? Right now, Israel is not even letting the Red Cross through. Even through the Red Cross, no aid is going to these people in Gaza. Such a situation is in question.

NATO members and Türkiye, which you mentioned in our conversation a moment ago, will increase their defense share from the current 2% to 5% in the next 10 years. What path will Türkiye follow in increasing the budget during this process?

We have held and continue to hold talks with both England and Germany regarding the Eurofighter, and there are positive developments in this regard.

NATO will host its meeting in Türkiye next year. In which city in Türkiye will this meeting be held? Has its scope been determined?

We will hopefully inform the NATO General Secretariat about the decision we will make at the meeting in which city we will hold our summit, which we previously held in Istanbul.

Israeli journalist: Türkiye-Israel relations used to be very good, how will they be in the future?

If relations between Israel and Turkey continue with this understanding, peace between us and them is not possible. Because the steps taken threaten peace first and foremost. Since the steps taken threaten peace, how will you ensure peace here? It is not possible. Just think, over a hundred thousand people are dead, injured and they are still continuing to strike. On the other hand, food shipments, including the Red Cross, are not being made to the oppressed people in Gaza. Who is preventing this? Israel. And if such a barbaric step is still being taken here, how will we establish a peaceful environment with them? It is not possible. That is why the Red Cross wants to intervene right now, but there is no result. The Red Cross wants to intervene, but there is no result. Egypt wants to intervene, but there is no result. With all this, no matter which country you look at, none of them can achieve results. That is why we invite Israel to abandon the stance it has taken in Gaza so far.

Is there any development regarding Türkiye's participation in the F-35 program? What is the status?

We did not discuss the S-400 issue with Mr. Trump. We discussed the F-35 issue. We paid 1 billion 300-400 million dollars for the F-35 and we saw that Mr. Trump also had good intentions regarding purchasing the F-35s.  Our friends who are responsible for the purchase of the F-35s are continuing their work. Of course, we also have work on the Eurofighter. We are continuing our work with England and Germany regarding the Eurofighter. We hope that England and Germany also see our good intentions positively. Our work continues.

Meeting with Trump

We met with Mr. Trump from 11:00-11:30 in the evening. We met for about 1-1:30 hours. However, in our meeting, the issue of Gaza's coastal areas becoming 'casinos' as you stated did not come up. If such a thing came up, I would probably know the answer I would give. My stance on this issue is clear. Since my stance is clear, Mr. Trump is an intelligent person who knows which questions to ask. And such a thing did not come up between us anyway.