(Photo: AA)
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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan performed the Friday prayer at Hagia Sophia, which was reopened as a mosque on July 24.
After the prayer, he addressed the people in front of the mosque, touching on several issues, including the spike in the dollar and gold, the developments in the eastern Mediterranean, the explosion in Lebanon and the coronavirus epidemic.
Lira's loss against dollar
On Turkish lira's historic low against the dollar, Euro and gold yesterday, Erdoğan said that "volatility can always occur."
"If you look at the economic developments in the world at the moment, when you look at the USA, Russia, Europe, you will see that there are very serious zigzags in the economy after the coronavirus.
"I don't want to mention the enemies inside anyway, those outside are enough for us.
"We came into office in November 2002. In 2002, the total national income was 236 billion dollars. It increased to 754 billion dollars in 2019.
"Likewise, per capita income was 3,880 dollars then, this figure increased to 9,127 dollars in 2019. Apart from this, let's look at automobile sales. In 2002, domestic sales were 91 thousand. In 2016, it recovered to 756 thousand.
"Looking at refrigerator sales, it was 1 million 88 thousand in 2002. However, as of 2017, it increased to 3 million 107 thousand and to 2 million 486 thousand in 2019.
"This shows something: Turkey is on the rise. But there are those who do not want to see it, who do not see it. I'm talking with documents. The number of opened companies rose to 85,263 from 30,842. Employment was 19.6 million people, currently, there are 28 million 80 thousand employed.
"When we came to office, Turkey owed the IMF 23 billion dollars. We paid our debt in 2013. We have 105 billion dollars of [foreign exchange] reserves. We stand tall."
After the President's speech, #buzdolabı (refrigerator) became a trending topic in Turkey on Twitter.
The maritime deal between Egypt and Greece
The maritime border deal between Egypt and Greece was "worthless," Erdoğan said. "There's no need to talk with those who have no rights, especially in maritime jurisdictions."
Egypt yesterday announced that it signed a bilateral agreement with Greece on the delimitation of maritime jurisdictions between the two countries in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the "so-called agreement" in a statement, asserting that Greece and Egypt share no mutual sea border and that the deal is "null and void" for Ankara.
Beirut explosion
Also addressing Tuesday's huge blast in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, Erdoğan said Turkey is following Lebanon's investigation.
"This really was a huge disaster," Erdoğan said. "We will stand by Beirut, Lebanon, and the Lebanese people with everything we can."
The explosion killed at least 157 people and injured more than 5,000. Also, thousands of buildings were damaged.
Coronavirus epidemic
Turning to the coronavirus outbreak, Erdoğan stressed how Turkey has sent aid to nearly 150 countries to fight the virus.
"We are currently sending everything from masks to overalls and medicines to nearly 150 countries amid the coronavirus pandemic," Erdoğan said. (HA/VK)
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