In an interview with Turkish TV network NTV and Starr, the Turkish president said that "with the agreement we made with Libya,there are important steps taken by our businessmen in Libya right now." "It is not possible for any regional project that ignores Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean to be successful. We already see this reality in our region and we have openly said so," Tayyip Erdogan said, adding that "the EastMed pipeline project was a futile project that had no technical or commercial feasibility and was put forward by the Greek/Greek duo with political motives, aiming to exclude us and tdvk. It is gratifying that America is finally seeing this reality."
The Turkish President said that "of course, we are in favor of inclusive cooperation and fair sharing in the eastern Mediterranean. We have said it again and again. That is why I proposed to convene an inclusive conference on the Eastern Mediterranean in 2020, but unfortunately there was no response. Right now we are expecting it."
Tayyip Erdogan said that "in the meantime, we see, for example, that Israel has taken some steps in this regard. We are ready to take all kinds of steps in this area with Israel. In fact, there is talk of a visit by the Honorable President Herzog in the first half of February. This visit may mark the beginning of a new era in Israel-Turkey relations. I would like to express this as a positive development."
"As a result, I believe that we are on the threshold of a new era of regional cooperation based on mutual benefit and common interests," the Turkish President said.
"We will put Turkey-US relations on a positive track."
On his relations with the US, the Turkish President said that "at the moment, of course, there is a reality that we all have to accept together. In world politics, leaders do not exist to make enemies, they exist to make friends. The more successful you are at making friends, the stronger your country will be."
"My relations with Biden date back to the Obama era. He was Vice President at that time. It was also a time when we had a dialogue. My expectations were actually very different. But after our last meeting in Rome, I think there will be new developments on this issue," he said.
On the F-35, Tayyip Erdogan said the talks are currently moving in a positive direction. "Negotiations are continuing between the defense ministers on the maintenance of F-16s and the return of new F-16s. We said good luck to the new ambassador today (yesterday). I hope we will take these steps quickly in this new process and put Turkey-US relations on a positive track as in the past," the Turkish President said.
"We are not backing down on S400"
On S-400, Tayyip Erdogan said the process is continuing. "There is no retreat. Nobody but us will decide what we get from whom. We will take it. The supply of the S-400 is an understanding whose background lies within us. In defense, we need to know what we're going to do from the offense, I guess. Nobody creates their country's defense systems by asking us. I guess we will not ask anybody," he said."
He added that when he took office, they had a 20 percent domestic and national share in defense systems, this increased to 80 percent. "This shows something. Turkey is developing in a very different way, it is getting stronger and we have to get stronger. Because in many places around us there are those who have their own accounts. Especially Greece is buying things from many places, France and so on. We are also trying to be self-sufficient. From this point of view, we continue on our way by getting stronger in any case and we will continue," the Turkish President said.
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