Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that Türkiye would continue pushing for stronger regional cooperation, deeper defense capabilities and renewed diplomatic engagement with both NATO allies and the EU, while also calling for stability in the Middle East.
Speaking to reporters aboard his return flight from Kazakhstan on Friday, Erdogan said: “First, Israel’s provocations must be neutralized, and then genuine peace must be built,” referring to US-Israeli attacks against Iran.
He underlined that Israel’s “endless provocations” are among the main drivers of the ongoing regional crisis, warning that Tel Aviv seeks to expand the war across the Middle East for its own ambitions.
The president said Türkiye would continue exerting maximum efforts to prevent the current turmoil from evolving into a more complicated crisis, while emphasizing that regional problems should be solved by regional countries themselves.
“If lasting stability is desired in the region, everyone must put aside short-term calculations. Countries should defend the rights of their own citizens, not the interests of actors outside the region,” Erdogan added.
He also said lasting peace in the Middle East would require an end to escalating actions and short-term political calculations.
Erdogan said that Türkiye and Kazakhstan elevated bilateral ties through a new Declaration on Eternal Friendship and Expanded Strategic Partnership signed during his visit to Astana and Turkistan.
Erdogan said he held comprehensive talks with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on bilateral relations as well as regional and global developments during the sixth meeting of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council.
“We confirmed our satisfaction with the course of our relations and our determination to deepen cooperation in every field,” Erdogan said, noting that 12 agreements were signed in various sectors alongside the joint declaration.
Highlighting growing economic ties, Erdogan said nearly 5,500 Turkish companies have invested around $6 billion in Kazakhstan across sectors ranging from construction and finance to tourism and information technology, while Turkish contractors have undertaken projects worth nearly $30 billion.
He said the two countries aim to increase bilateral trade volume from $10 billion to $15 billion and stressed the importance of energy cooperation, including the transportation of Kazakh oil through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
Erdogan also attended the informal summit of the Organization of Turkic States in the Kazakh city of Turkistan, where leaders signed the Turkistan Declaration.
“Together with the leaders of Turkic states, we signed the Turkistan Declaration, which aims to make our existing cooperation more effective through digitalization and artificial intelligence opportunities,” he said.
“Through the declaration, we also agreed on the need to strengthen institutional integration processes among Turkic states in line with the requirements of the digital age,” he added.
Erdogan also emphasized the importance Ankara places on the participation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) in the Organization of Turkic States (OTS).
“We attach great importance to the TRNC’s participation in the organization’s activities. The Turkic world is embracing the Turkish Cypriot people by fulfilling its responsibilities,” Erdogan said.
He also stressed that the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is “an inseparable part of the Turkic world.”
The president also said Türkiye would seek to strengthen the OTS during its upcoming chairmanship following the bloc’s next summit.
“During our chairmanship, which we will assume with the 13th Summit we host next fall, we will take our organization to higher levels,” he said.
The Turkish president also addressed the upcoming NATO summit, saying Ankara expected key decisions on the alliance’s future and the global security architecture.
“Recent developments both in our region and around the world have further increased the importance of the Ankara summit,” Erdogan said.
“We expect important decisions to be taken in Ankara regarding the future of the alliance and the future shape of the global security architecture,” he said.
The president stressed that today’s world is no longer the same as when NATO was founded, stressing that threats have become more complex, risks more diverse and the global system increasingly fragile.
“The world has changed significantly,” Erdogan said, underlining that fair burden-sharing, sincere cooperation and a common understanding of security are essential for NATO’s future.
“As Türkiye, we are ready to do our part for a more determined NATO that is better prepared against threats,” he added.
Erdogan said Türkiye remains firmly committed to its European Union membership vision despite discriminatory attitudes and inconsistent policies from the bloc over the years.
“We did not put forward our full membership vision to the European Union to compete with or obstruct anyone,” Erdogan said. “We sincerely want to strengthen both our country and the Union as part of the EU.”
He said Türkiye has consistently defended its EU membership goal and taken “consistent steps” toward that objective despite facing “ambivalent” and, at times, “openly discriminatory” practices from the bloc.
“Türkiye is not a country that becomes a burden to the structures it joins, but one that shoulders responsibility,” Erdogan said, adding that every platform Türkiye participates in becomes “a rising value.”
The Turkish president also criticized “unfortunate and shallow statements” directed at Türkiye from within the EU, warning that such attitudes harm the bloc at a time when the world is undergoing major transformations.
Erdogan further described Türkiye as “a major opportunity” for the EU and said the bloc faced a “historic decision” on whether to make full use of that opportunity.
He added that Europe has reached “a crossroads” and must assess the situation more carefully.
On defense cooperation with Washington, Erdogan said talks over the F-35 fighter jet program were ongoing.
“Our demands regarding the F-35 are clear. Our officials are continuing talks with their American counterparts. We hope for a positive outcome,” he said.
He also highlighted Türkiye’s domestically developed fifth-generation fighter jet project, KAAN, describing it as the beginning of a broader transformation in the country’s defense industry.
“When the process is completed, a new chapter will begin in this field. KAAN is our first step. We can and will build even better and stronger ones,” Erdogan said.
The Turkish president added that not only KAAN but many of Türkiye’s defense industry products have attracted global attention, pointing to the SAHA 2026 defense fair held in Istanbul.
He said more than 150,000 visitors attended the event, where over 200 new products were introduced and business volume reached $8 billion, figures that “demonstrate the level we have reached and encourage us to work even harder toward our goals.”
