Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the 21st General Assembly of the Confederation of Turkish Tradesmen and Craftsmen (TESK) in Ankara.

Addressing the General Assembly, President Erdoğan drew attention to the highest inflation rates of the last 40-50 years in the U.S. and Europe, and said: “The Russia-Ukraine war, which started in February, has been added on top of all these problems. Due to the conflicts, the energy prices have increased to astronomical levels and the threat of food crisis have reached a dreadful level. Countries with limited agricultural production, African and Central Asia countries in particular, are faced with the threat of famine. Similar difficulties are experienced in the area of energy as well. Europe’s most important agenda at the moment is to survive the winter with the least damage. All the European countries are now pondering what they will do to survive the winter. However, thanks be to Allah, does Türkiye have such a problem? It does not indeed.”

"I will inshallah speak with Mr. Putin tonight"

Underscoring that Türkiye had entered this painful period relatively comfortable thanks to the pipeline projects ensuring the country’s energy supply security, the agreements reached, its liquefied natural gas storage areas and its drilling and exploration activities in the Black Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean, Erdoğan noted: “I will inshallah speak with Mr. Putin tonight and we will have a chance to address all these problems with Ukraine. If there is not any extraordinary situation, we will get through the winter without any problem compared to many countries in the world.” (ILKHA)