President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Message on Europe Day / Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye

Following is the message President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan issued on Europe Day:

The announcement of the Schuman Declaration, which laid the foundations of European integration, has been celebrated as “Europe Day” in our country, too, since the approval of Türkiye’s candidacy to the European Union membership in 1999.

May 9 Europe Day not only marks the beginning of the political and economic integration in Europe but also highlights the peace and stability enabled by decades-long joint efforts.

However, a wide range of challenges occurring both at a global scale and in our immediate neighborhood such as wars, conflicts, terrorist acts and irregular migration threaten the order in the European Continent as well as the entire world.

Islamophobia, xenophobia and racism, which are on the rise across the Continent, is one of the primary sources of concern for our people and migrants residing in Europe. Discrimination and hate crimes against the European Turkish Community are being normalized day by day.

The policies pursued by some European institutions and countries regarding the Gaza crisis, in which 35 thousand Palestinians, including 15 thousand children, have been massacred, have shaken the trust in European values.

These values will be questioned more and more as long as the crises, conflicts and wars affecting Europe and our common geography remain unresolved. 

Given the current geopolitical conjecture, it has become more important than ever in terms of our Continent’s future that the EU pursue inclusive, cooperation-centered, and fair policies in the larger European geography and the Mediterranean basin.

In this critical period, when the enlargement policy has gained momentum, it is high time for our country and the EU to expand their cooperation in every area and provide a more resilient basis for it, including the accession talks that form the foundation of their relations.  

It is of vital importance for the EU to maintain its relations with our country in accordance with the pacta sunt servanda principle and with a result-oriented approach, avoiding policies and discourses that push our relations to a deadlock.

Türkiye will not shy away from utilizing the strategic means and capabilities at its disposal in the face of exclusionary policies towards our country that also have negative impacts on the EU’s prospects of becoming a global power.

I hereby would like to reiterate that we as Türkiye stand ready to cooperate towards a more prosperous, more collaborative and more transparent Europe, in which Türkiye takes its rightful place.

With these thoughts, I wish a happy Europe Day to all the Europeans, first and foremost to our citizens.