Top 167 Quotes & Sayings by Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Turkish politician Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Last updated on December 24, 2024.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is a Turkish politician serving as the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. He founded the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2001, leading it to election victories in 2002, 2007, and 2011 general elections before being required to stand down upon his election as President in 2014. He later returned to the AKP leadership in 2017 following the constitutional referendum that year. Coming from an Islamist political background and self-describing as a conservative democrat, he has promoted socially conservative and populist policies during his administration.

The purpose cannot be creating self-styled democracies, but rather encouraging steps that are conducive to establishing democratic rule at universal standards. Obviously, this would be a formidable journey.
Those who stand on our side in the fight against terrorism are our friend. Those on the opposite side are our enemy.
Every country needs a strong leader in order to progress. — © Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Every country needs a strong leader in order to progress.
My nation wants the death penalty. That is the decision of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
It is impossible to preserve my friendship with people who are allegedly leaders when they are attacking their own people, shooting at them, using tanks and other forms of heavy weaponry.
Whatever our Lord says, whatever our beloved Prophet says, we shall follow that path.
What should be targeted is a concept of organic, and not just mechanic, democracy that preserves the rule of law, separation of powers, and that is participatory and pluralistic.
I am one of the first political leaders officially declaring that anti-Semitism is a crime. I expect an official declaration that Islamophobia is a crime against humanity as well.
We, as Turkey, call on Europe to respect human rights and democracy.
In other words, the bar should be maintained at the level of a pluralistic and participatory democracy.
The Kurdish problem is not only the problem of one part of my nation: it is a problem of every one of us, including myself.
A fitting external security environment could also play an important role in promoting social consensus and institutionalization towards democratization.
I am a person who is inclined to define relations between individuals based on principles.
There exists an unmistakable demand in the Middle East and in the wider Muslim world for democratization.
However, democracy cannot be defined as the existence of parliaments and elections alone. — © Recep Tayyip Erdogan
However, democracy cannot be defined as the existence of parliaments and elections alone.
Attempts by one ethnic group to exercise sovereignty over another are not fair. It doesn't matter if that ethnicity is Kurdish, Turkish, Arabic, Chaldean or whatever.
Similarly, gender-equality, supremacy of law, political participation, civil society, and transparency are among the indispensable elements that are the imperatives of democratization.
During the Gezi protests and PKK terror campaigns, the unity and solidarity of the Turkish nation were attacked.
I am aware of the thesis that the United States has long since invested exclusively in stability and this has obviated democratic transformation in the Middle East.
We have a very significant number of Jewish citizens, and they have always been safe and secure where they are in Turkey.
If the E.U. is going to make Turkey a full member, we are ready.
The foundations of democratic transition should be laid in accordance with a sincere and committed strategy that is supported by various policy tools, and implemented wisely.
A lasting solution to this problem will have an exceptionally positive influence foremost on the peoples of Palestine and Israel, as well as on the region and the international community.
Family planning, birth control, no Muslim family can practice such an understanding.
A political party cannot have a religion. Only individuals can. Otherwise, you'd be exploiting religion, and religion is so supreme that it cannot be exploited or taken advantage of.
There is no difference, where aims are concerned, between a terrorist with a gun and bomb in his hand and a terrorist who has dollars, euros, and interest rates.
Everyone should unconditionally accept that Israel is an indispensable element of the Middle Eastern mosaic.
Islamophobia emerged from the Western countries, and this is a challenge that we all together need to surmount.
It is obvious that putting the Arab-Israeli dispute on a resolution track would be an important element of overcoming the confidence problem in the region.
A confidence problem exists on the part of the people of the region who desire democratic rule in principle, but remain suspicious of both the fashion with which democratization is presented and the purposes of the democratic world.
In this country, there is a segregation of Black Turks and White Turks. Your brother Tayyip belongs to the Black Turks.
The fact that a woman is attached to her professional life should not prevent her from being a mother.
Your targets can only be realized on the basis of dreams.
Several experts on the Middle East concur that the Middle East cannot be democratized.
Paramount is the need to secure human rights. The form of rule should be such that the citizen does not have to fear the State, but gives it direction and confidently participates in its administration.
I take the debate on the method of promoting democracy seriously.
Strong families lead to strong nations.
Time to time I get together with the rabbis, with religious leaders, leaders of congregations, and I talk to them, and wherever a need arises, we do everything we can to meet those needs.
My visit to the United States has also given me the opportunity to emphasize the objective of establishing close and intensive links between the Turkish and American peoples, scholars and businessmen.
A woman who abstains from motherhood saying 'I am working' means she is in fact rejecting motherhood. — © Recep Tayyip Erdogan
A woman who abstains from motherhood saying 'I am working' means she is in fact rejecting motherhood.
The Muslim world and its subset the countries of the Middle East have been left behind in the marathon of political, economic and human development. For that, there is a tendency to blame others as the primary cause.
Therefore, the observation must be explicitly made: In the Middle East and in the Muslim world, suspicions linger concerning the objectives of the West and notably the US.
The US and the European Union needs to help in the translation of the demand for democracy into a political will.
As a politician who cherishes religious conviction in his personal sphere, but regards politics as a domain belonging outside religion, I believe that this view is seriously flawed.
My legal bond with the A.K.P. may have ended the day I took the presidential oath of office, but my bonds of love have never ended and never will.
Islam is a religion. It is not an ideology. For a Muslim, there is no such thing as to be against modernity. Why should a Muslim not be a modern person? I, as a Muslim, fulfill all the requirements of my religion, and I live in a democratic, social state.
Invariably, also a Palestinian state should live side by side with Israel within recognized and secure borders and the security and prosperity of the Palestinian people must be guaranteed.
Similarly, it is argued that the culture of Islam is incompatible with democracy. Basically, this conventional perspective of the Middle East thus contends that democracy in that region is neither possible nor even desirable.
According to this view, democracy is a product of western culture, and it cannot be applied to the Middle East which has a different cultural, religious, sociological and historical background.
A country without a strong leader will go down. — © Recep Tayyip Erdogan
A country without a strong leader will go down.
But foremost, I do not subscribe to the view that Islamic culture and democracy cannot be reconciled.
So far, I have not come to any of the positions that I have filled through wanting to be there. I was sought - people wanted me to come to those posts. I am talking about all my positions: mayor of Istanbul, chairman of the party, prime minister.
Turkey will be in Cyprus forever.
If you think you can finish ISIS off with the PYD and YPG, you cannot, because they are terrorist groups as well.
I should like to repeat what I stated recently in the Jeddah Economic Forum in Saudi Arabia: It won't be the religion, but rather the world-view of some of its followers that shall be made current.
Democracy is like a streetcar. When you come to your stop, you get off.
If we believe in a democratic system, we have to accept the will of the people.
Therefore, the question is not whether such democratization is possible, but instead how to meet the yearning of the masses in the Middle East for democracy; in other words, how to achieve democratization in the Middle East.
The members of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria are also part of the Syrian people, and they have the right to exercise their democratic rights.
There is no Kurdish problem.
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