Turkish president concludes intensive diplomatic tour at 79th UN General Assembly

By Kaan Bozdogan

ISTANBUL (AA) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held bilateral meetings with many leaders in New York, where he attended the 79th session of the UN General Assembly.

After his arrival in the city, Erdogan received a warm welcome at the door of the Turkish House, Türkiye's dedicated diplomatic headquarters in New York, where he met world leaders and officials from international institutions as part of his busy diplomatic schedule.

Erdogan met with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Guinea-Bissau's President Cissoko Embalo.

He also received German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Sudanese Sovereignty Council President Abdulfettah al-Burhan, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan.

During their meeting, Erdogan presented Armenia's Pashinyan with a signed copy of "A More Just World is Possible," a book authored by the Turkish leader, as well as "The Evidence" and "Witness," publications prepared by Anadolu that reveal the crimes committed by Israel in Gaza.

- Erdogan's speech for Gaza widely covered in world press

Erdogan's address at the General Assembly, in which he called on the international community to take action on Gaza, was widely covered by foreign media outlets.

In an interview with NBC News following his speech at the assembly, Erdogan emphasized Israel's massacres in Gaza, saying: ​​​​​​​"From 1947 until today, Palestine has come to this day by losing its lands over and over again. I wonder how many Palestinians have been martyred here, how many Palestinians have been killed, when we examine this behind the scenes, the situation reaches very different places."

Erdogan also met with representatives of think tanks operating in the US at a round table meeting during his stay in New York and attended a dinner event organized by the Turkish-American National Steering Committee.

He met with American and Turkish business people within the framework of the 15th Türkiye Investment Conference and visited the photo exhibition "Women in Life" opened by the Women and Democracy Foundation together with his wife Emine Erdogan.

Erdogan and his accompanying delegation returned to Istanbul after their meetings in the US.

*Writing by Efe Ozkan