UPDATE - Iraq’s Development Road Project an 'opportunity to build a new world’: Turkish president

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By Iclal Turan

NEW YORK (AA) - Türkiye will have an opportunity to “build a new world” with steps taken on Iraq’s Development Road Project linking southern Iraq to its neighbor Türkiye, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday.

Speaking at the Concordia summit in New York, where he is taking part in UN General Assembly meetings, President Erdogan said: “Through taking such a step, we will have the opportunity to build a new world.”

“We have seen that the Gulf countries are very determined. We are determined too,” he said.

President Erdogan noted that he also saw the same determination in the US, Germany and Japan.

Asked about Türkiye's role as a NATO member and its national interests as well as geopolitical tensions, the president said that Türkiye is one of the oldest members of NATO and also among the five key countries in the alliance.

"Türkiye is a country that strictly fulfills our duties within NATO," he said, adding it will continue to do its part.

On Turkish-US relations, he said that Ankara and Washington have "multidimensional relations" in areas ranging from security to trade, noting that they have a trade volume of over $32 billion.

On his efforts to revive the landmark Black Sea grain deal, President Erdogan said that during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month, the two discussed shipping one million tons of grain to African countries.

President Erdogan said that as part of the Black Sea grain corridor, a total of 33 million tons of grain were exported to global markets from Russia.

He said he proposed increasing the amount of grain, telling Putin that a million tons is "not enough." The two agreed to continue the process with "telephone diplomacy,” he added.

Asked about the world refugee crisis, President Erdogan said that some countries, including the US and Germany, are positive in their approach to refugees.

He said that Türkiye, which is currently home to nearly 5 million refugees, will continue to host these refugees.

He added that Türkiye encourages the safe and voluntary return of Syrian refugees, noting that it is working to build houses in northern Syria with the support of Qatar.

With the completion of permanent housing, one million Syrians will be able to return to their country, and so far, around 600,000 have already started to return, he said.

However, President Erdogan criticized Türkiye's main opposition party for its "cruel" stance on refugees, saying they threatened that "if they win the election, they would deport the refugees.”

"We are the exact opposite. We will continue to host refugees as we have done so far," he added.

In response to a question about inflation, the president responded by saying that inflation is a global situation that "threatens the whole world.”

He said Türkiye's economy team is managing a "successful process" against the inflation, adding that he believes they will achieve positive results at the end of this year or at the beginning of next year.