UPDATE - Turkey has all might to cast off immoral maps: Leader

ADDS MORE REMARKS FROM PRESIDENT ERDOGAN

By Dilara Hamit

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey has the power to discard maps or documents imposed, the country’s president said on Saturday.

"They will understand that Turkey has political, economic, military might needed to cast off immoral maps and documents imposed by others," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of Goztepe City Hospital in Istanbul, he underscored the progress Turkey has achieved in production, trade, technology exports and the defense industry.

Among these progresses the developments in the health sector is even more significant during the period of a pandemic, he added.

Erdogan said that a total of 16 city hospitals have started to serve patients across the country so far.

He stressed that material wealth was not enough to ensure social justice and equality.

He said Turkey mounted a successful fight against the coronavirus pandemic with 40,000 intensive care units, 246,000 hospital beds, 1,213 computed tomography devices, over 4,000 medical facilities, and an army of over a million healthcare personnel.

The president said the political and economic status quo that prevailed in the world for a long time was crumbling and the footsteps of an approaching new era could be heard in all countries and societies.

Erdogan asserted that he was determined to carry Turkey to its deserved place in the coming new era.

On the current tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean, the president said Turkey is willing to share as long as the conditions are fair.

He said fear and panic were the factors behind the alliances being formed and intolerance attitude adopted against Turkey.

“The problem here is that the other party is ignoring our rights and trying to put themselves above us,” he said.

“They will either understand the language of politics and diplomacy, or they will understand through the bitter experiences that await them in the field,” Erdogan warned.