Recep Tayyip Erdogan Quotes

Strong families lead to strong nations.

Turkey must feel at ease. It mustn’t say, ‘For me, it’s the European Union at all costs.’ That’s my view.

We have never done anything to stop freedom of expression or freedom of press.

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.

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.

A woman who abstains from motherhood saying ‘I am working‘ means she is in fact rejecting motherhood.

Even in the Western world, one cannot argue that the ideal has been achieved given the existence of issues like the integration, participation and representation of Muslim citizens, and occasional but lingering anti-Semitism.

We have a very significant number of Jewish citizens, and they have always been safe and secure where they are in Turkey.

During the Gezi protests and PKK terror campaigns, the unity and solidarity of the Turkish nation were attacked.

Family planning, birth control, no Muslim family can practice such an understanding.

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.

Similarly, gender-equality, supremacy of law, political participation, civil society, and transparency are among the indispensable elements that are the imperatives of democratization.

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.

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.

Turkey is a sovereign state, just like the U.S. We might go to different directions, in terms of our impressions and ideas, but we’ll always remain friends.

There is no Kurdish problem.

Even as we ought to accept that each country would progress with a different method and speed toward that goal, the standard for the expected end-state should not be lowered.

Islamophobia emerged from the Western countries, and this is a challenge that we all together need to surmount.

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.

Germany has become an important haven for terrorists.

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.

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.

But foremost, I do not subscribe to the view that Islamic culture and democracy cannot be reconciled.

It is essential that policy instruments be developed that would firmly establish democratization on the basis of social consensus and enable transformation on stable grounds.

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.

I’m calling on the United States: what kind of strategic partners are we, that you can still host someone whose extradition I have asked for?

I have already said that I find the coalition air strikes to be insufficient. A ground intervention will be necessary to overcome Daesh.

A federated structure in Iraq based on ethnicity or religious sects will not be healthy.

All terror groups are bad, and we shall fight them all.

The E.U. should want Turkey to be part of it.

A fitting external security environment could also play an important role in promoting social consensus and institutionalization towards democratization.

Russia and Iran back Assad, but are they fighting Daesh? The answer is ‘no.’

In this country, there is a segregation of Black Turks and White Turks. Your brother Tayyip belongs to the Black Turks.

Your targets can only be realized on the basis of dreams.

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.

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.

Every country needs a strong leader in order to progress.

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.

Being in the European Union, we would be building bridges between the 1.5 bn people of Muslim world to the non-Muslim world. They have to see this. If they ignore it, it brings weakness to the E.U.

A simple caricature, a simple sketch – that’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with that. But if you draw up a caricature… if you associate that subject with the things you’re not supposed to, then, of course, you can’t expect that to be acceptable.

Before anything else, I’m a Muslim. As a Muslim, I try to comply with the requirements of my religion. I have a responsibility to God, who created me, and I try to fulfill that responsibility. But I try now very much to keep this away from my political life, to keep it private.

My nation wants the death penalty. That is the decision of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

Satire, whether it be satire or not, everything has to have boundaries.

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.

Once the people of Iraq know when the U.S. troops will leave, their confidence in the U.S. will increase.

If everyone can say, looking at Obama, that is he is one of us, is that not befitting for the leading country in the world?

We have extradited terrorists to the United States in the past. And we expect the same thing to be done by the United States.

If we believe in a democratic system, we have to accept the will of the people.

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.

I am a person who is inclined to define relations between individuals based on principles.