ANKARA/TEKIRDAG, Turkey
Turkey has begun a fresh era of reforms in the economy and judiciary, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.
"We are starting a new period of reforms in the economy and judiciary in our country," Erdogan said at a provincial convention of his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party.
The Turkish president said the priority is to immediately draw inflation rate to single-digits, and his government is launching "a new campaign focusing on stability, growth, and employment".
Without giving details, Erdogan also said: "Those who attempted to meddle with Turkey through tutelage, terror, coup, political, and social chaos have also attacked our economy."
He further stressed the necessity of meeting Turkey's 2023 goals, and said: "We are experiencing a period in which the fate of the [ruling] AK Party and the nation are integrated."
COVID-19 vaccine must be universal
Later in the day, speaking at an inauguration ceremony of the Tekirdag City Hospital in northwestern Turkey, Erdogan urged for universal access to a vaccine against the novel coronavirus.
"The produced vaccine must be the common property of all humanity, and not be sacrificed to corporations' ambitions for profit," Erdogan said.
The Turkish president denounced as "disgraceful” those who sought to profit from such a situation that concerned the entire world and the lives of millions.
He highlighted that Turkey continued to work on its own indigenous vaccinations "in a versatile manner", amid a rise in the worldwide number of coronavirus cases and patients, as well as deaths related to the disease.
From Russia to China, and from the UK to Germany, including two Turkish scientists, the world is working on the development of a vaccine, he said, adding: “We continue to work with them.”
“Our joint work continues with all of them,” Erdogan also noted.
Earlier this week, Turkey, due to the coronavirus, expanded smoking restrictions across the country to include crowded streets and other public areas.
Turkey has so far reported nearly 408,000 COVID-19 cases, while over 348,800 of the patients have recovered from the disease, which has claimed 11,326 lives in the country.
The Turkish president also gave details on the newly opened Ismail Fehmi Cumalioglu City Hospital: “Our hospital has a total bed capacity of 486, with 102 of them intensive care beds.”
Tekirdag City Hospital -- with its 124 outpatient clinics, 18 operating rooms equipped with the latest technology, laboratories and other features -- is the most advanced integrated healthcare institution in the region, including Greece and Bulgaria, Erdogan stressed.
Built with a "smart building" concept offering a cost-effective tri-generation heating and cooling system, the hospital building has also 651 earthquake insulators, the president said.
