ISTANBUL
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday reaffirmed the nation’s commitment to a peace summit declaration of intent on Gaza signed this week.
Speaking following a Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara, Erdogan said: “We will fully support the (Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt) declaration through the end, and I believe the United States, Egypt, and Qatar will all take a similar position.”
The remarks follow Monday’s summit in the Egyptian resort town, where US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted more than 20 world leaders, including Erdogan, to sign a document on the Gaza ceasefire deal.
Erdogan, Trump, Sisi, and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani formally signed the agreement backing the truce and permanent peace in Gaza.
On the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Erdogan stressed the importance of international efforts to help the Palestinians. “Every effort to ease the burden of the oppressed people of Gaza is valuable to us. It is not anyone’s place or right to belittle this by simply saying ‘they signed a ceasefire’,” he said.
Erdogan said they stand with the people of Gaza with over 100,000 tons of humanitarian aid sent from Türkiye so far, stressing that they have fearlessly defended Gaza and the Palestinian cause in all the meetings they have attended and on all international platforms, while never neglecting to work for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Türkiye will also closely monitor implementation of the ceasefire agreement, the president added.
The release of Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails began after Hamas freed all 20 living Israeli captives held in the Gaza Strip on Monday.
Since October 2023, Israeli attacks have killed nearly 68,000 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it largely uninhabitable.
Energy and rare minerals
Erdogan also highlighted Türkiye’s role in fostering regional stability, saying: “The Turkish people have successfully passed the test of fellowship and neighborliness. Our relations with Syria are strengthening. As stability takes root in Syria, everything will improve significantly.”
On Ankara's energy policy, he said one of the priorities is to offer the country's minerals to international markets with added value.
About 125,000 meters (410,105 feet) of drilling have been done so far at 310 different locations in a rare earth element field in Beylikova in Türkiye's Eskisehir province he said, adding that a total of 694 million tons of resources, primarily rare earth elements, barite, and fluorite, have been identified at the site.
"The Beylikova field, which contains 10 of the 17 rare earth elements, contains about 12.5 million tons of rare earth oxides. We aim to become one of the world's top five rare earth element producers,” said Erdogan.
"We are continuing our efforts in this direction. Initially we commissioned the Eti Maden Pilot Production Facility, which will process 1,200 tons of ore annually. We are continuing our work, including purification technology, to transform the pilot plant into an industrial facility," he added.
Countries and companies with rare earth element technology are "unfortunately" hesitant to share their experience in production processes in this area, he noted, stating that overcoming this hurdle and rapidly integrating existing fields into the economy requires international collaboration.
Many countries have signed agreements with countries experienced in these areas for technology development, consultancy, and technology transfer, he said, adding: "Türkiye is also talking with expert organizations of countries with technological expertise to develop collaborations.”
He stressed: "Giving the rare earth element field in Beylikova over to any other country is out of the question."