TOKYO
Turkish Prime Minister says Tuesday he hopes Geneva II will result in the end of the Assad era in Syria. Recep Tayyip Erdogan made the comments during a press conference in Tokyo where he started his far east tour.
He said he hopes the UN backed conference scheduled to take place in Geneva on January 22 to end the Syrian civil war will; "be a success and neccesary steps can be taken for an Assad-less era in Syria".
Erdogan added that the Syrian people want a goverment that will respect their will. "If we think Syria with a leader who is responsible for 130 thousand deaths, then Syria will be like this forever" said Erdogan, during the conference hosted by daily Nikkei one of the largest media corporations in Japan.
Erdogan said that the fight against terrorism should be a global fight; "The future of the humanity lies in combating terrorism from Japan to United States with sincerity and determination."
Erdogan said that relations between Turkey and Japan go back further than 90 years. He referred to Japanese and Turkish coming from the same language family and added ''Turkey and Japan are two closely tied, brother countries".
Erdogan referred to the Marmaray rail Project - a Japanese-Turkish consortium led by Taisei Corporation - which completed a rail link under the Bosphorous which opened in November last year. With reference to trade with Japan, Erdogan said, "we have to increase the current trade volume of four billion dollars with Japan. We wil be stronger with these steps and carry onto the future with win-win situation".
Erdogan also mentioned the establishment of "Turkey-Japan Science and Technology University" in Istanbul, which he would like to see the graduate students of it in 2023.
Turkish Prime Minister predicted that in a decade Turkey will be one of the world's largest economies with "an annual $25 thousand per capita income by 2023".
Asked about Turkey's current deficit, Erdogan answered that his government had kept the current deficit from troubling Turkey's economy despite the economic crises and foresaw that it would not be a threat within three or five years.
Turkish and Japanese Prime Ministers held a bi-lateral meeting on Tuesday and will hold a joint press conference later on Tuesday.
After his visit in Japan, Erdogan will also travel to Singapore and Malaysia.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
