ANKARA
"The whole world has turned its sights on Turkey thanks to its survival during the world economic crisis, its achievements in exports, inflation rates and the growth of its national income," said Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc on Tuesday, adding that Turkey is now deemed as a more important actor in the international arena upon the said achievements.
In his remarks on the second day of a week-long meeting of the 6th annual Turkish Ambassadors' Conference at JW Marriott Hotel in Turkish capital Ankara, Arinc highlighted the correlation of political and economic stability in stating that Turkey has maintained political stability while further developing its economy and growing stronger.
Arinc touched upon their talks with foreign officials during the official visit of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Japan, Singapore and Malaysia last week.
Reminding that the Turkish PM's counterparts had asked him about the developments in Turkey's region, Arinc indicated those countries' desire to learn Turkey's view point.
Arinc also asserted that Japanese, Singaporean and Malaysian officials were impressed by Turkey's efforts to shelter more than 600,000 Syrian refugees in camps while allocating over $2 bilion of financial aid to them.
The Turkish deputy PM cast the Turkksh poeple's trust in the solution process to put an end to terror in Turkey as one of the achievements of the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party government.
Criticizing western countries' frequently questioning the freedom of press in Turkey, Arinc said, "When they come to Turkey, we hold meetings with them and think we convince them about what we say. However, no matter how strong and solid our arguments are, they write totally different stories, publish diferent reports and as soon as they arrive in their countries, they accuse Turkey."
"Certain incidents in Turkey after May 2013 may have damaged Turkey's reputation in western countries to a degree," Arinc claimed.
He also expressed grief that the "West has a diverse perception of the developments in Turkey, both before and after the Gezi Park incidents broke out in June, at a time when Turkey has received record-high investments and dropped its interest rates to 4 percent as its inflation hit the lowest amount and the Turkish lira gains against foreign exchanges."
