Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, addressing the General Assembly of Angola’s Parliament on Monday, stressed that his country rejects ‘West-centered orientalist approaches’ towards the African continent, Anadolu Agency reports.
“We embrace the peoples of the African continent without any discrimination,” Erdogan noted.
Turkey’s relations with peoples of Africa go back to the 10th century, Erdogan said, adding: “The most important feature of our common history is that it is based on mutual respect, sincerity, cooperation and brotherhood.”
“We are a nation that does not have the stain of colonialism and the shame of colonialism in its history,” he stressed.
“Besides, we are a country that waged the War of Independence that ended with victory a century ago against the imperialist powers of the time,” he added.
Stressing “injustices in the global system,” Erdogan, once again, underlined that “The World is Bigger Than Five,” and added: “Fate of humanity should not be left to the mercy of a handful of countries that won World War II.”
“While the world and almost every aspect of our lives are changing, and diplomacy, trade and international relations are going through radical transformations, we cannot think that the global security architecture will remain the same,” he added.
Ignoring the demands for change is unfair, Erdogan said, and continued: “We witness the same picture in the approach of some colonial powers towards the African continent.”
“There are some who still cannot accept African people’s achievements of independence, freedom, and equality by sacrificing millions of their children. We have witnessed that recently,” he noted.
“These countries need to get rid of the charm of their bloody history and face the realities of today,” added Erdogan.
