Hello, welcome to visit Shanghai Forum
I would like to thank you for the kind invitation and the warmhospitality. It is always a pleasure to be in China and especially be in themost dynamic city, Shanghai. I’d praise the organizers and Fudan University forthe most fitting theme of “Asia and the world: new impetus, new structures andnew orders.” Current global research tells us why should we concerned about thefuture global orders? Since the end of the World War I, generations have beentalking about the establishment of new world order in one form or another. Theleague of nations was the by-product of this kind of thinking in the post-WorldWar I. World War II gave us the United Nations and the American world system.
And I recall vividly the last time when we were talking about the newworld order, it was shortly after the collapse of the Berlin Wall, whichheralded the end of the Cold War. Through that momentous predict, there wascertain optimism in the air. The definition process was in full motion. Theproviding mode said that was the overlook of the significance and the necessityof numbers of countries, which have always played a critical and strategicalrole in and beyond their geography. The opposite answer of Asia, one wasTurkey, and other one was People’s Republic of China.
In this respect, we see a certain pattern for the past three successivenew world orders. What’s common on them? From the Turkey’s perspective, onestriking feature was that they were shaped by the victors of all pre-wars.Obviously, one may win a war, but it does not necessarily guarantee a lastingsystem which sustains its privileged position. The existing conditions showthat we are through a very similar condition once again. And this time, we cansay Turkey and China are in the matter. No doubt, this constitutes a uniqueopportunity and great responsibility, which neither us nor another emergingnation can afford to miss.
As a concrete example, our two countries have made their significantcontributions to the 2015 United Nations General Assembly Resolution, which definedthe challenges and the goals under the heading of the 2030 Agenda forSustainable Development. These extensive works’ primary aspects are immediateand under wide attention, longing for a better and predictable future withinclusiveness and consensus.
When we analyze this situation from an overall perspective, we noticedthat the great majority of the think tanks list following 10 global challengesas the most important. Preventing and responding to domestic and internationalconflicts, fighting against terrorism, preventing nuclear proliferation, bettercyber governance, mitigating climate change, assuring development, promotingglobal health, expanding global economy and trade. The fundamental question is,how are we going to tackle these issues? Come to the region of our twocountries, is to how to end conflicts, preventing new wars from occurring, andfoster development and peace. China, as one of the founding member of ShanghaiCooperation Organization; Turkey, as a country that has initiated the Black SeaEconomic Cooperation Organization, both have been putting immediate emphasis onthe utility of finding the regional resolutions to regional issues with globalimplications. At this juncture, I wish to share briefly Turkey’s perspective onSCO. We consider Shanghai Cooperation Organization as an important and wideorganization in Asia. Turkey has the root and extensive relations with manymembers and observer states of SCO. As a dialogue partner, Turkey would like tofurther its cooperation with SCO on an institutional basis in areas such asregional security, combating terrorism and organizing the climate. We assumethe observer state of SCO for 2017 and we consider this an important step indeepening our relations with the organization. Turkey is offering the opinionthat Shanghai Cooperation Organization should not be considered as ananti-western or anti-NATO organization. Our ambition to develop relations withSCO is not to threat or challenge against our western partners. On thecontrary, it is another effort to bridge the trust gap between continents.
I believe it would be fair to say that the challenges I have unlisted areformidable beyond any country’s capacity or capability regardless of its size,economic or political power, especially economic issues, climate change,terrorism, cyber security stand up as such. In this direction, both Turkey andChina, from their respective regions, put considerable emphasis on eliminatingvulnerabilities from the root of their causes. There is no doubt that weakcities, weak humanitarian and economic development, and geopolitical vacuums ofpower lead to conflict, where the collision and more frequently act of terrorin wide geography transcending borders.
Against this powerless current, Turkey and China in the recent past,developed beyond the comprehension of the international community. It is not acoincidence that China and Turkey have shared the first two spots for thefastest growing economics in the last decade. On the other hand, both countriesare deepening their relationship with Middle East and Africa. Also, with theaim of elevating structural problems, and helping the least developingcountries in their efforts to overcome their difficult infrastructuralchallenges. Both countries’ assistant programs are remarkable, both countriesare major donors to release the pain of the poor countries and stand out assources of stability in their respective regions. Although Turkey and China areamong the top of the mid-income countries, we are still developing and there isstill a long way to go. Therefore, stability and security in our region and thewhole world should be our priority. We have to continue thinking about a moreresilient society. For the protection of our environment, our countries arepositively working to increase the percentage of renewables of our energybasket. But we still need to do more on that front to meet the COP 21criterion. On the economic side, we diligently attend to the long-termstructural, economic and social problems. We are both investing heavily forinfrastructural buildings. Although our countries are determined not to be thevictims of the digital divide and by over 50% of our population using Internet,we have to strive to turn out safeties into more information and moreinnovation.
Regarding the tendencies towards the globalization, I would like tounderline the following points. It is true that the world is currentlyexperiencing the longest period of stagnation in 17 years. And foreign-directedinvestment flows have significantly decreased. It is also true that, slowgrowth, high unemployment and rising income inequality since the globalfinancial crisis have filled the content about the globalization. But we shouldnot forget that trade, openness and global cooperation help provide an aid ofunprecedented prosperity during the last couple of decades. For instance, twocases in the recent past, namely rise of China and Africa rising, aresignificantly hard and supported by the globalization and integration. Hence, Istrongly believe that policy makers all over the world must focus on how toadvance and limit the harms of globalization rather than sticking toisolationism.
Moreover, many of the domestic issues have strong interactions with aninfluence by regional or global factors. In other words, in today’s world, it’salmost impossible to solve domestic policy challenges without strongcooperation at regional and global cooperation level. In this regard, I highlywelcome Chinese open and supportive approach towards global cooperation on manyinternational issues. I strongly believe that the efforts to strengthen thecooperation between China and important regions of the world such as Europe ingeneral and eastern European in part will significantly contribute to boost theglobal growth, trade and investment.
I am also very pleased to see that relations between Turkey and China havebeen improving significantly in recent years both in the political and economicfields. Following several high-level visits between two countries, including myown state visit as the president of the Republic of Turkey in 2009,Turkey-China relations have taken on a new dimension. The trade, which was only1 billion US dollars in 2000, has constantly expanded and reached 28 billion USdollars. China has then become Turkey’s second largest trading partner as of2016. Our investment cooperation is improving as well. Chinese contribution tovarious infrastructural projects in Turkey is increasing.
Day by day, moreover, our companies undertake joined projects into ourcountries. An important agenda to reform the international monetary system isto increase the use of local currencies in trade and other internationaltransactions. It’s important to reduce the cost in international trade toreduce the sensibilities against reserved currencies and better manage the riskin international transactions. I am glad to see that China and Turkey recognizethe importance of this issue, signed several agreements with central banks andshowed visible progress in this area.
As G20 chairmanship in 2015, we put emphasis on inclusivity, we push forall-embracing governance and institutions’ building. I would like alsounderscore that China with G20 in 2016 should continue to play a critical rolein promoting the ideas that an emerging country can have a reliable future.
Turkey and China share the same vision of a stronger internationalcommunity and a stable prosperous neighborhood. Both Turkey and China wantpeace, stability and prosperity to provide in their region and beyond. Turkey’spolicy is shaped by the principles of promoting regional ownership andinclusiveness. We continue to actively participate in regional cooperation onsecurity. Then we also contribute to regional peace and stability whether itwill be through OSCE or SCO. Turkey searches for a common future with thecompanies of the region EU and NATO as well. In this way, Chinese PresidentXi’s the Belt and Road Initiative is warmly embraced by Turkey. I also want toremind you that Turkey has many infrastructural projects to connect Europe tosouthern Asia by railways and express roads. Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijanraised their projects for nation which was led by pre-president during my turnin 2008 is about to be congregated later this year. It is one of thesignificant steps to connect Europe to southern Asia.
On terrorism, this project can only be carried out through affectiveinternational cooperation and solidarity. As two countries, which has sufferedenormously from active terrorism, we are critical. We have this unique positionbecause the world seems divided and perplexed. As a member of internationalcommunity, we still do our common tasks to defend terrorism. And the terroristhas the propensity to abuse legal loopholes, political uncertainties and takefull advantage of the comfort that we have tirelessly created for our citizens.In order to eradicate terrorism, we need to find all terrorist organizationswithout discrimination. We should not forget that one day maybe, all terroristsare united by the same state, then they matter.
Before I conclude, I would like to point out that the biggest opportunityin our region is our alike mindedness and our resolute try for a better future.I’m a realistic. I know that we may not be able to eliminate all the problemsin the world. However, we cannot afford to lose sight that we have to preserveall the problem in mind, and the new world order, which relies on the unique,social, economic and political experiences of all the states. I am quite surethat if the new world order takes all the regional as well as global exigenciesinto consideration, that only then we can speak of the system uphold by old oneand preserved beyond the 21st century.
(Thisarticle is edited based on the recording and has not been reviewed by thespeaker.)
