Erdoğan at AK Party Parliamentary Group Meeting: A Terror-Free Turkey on the Path of Growth
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Turkey and Chairman of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), emphasized at his party’s parliamentary group meeting: “With the process of a terror-free Turkey, we will forever liberate our country from the half-century shackles and the great calamity that drains the nation’s energy. That is why everything we do is directed toward this goal.”
At the beginning of his speech, he expressed hope that the meeting would be beneficial for the country, the nation, and democracy.
Erdoğan recalled the martyrdom of 20 soldiers and firefighting aircraft pilots in the cargo plane crash on the Azerbaijan–Georgia border, prayed for their souls, and offered condolences to their families. He added that the investigation into the cause of the crash was being conducted meticulously, and the Ministry of National Defense would share the findings with the public.
He also referred to the deaths of seven workers in the Dilovası, Kocaeli fire on November 8, and four migrants, including two children, in Istanbul, saying: “Anyone responsible for these incidents—whether through negligence, fault, omission, or intent—will be identified one by one, and no one will escape accountability.”
The President then addressed the latest economic data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), announcing that the unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2025 stood at 8.5 percent, remaining in single digits for the 29th consecutive month. He noted that the labor force had risen to 35.568 million and employment to 32.558 million, describing this as proof of the success of Turkey’s investment-, production-, export-, and growth-oriented economic program.
He added that tourism this year would break records both in visitor numbers and revenue, while exports had also shown strong performance: “In 22 of the past 30 months, our exports increased. In July, with 24.911 billion dollars, we broke the record in the history of the Republic. In October, exports rose by 2.3 percent to reach 24 billion dollars.”
Pointing to service exports worth 91.9 billion dollars in the first nine months of the year and a service trade surplus of 48.8 billion dollars, Erdoğan stated: “As of October 2025, our annual exports reached 270.2 billion dollars, the highest level in the history of the Republic.” He added that the government’s target was to increase goods and services exports from 379 billion dollars in 2024 to 390 billion dollars by the end of 2025.
The President stressed that in the coming period, the government would intensify consultations with the real sector, especially industrialists and small and medium-sized enterprises, and listen more carefully to the voices of the business and production community.
Erdoğan noted that the keys to the 350,000th housing unit damaged by the earthquake in Adıyaman had been delivered to their rightful owners, with 78 percent of the units completed. He said: “We do not merely make promises; we produce work and projects, and we have always stood by this commitment.” He added that 200,000 architects, engineers, and workers were working around the clock in 3,481 construction sites to help earthquake victims move into their new homes as quickly as possible.
