By Janet Ekstract
İSTANBUL (GOLDENHORN AGENCY)- On Friday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced at an Independent Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (MUSIAD) Expo that both he and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed on sending grain at no charge to countries in need. Erdogan commented: “During our call with Mr. Putin, he said ‘Let’s send grain free of charge to countries like Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan.’ On that, we were on the same page.” In his speech, Erdogan reiterated the urgent need for countries to take concrete steps at the coming G-20 summit in Indonesia, for the transport of grain and fertilizers to underdeveloped nations. He also emphasized that he and Putin agreed to make better use of the grain corridor in the Black Sea with the specific focus on Africa. Erdogan trounced the international community for what he said was its failure to learn lessons from tragedies that happened during the pandemic. Erdogan added: “We will ensure that grain ships reach every country in need, starting with Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan, who are struggling with a severe food crisis and famine.” The Turkish leader sharply criticized the West in his remarks: “Especially the indifference of Western institutions, which try to give lessons on human rights and freedom to the rest of the world every time they open their mouths, is shameful.”
The Turkish president’s remarks were in reference to a recent controversial speech given by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell that Erdogan said implied that the “European mentality” only views “Africans, Asians and Latin Americans” as “valuable to the extent that they serve them with cheap labor, gold, oil and other resources.” Erdogan added: “If that’s not the case, then these people are nothing but twitch grass that serve Europe’s garden.” He further stated: “We do not expect those who carry out colonialism using new ways and methods to take a conscientious attitude towards crises.” The speech Borrell gave to young diplomats in October included the quote that Erdogan has sharply condemned: “Europe is a garden. We have built a garden…The rest of the world…is not exactly a garden. Most of the rest of the world is a jungle, and the jungle could invade the garden.”
The Turkish president further commented: “Of course, we’re not surprised by the mentality which sees Europe as gardens and the rest of the world as weeds, but we don’t accept this. For them, civilization refers only to the West, human only to the white man, and rights and freedoms to only European individuals.”
