Turkey’s medical tourism revenues achieved $2.3 billion in 2023, ranking seventh globally in this field.

The Ministry of Commerce stated in a statement on Monday that the “Health in Turkey” electronic portal is the face of the Turkish brand in the medical tourism sector.

The statement explained that the Health in Turkey website includes 175 institutions operating in the medical tourism sector, with the number of requests to participate in the portal increasing day after day.

It added that Turkey ranks 7th globally in the field of medical tourism through 40 health institutions holding international certificates, which contributes positively to Turkey’s preference in the sector at the global level.

The statement stated that the countries of the Middle East, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan are at the forefront of the countries from which Turkey receives visitors for the purpose of medical tourism.

It confirmed achieving revenues of $1.9 billion from the health services sector in 2022, which rose to $2.3 billion in 2023 by receiving 1.4 million health tourists.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is no longer someone we can talk to in any way.”

This came in statements to reporters on board the plane during his return from Kazakhstan following his participation in the summit of the Turkish Organization of States on Friday.

President Erdogan pointed out that “Netanyahu is personally primarily responsible” for the attacks on Gaza, and “the Israeli interior is currently witnessing statements against him.”

He continued, “Netanyahu is a person who also arouses the anger of the Israeli people. He has lost the support of his citizens and is seeking to garner support for the massacres by using religious expressions.”

He added, “Netanyahu is no longer someone we can talk to in any way. We erased him and cast him aside.”

He continued: “Israel has taken a very wrong step. I can say that it has darkened its future with this step. This is a situation that not only disturbs Israel, but also its extensions abroad, so what it must do is to retract this step and stop it.”

In response to a question about the intense diplomatic movement he is leading to stop the Israeli attacks on Gaza, Erdogan indicated that they have held many meetings in this regard.

He stated that Turkey will participate in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, this November.

He said in the same context, “We also have a visit to Uzbekistan next week. These are important visits at a very critical time. Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi will come (to Turkey) at the end of this month and we will meet him.”

He added, “I attach importance to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit in Riyadh. We will press for a ceasefire.”

The Turkish President stressed the importance of the position of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation countries in this regard.

Erdogan pointed out that he seeks to “stop the bloodshed” by holding meetings with everyone, which “will continue in the coming days as well.”

He pointed out that the international community, “unable to curb Israel’s lawless approach, primarily ignores its principles.”

He continued, “As if ignoring the massacre of the Palestinians is not enough, they are entering into an embrace race with Israel and encouraging it to kill more children.”

He said: “Western countries that bow their heads when reminded of previous massacres that they turned a blind eye to will be crushed under the shame of their positions regarding the Gaza massacres.”

Erdogan asked, “We shout: Where is justice? Where are the international organizations that were established to maintain peace? Where are the human rights defenders?”

He said, “The world order and international law now face a difficult test.”

He continued: “If Israel is not stopped and held accountable for its actions, people’s already diminished confidence in international law and the global order will disappear. We will do our best to implement international law and punish war crimes.”

Erdogan pointed out that “the human tragedy in the occupied Palestinian territories, especially Gaza, was on the agenda of the Turkish Organization of States summit.”

He added, “We exchanged views on how to stop the bloodshed and contribute to lasting peace.”

He reiterated his emphasis that Turkey can play the role of a guarantor state in Gaza within the framework of the guarantors mechanism proposed by Ankara.

Erdogan said, “If Greece is a guarantor state in Cyprus, and Britain is as well, and Turkey is also a guarantor state of course, then why is there not a similar mechanism in Gaza?”

He continued, “We, as Turkey, must assume a leadership role in this regard, and this will be a development that will shape history, the present, and the future.”

President Erdogan noted that nearly a month had passed since the attacks began and said, “At the present time, we see that the developments will move the situation further against Israel.”

He pointed out that “Israel did not take this brutal step relying only on its strength, but also on Western support.”

He added that “the United States should be evaluated as part of the West.”

He continued, “The entire West, especially the United States, currently stands with Israel.”

Erdogan stressed Turkey’s desire “to see Gaza as a region enjoying tranquility as an integral part of the independent, geographically integrated State of Palestine on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”

He added, “All our efforts are directed toward Gaza and a Palestine that enjoys tranquility, where people are not killed or displaced, and hospitals, streets, schools, and places of worship are not bombed.”

The Turkish President said that he informed all the leaders he spoke with that “unless a just and lasting peace is established in the region, it will not enjoy calm.”

He pointed out that “even countries that turn a blind eye to Israel’s massacres and stand behind them and do not hesitate to violate the values they defend also realize this.”

Erdogan affirmed Turkey’s support for initiatives that bring stability and peace to the region, saying, “We do not support plans that target the lives of Palestinians and seek to remove them from the stage of history.”

He added, “Formulas that would make Israel, which kills civilians without batting an eyelid and rains bombs on infants and wounded in hospitals, more reckless, are not a solution for us, but rather are the source of the absence of a solution.”

Erdogan criticized “some countries that tolerate elements of terrorist organizations under the guise of freedom of expression.”

He said that these countries (he did not name them) “tried to ban the Palestinian flag, which is a symbol of a people.”

He continued: “Despite all the bans and obstacles on the streets of Europe, people are demanding justice in the squares.”

He called on the world to “hear the cries of Palestinian children.”

He added, “We strive for Palestinian children to be able to live in peace like other children in the world and to live in a better world without worrying about their security.”

He continued, “The world cannot ignore their (children’s) desire to live freely and in peace in their land. We will continue to remind them of this and extend a helping hand to them.”

The Turkish President stressed that “extending a helping hand to these innocent and persecuted people is a debt on our shoulders and a humanitarian duty.”

He added: “Israel, which is deliberately trying to cause the collapse of the health system in Gaza, and the international community, which turns a blind eye to injustice, have left civilians, the sick, and infants (in Gaza) to die.”

He pointed out that the humanitarian conditions in Gaza are getting worse, and said, “Our priority now is for all aid sent to Gaza to arrive, but Israel does not allow that.”

He continued: “We have made all our preparations, from establishing field hospitals to sending hospital ships to treat patients. We are even continuing our work on transporting the wounded and sick to Turkey. We will not leave Gaza alone and desperate.”

He stated, “The vote at the United Nations (on the Israeli attacks on Gaza) was very important. In fact, this vote was like a school certificate that revealed Israel’s failure and failure.”

At the end of last October, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on Gaza calling for an immediate and sustainable humanitarian truce. 120 countries voted in favor of the resolution, 14 opposed it, while 45 countries abstained from voting.

Erdogan criticized the European Union’s position on the Israeli attacks on Gaza, saying that it “played a strange and very inconsistent role during this period and did not adopt a fair approach.”

He asked, “What is the European Union’s plan to resolve the (Palestinian-Israeli) crisis?”

He pointed out that Europe is currently witnessing the writing of “the history of double standards, unprincipledness and illegality.”

In a related context, Erdogan stressed that “Israeli arrogance has no origin in any of the divine religions.”

Addressing Netanyahu, he added, “What you are doing has nothing to do with what was stated in the Bible or what was stated in the Torah, and these two books or the Psalms do not accept it.”

Erdogan confirmed that “Turkish Intelligence Chief Ibrahim Kalin is communicating with the Israeli and Palestinian sides and with Hamas as well.”

He revealed that there is no communication between him and Netanyahu currently.

He explained that “it is not included in international diplomacy to completely sever relations (between countries).”

He stated that Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the head of the Intelligence Service, and other relevant ministers in Turkey will continue to use all the capabilities offered to them by diplomacy.

He stressed that Turkey’s main goal is “establishing lasting peace in the Israeli-Palestinian issue.”

He pointed out that they continue to put forward initiatives in this regard and their determination to do what is necessary to “stop the bloodshed.”

Erdogan said, “Our goal is to reach a lasting and sustainable peace that will relieve our region and our country. We are launching our calls to secure this. We want to bring all parties together in a conference, for example.”

Erdogan concluded by saying, “Countries are capable of ending the ongoing war in Gaza, but the people who will end this war are the consciences of the people.”

On the other hand, Erdogan said that he received a letter of thanks a few days ago “from NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg after he signed the protocol for Sweden’s accession to the alliance and sent it to the Turkish Parliament.”

Recently, the Turkish President signed the protocol on Sweden’s accession to the alliance and it was referred to Parliament.

In mid-July, the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, hosted a tripartite meeting that included President Erdogan, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Hilmar Kristersson, and Stoltenberg.

Following the meeting, a tripartite statement confirmed that Ankara would refer Sweden’s NATO accession protocols to Parliament for ratification and that Stockholm would support efforts to revive Turkey’s accession process to the European Union.​​​​​​

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Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya announced the deportation of 42,875 irregular immigrants between June 1 and September 22 of this year.

This came in response to journalists’ questions following a Turkish government meeting in the presidential complex in the capital, Ankara.

He pointed out that 97,363 irregular immigrants were arrested since he assumed his duties in early June until September 22.

He pointed out that 105,488 foreigners left the country whose visas and residency expired.

He stated that the previous numbers do not include cross-border infiltration attempts by the Ministry of Defense, which numbered 70,796.

Regarding the countries from which most irregular migrants come, the minister stated that they are coming across the Iranian border from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.

In this context, Yerlikaya reported that the Ministry of Interior will begin activating the application of mobile immigration offices throughout Turkey, starting next November 1.

He touched on the importance of the application by saying: “We will check people’s identities everywhere, including football matches. However, if we take a tourist or a foreigner who has a residence permit and does not have an identity card or a passport, we will not send him to the deportation centers. We succeeded in that through the application.” The experimental trial, which lasted 9 weeks in Istanbul.

He continued: “We need to move keeping in mind the zero error, because we are a tourist country.”

Regarding the workers in the mobile immigration offices, Yerlikaya said: “Our immigration experts and translators work at the center, who will provide communication with foreigners.”

In another context, Yerlikaya revealed a visit by Bulgarian Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov to Turkey on October 10.

He pointed to mutual cooperation between Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece to combat irregular migration by land and sea.

The post Deportation of approximately 43,000 irregular immigrants appeared first on Move 2 Turkey.

Turkish Trade Minister Omer Polat stated that members of the Organization of Turkic States agreed to strengthen economic and trade cooperation and continue working on implementing new projects.

This came in a press statement following the 12th meeting of the ministers responsible for trade and economy in the Organization of Turkish States and the 14th meeting of the Economic Cooperation Working Group in Istanbul.

The Organization of Turkic States was established in 2009 and includes Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.​​​​​​

Hungary, Turkmenistan, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus all hold “observer member” status in the organization.

Ministers, representatives and members of delegations from Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Hungary, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Turkmenistan participated in the meeting.

Polat explained in his statement that the Organization of Turkish States has strong potential and that it decided to continue working to strengthen the foundations of the organization and create new projects in the fields of trade and economics to make it one of the leading organizations of the 21st century.

He added that the countries of the organization agreed to implement new generation tools to enhance economic and trade cooperation, such as signing the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement between member states.

He stressed that, given the increasing importance of trade in services and investments in the current century, the OIC countries are working to establish a free trade agreement in the field of services and investments.

He continued: “Today we have demonstrated our intention to begin negotiations on this agreement as soon as possible.”

He pointed out that member states agreed to increase mutual investments and support small and medium enterprises with the aim of increasing intra-regional trade.

He pointed out that the volume of trade exchange between member states of the organization last year amounted to about 33 billion dollars.

He stated that the goal is to raise the proportion of exports among OIC countries from 6 to 10 percent of total exports to countries of the world in the coming period.

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Turkish voters living abroad began casting their ballots in the second round of the Turkish presidential elections on Saturday.

Overseas voters in many countries headed to the polls on Saturday to vote.

In Spain, Turkish voters began casting their votes this morning at the polls at the Turkish Embassy in Madrid and the Consulate in Barcelona.

Voting for Turkish voters in Spain continues until May 22, between eight in the morning and ten in the evening, local time.

Turkish voters abroad went to the polls in several countries on Saturday, including Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

On May 14, Turkey witnessed presidential and parliamentary elections, and the candidate of the “Public Alliance” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the candidate of the “Nation Alliance” leader of the Republican People’s Party, Kamal Kilicdaroglu, and the candidate of the “Ata Alliance” (ancestors) Sinan Ogan competed for the presidency.

Turkey’s Supreme Electoral Commission officially announced the second round of presidential elections between Erdogan and Kilicdaroglu on May 28, as no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote.

Erdogan won 49.52 percent of the vote, while Kilicdaroglu won 44.88 percent and Sinan Ogan 5.17 percent, according to the final results announced by the Supreme Elections Commission on Friday.

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The Presidents of Russia Vladimir Putin, Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Serbian Aleksander Vucic congratulated their Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his birthday.

This came during separate calls Erdogan received on Sunday from his counterparts Putin, Mirziyoyev and Vucic on the occasion of his 69th birthday (February 26, 1954).

According to a statement published by the Communications Department of the Turkish Presidency, Vucic offered, during the call, condolences to Erdogan for the victims of the earthquake disaster in southern Turkey.

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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Saturday that 99 countries offered Turkey assistance after the earthquake disaster, including the crews of 68 countries currently working in the affected areas.

He added in a press statement during his visit to Kahramanmaraş, accompanied by his Azerbaijani counterpart Jeyhun Bayramov, that more than 20 countries offered to establish field hospitals in the affected areas.

He explained that 10 field hospitals were established in the region, including one for India, Israel, Russia, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan, while Qatar and the UAE established 4 hospitals.

The minister pointed out that manufacturing and constructing caravans (prefabricated houses) or importing them will take time, so the government attaches importance to establishing camps at the present time.

At the dawn of February 6, an earthquake of 7.7 degrees struck southern Turkey and northern Syria, followed by another hours later with a magnitude of 7.6 and hundreds of violent aftershocks, which caused huge losses of lives and property in both countries.

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The activities of the 26th edition of the meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization for Economic Cooperation countries kicked off in the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, on Tuesday, with the participation of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

In his opening speech, Deputy Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan Bakhtiyar Sadyov stated that the high level of representation of all Member States shows the growing interest in close cooperation within the OIC.

He explained that the organization enjoys great economic opportunities and that member states have potential to develop cooperation in the fields of trade, infrastructure, industry, tourism and the environment.

Sadyov called for more cooperation among member states in the face of global tension and increasing competition over natural resources, investment and technology.

It is noteworthy that the Economic Cooperation Organization includes Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, while the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus has an observer status.

The post The start of the “economic cooperation” foreign ministers’ meeting appeared first on Move 2 Turkey.

Turkish diplomatic sources revealed that a group of Ahiska Turks, who were living in Kherson, Ukraine, entered Georgian territory, as a prelude to transferring them to Turkey.

On Saturday, the sources reported that, at the initiative of the Turkish Foreign Ministry and the Turkish Embassy in Moscow, a group of 84 Ahiska Turks had recently been transferred to Russia.

She explained that 4 others who had previously arrived in Russia also joined the group, explaining that 88 people from the Ahiska Turks entered Georgian lands in preparation for their transfer to Turkey.

It is expected that the group will arrive in Turkey through the “Sarb” border crossing with Georgia during the following hours, as the concerned authorities have taken all preparations for their entry into the country and hosting them.

The same sources reported that 84 Ahiska Turks left Kherson on October 31 for Russia.

The Ahiska Turks were residing in an area bearing their name in southwestern Georgia, with a population of more than half a million people, but the Soviet government exiled them on October 14, 1944 to Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Siberia.

The number of Ahiska Turks who live outside their homeland is estimated at 500,000, of whom 20,000 live in the United States.

The post A group of Ahiska Turks arrive in Georgia appeared first on Move 2 Turkey.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan left the capital, Ankara, for the Uzbek city of Samarkand, to participate in the ninth summit of the Organization of Turkish States.

The Turkish president’s plane took off from Esenboga Airport in Ankara on Thursday, where he was seen off by his deputy, Fuat Oktay.

Erdogan is accompanied on his visit by Ministers of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Defense Hulusi Akar, Transport and Infrastructure Adil Kara Ismailoglu and Head of the Presidential Communication Department Fahrettin Altun.

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