I am on a three-day Gulf trip to Qatar and Kuwait, both to answer the conference requests that followed Turkey’s June 24 elections and to participate in a program organized by the Siirt Governorate and Middle East Business Men's Association within the scope of reciprocal quests for joint commercial-trade opportunities.

It can be said that our trade volume is not in proportion to the incredible good intention and favor of the people and governments of both countries to Turkey. Yet, the potential is even greater than thought.

Let's start from Qatar. It is probably the closest Gulf country to Turkey in almost all regards and has been able to develop its own unique model with respect to using its own resources in the most rational way. For example, it has used media very efficiently in its regional activities with Al Jazeera. Of course, this does lead to some problems too.

The preparations Qatar has been making for years for the 2022 World Cup have gained great momentum and upon this, developed an entirely different economy.

Though it initially struggled with the sanctions imposed by four other Gulf countries, the measures Qatar took against these sanctions brought the country to the point of almost thanking those who imposed the sanctions.

Thanks to the sanctions, Qatar has varied its alternatives especially in terms of food and other essential necessities and took other measures to meet its needs - improving its self-sufficiency rather well.

Being one of the countries with the largest natural gas sources in the world, Qatar started developing different sectors to prevent its economy from depending on a single source. For example, even though it has no need for solar power, I recently attended the opening of a factory that produces everything from solar power generation panel cells from silicone to the end product.

The development vision in Qatar is aimed at complementing the economy cogwheel, which is able to keep the country standing largely with its own sources, with education, human resources, logistics and production. And it is largely accomplishing this. Turkey, which provided Qatar with the greatest support in terms of the sanctions, is also an important contributor in this sense. While Qatar’s trade volume with Turkey was under $400 million before the sanctions, today, it has surpassed $800 million and predictions indicate that it will soon exceed $1 billion. For Qatar, its people and state dignitaries, Turkey is a subject of love and gratitude.

Of course, the approach during the sanctions played an important role in this, but let us not forget that during the July 15, 2016 coup attempt, it was the Qatari emir who, before everyone else, contacted Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the early hours and gave his full support. In this sense, a joint fate was forged between Qatar and Turkey, their joint view and approach to many issues of the world makes it easier for them overcome problems and reach better solutions. It would not be wrong to say that the June 24 elections in Turkey were followed in Qatar with greater tensions than in Turkey. Thus, Turks continue to receive congratulations for the election results - despite the polls being held a month ago - everywhere we see Qataris.

The situation in Kuwait is not very different. The Kuwaitis went through the election process together with the people of Turkey. As a matter of fact, even more. We witnessed them go to banks in crowds and convert the dollars they had to Turkish lira, because they felt an attack on President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan through the Turkish lira.

I must add that there is a currency between Kuwait and Turkey that stretches far beyond the visible trade. Almost all the Kuwaitis I know or met recently have homes in Turkey. Thanks to these homes, Turkey is now their second address. Numerous Kuwait citizens have also made investments in production and recruitment and many are seeking new opportunities and options for investment. In summary, their economies have become integrated with Turkey.

I do not think this situation is evaluated enough sociologically or in terms of our economic means. Yet, if we focus on this situation, it offers a brand new horizon, brand new areas of opportunity for Turkey, and there are maters that need to be reviewed in terms of our visa policies. As great steps have been taken recently to resolve the difficulties in visa practices, complaints heard before have not been repeated.

We have ambassadors in both Qatar and Kuwait who understand their language and are able to establish great communication channels with them. Our ambassador to Qatar, Mr. Fikret Özer has gained the love and respect of all Qataris with his fluent Arabic and wise personality. Our ambassador to Kuwait, Ayşe Hilal Koytak, who was assigned eight months ago, overcame great problems in a short period of time and hence, left a good impression.

We also had the opportunity to visit to the gigantic airport construction site in Kuwait that is being built by Limak's owner, Turkish national Nihat Özdemir. The information we received from construction site authorities and our impressions made us proud on behalf of the Turkish construction industry.

The construction end date that was determined as August 2022 has, due to the productive and speedy work pace, been revised to May 2021. This alone is considered a great success by the Kuwaitis and their trust and admiration for Turkish construction increased, as everyone is talking about it. Limak's success here has provided a great reference power not only for Limak itself but for the entire Turkish construction industry.

I always try to take up all the council invitations I receive whenever I visit Kuwait. This time I attended two in one night. It was very striking to see the sincere love, enthusiasm and hospitality shown to President Erdoğan and us in representation of him at the al-Uqaida tribe's council I attended together with the Siir Governor Mr. Eli Fuat Atik and his delegation, Middle East Businessmen's Association head Ahmed Yebrudi, SİBA Executive Board Chairman Fikret Baydarman and International Refugees and Human Rights President Hamza Buldu. Their stance is proof of the vast and deep bond of love Turkey currently has.

We had a productive talk with the publishing board members and authors of the popular al Mujtama magazine that has been in publication since the 1950s regarding the before and after of the June 24 elections and the current situation in Turkey in the fight against Fetullah Terror Organization (FETÖ) and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), as well as the new era policies aimed at the Gulf.

This is briefly the situation on the Kuwait and Qatar stretch of Turkey's vast and deep network of love. This region, of course, does not consist of this alone.