Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that after lengthy negotiations, Russia would decrease the price of natural gas it sells to Turkey.
“We had requested a discount on the price of natural gas we purchase from Russia. When this request was not met, we implemented international arbitration," Erdoğan said on Saturday at his ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party’s rally in the eastern Erzurum province.
"At the end of lengthy negotiations, we agreed on a 10.25 percent price reduction for the natural gas we purchase from Russia,” he added.
“Some European administrations allowed the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), which is the front force of the PYD/YPG, to hold meetings in their squares yet they did not allow the Justice and Development (AK) Party to do the same,” Erdoğan said, referring to a hypocritical decision by Germany to allow the opposition HDP to hold a rally prior to the upcoming election yet bar the president and his party from doing the same.
The HDP is known for its close links to the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. The PKK has been conducting armed violence in the southeastern part of Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the three-decade long conflict.
In response to the rally ban, the AK Party organized a rally in Bosnia-Herzegovina's capital Sarajevo on May 20, where a large crowd convened for Erdoğan's address.
President Erdoğan announced the number of terrorists neutralized in Turkey’s various counterterrorism operations.
“4,475 terrorists have been neutralized since the onset of Operation Olive Branch, 414 terrorists have been neutralized in northern Iraq and 398 have been neutralized domestically,” he said.
On Jan. 20, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to remove YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists from northwestern Syria's Afrin region. On March 18, day 58 of the operation, Turkish troops and Free Syrian Army members liberated the town of Afrin.
“We are resolute in ending the era in which Turkey is threatened by internal and external terror threats,” Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan said that the prototype of Turkey's first indigenous automobile would be ready next year and sales would begin in three years.
“The prototype of our domestically-produced vehicle will be ready next year, and mass production will commence in 2021,” he said.
Turkey launched a joint venture to produce its first domestically-produced car in November last year. Five local firms - Anadolu Group, BMC, Kiraca Holding, Turkcell, and Zorlu Holding - will jointly manufacture Turkey's first car.
“The interest lobby is targeting our country. We will annihilate this game altogether,” Erdoğan said, adding that citizens with dollars and euros should convert the foreign currency to the Turkish lira.
In recent months, the Turkish lira has been losing ground to the U.S. dollar as a result of foreign exchange rate volatility.
