Erdoğan says he 'pities' those who move abroad for a better life

Duvar English

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sept. 28 stated that "We pity those who go to other countries just because they have vulgar desires like getting a better car, phone, and going to more concerts.”

“We can imagine the regret that those who move abroad with such enthusiasm will experience when they cannot find a family or social structure there,” he said, speaking at the opening ceremony of Etlik City Hospital in capital Ankara.

Erdoğan said they will not stop until they “build a developed Turkey where each of our citizens, but especially our young people, will not envy anything in other countries.”

“There is a group of people that regrets our own flaws and inadequacies by comparing it with developed countries for a long time. In the last period, we see that the beautifications of developed countries have been made in the social media platforms. Let's answer these by Cemil Meriç’s remarks, one of the greatest thinkers our country has raised in the recent period: ‘Those who find their homeland uninhabitable are those who make their homeland uninhabitable.’ The name of this century is the Century of Turkey,” Erdoğan said. 

As the Turkish government cracks down on dissidents, coupled with a deteriorating economy, more and more people, especially young people, are seeking new lives abroad.

Polls conducted in recent years indicate the Turkish youth are increasingly unhappy to live in the country, saying that they have lost hope in the future of their country.

In recent years, Turkey has been witnessing an increase in its number of emigrants, with migration becoming an exit strategy for the youth from everyday struggles.

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