Democracy is like a streetcar. When you come to your stop, you get off.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Islam is a religion. It is not an ideology. For a Muslim, there is no such thing as to be against modernity. Why should a Muslim not be a modern person? I, as a Muslim, fulfill all the requirements of my religion, and I live in a democratic, social state.
Every country needs a strong leader in order to progress.
Islamophobia emerged from the Western countries, and this is a challenge that we all together need to surmount.
If you're the leader, you have to communicate the message of immortality to your people. Because I believe if a leader hides behind a rock, then the people will hide behind a mountain.
We, as Turkey, call on Europe to respect human rights and democracy.
If we believe in a democratic system, we have to accept the will of the people.
We have never done anything to stop freedom of expression or freedom of press.
A country without a strong leader will go down.
Your targets can only be realized on the basis of dreams.
Turkey is a sovereign state, just like the U.S. We might go to different directions, in terms of our impressions and ideas, but we'll always remain friends.
All terror groups are bad, and we shall fight them all.
The E.U. should want Turkey to be part of it.
I cannot deceive my people.
Before anything else, I'm a Muslim. As a Muslim, I try to comply with the requirements of my religion. I have a responsibility to God, who created me, and I try to fulfill that responsibility. But I try now very much to keep this away from my political life, to keep it private.
According to this view, democracy is a product of western culture, and it cannot be applied to the Middle East which has a different cultural, religious, sociological and historical background.
Turkey will be in Cyprus forever.
My legal bond with the A.K.P. may have ended the day I took the presidential oath of office, but my bonds of love have never ended and never will.
If the E.U. is going to make Turkey a full member, we are ready.
I am aware of the thesis that the United States has long since invested exclusively in stability and this has obviated democratic transformation in the Middle East.
Nazism is still widespread in the West.
Our country and our nation have again only one message to those who attack us - you will not succeed!
A woman who abstains from motherhood saying 'I am working' means she is in fact rejecting motherhood.
There is no difference, where aims are concerned, between a terrorist with a gun and bomb in his hand and a terrorist who has dollars, euros, and interest rates.
I take the debate on the method of promoting democracy seriously.
A political party cannot have a religion. Only individuals can. Otherwise, you'd be exploiting religion, and religion is so supreme that it cannot be exploited or taken advantage of.
Invariably, also a Palestinian state should live side by side with Israel within recognized and secure borders and the security and prosperity of the Palestinian people must be guaranteed.
Satire, whether it be satire or not, everything has to have boundaries.
My nation wants the death penalty. That is the decision of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.
It is impossible to preserve my friendship with people who are allegedly leaders when they are attacking their own people, shooting at them, using tanks and other forms of heavy weaponry.
The foundations of democratic transition should be laid in accordance with a sincere and committed strategy that is supported by various policy tools, and implemented wisely.
Strong families lead to strong nations.
We have a very significant number of Jewish citizens, and they have always been safe and secure where they are in Turkey.
Family planning, birth control, no Muslim family can practice such an understanding.
Everyone should unconditionally accept that Israel is an indispensable element of the Middle Eastern mosaic.
I consider personally the election of Barack Hussein Obama to have very great symbolic meaning. A Muslim and a Christian name - so in his name there is a synthesis, although people from time to time want to overlook that, and they do it intentionally.
Germany has become an important haven for terrorists.
A lasting solution to this problem will have an exceptionally positive influence foremost on the peoples of Palestine and Israel, as well as on the region and the international community.
The fact that a woman is attached to her professional life should not prevent her from being a mother.
You cannot defend a terrorist group just because they are fighting Daesh.
I am a person who is inclined to define relations between individuals based on principles.
I am one of the first political leaders officially declaring that anti-Semitism is a crime. I expect an official declaration that Islamophobia is a crime against humanity as well.
As a politician who cherishes religious conviction in his personal sphere, but regards politics as a domain belonging outside religion, I believe that this view is seriously flawed.
In this country, there is a segregation of Black Turks and White Turks. Your brother Tayyip belongs to the Black Turks.
A simple caricature, a simple sketch - that's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But if you draw up a caricature... if you associate that subject with the things you're not supposed to, then, of course, you can't expect that to be acceptable.
Those who claim we buy oil from Daesh are obliged to prove it. If not, you are slanderer.
Paramount is the need to secure human rights. The form of rule should be such that the citizen does not have to fear the State, but gives it direction and confidently participates in its administration.
I'm calling on the United States: what kind of strategic partners are we, that you can still host someone whose extradition I have asked for?
A fitting external security environment could also play an important role in promoting social consensus and institutionalization towards democratization.
Those who stand on our side in the fight against terrorism are our friend. Those on the opposite side are our enemy.
