Turkish premier in NY evokes Ataturk's peace principle

By Betul Yuruk

NEW YORK (AA) - Visiting New York City on Friday, Turkey’s premier stressed how valuable a friend Turkey is to its allies worldwide, as well as to the oppressed and downtrodden.

Marking the 79th anniversary of the passing of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, at the Turkish Consulate in New York, Yildirim evoked Ataturk's famed principle of "Peace at Home, Peace in the World".

"With that principle, Turkey stands before all injustices, opens its arms to the oppressed, pays a huge price for the regional and global peace of humanity, and hosts millions of displaced people, sharing our bread with them.

"Those who put the blame on us should first look at what they have done and what they have not done for the suffering in the world, then decide," he said.

On Turkey’s international alliances, he added, "Turkey's friendship is always important and valuable for all of our allies."

Yildirim is on the last day of a four-day visit to the U.S., during which he visited with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence at the White House, as well as UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Ataturk, who is deeply revered across Turkey, was born in 1881 in Thessaloniki, then part of the Ottoman Empire.

His distinguished military career included repelling the Allied invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula in 1915 and then rallying Turks to withstand the Allies’ attempt to carve up Turkey after World War I in the War of Independence.

As Turkey's first president, he transformed the country through a wide-ranging series of modernizing reforms.