Physical Address
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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan drew attention to disagreements on the use of water sources, which he said triggered conflicts around the world.
“Many conflicts in Asia, America, northern Africa and the Middle East stem from disputes over water sources,” Erdoğan said in a speech at a meeting on agriculture organized by Turkish state-run lender Ziraat Bank in Istanbul.
The president also touched on the adverse effects of climate change and their consequences for water-linked conflicts.
“Due to the adverse effects of climate change, water sources and reservoirs are becoming areas of conflict,” he added.
On the Black Sea grain deal that Türkiye and the U.N. brokered between Russia and Ukraine in 2022, Erdoğan said many regions in the world, Africa in particular, would have suffered from famine if the deal didn’t exist.
The president emphasized that Türkiye “prevented the situation from worsening by ensuring passage of 33 million tons of grain through our straits” amid the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine.
The U.N. and Türkiye brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative with Russia and Ukraine in July 2022 to help alleviate a global food crisis worsened by Moscow’s invasion and blockade of Ukrainian ports.
Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s leading grain exporters.
Much of the grain has gone to feed people in developing countries in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. If the exports were again blocked, food prices could spiral even higher than they are now.
