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Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said Türkiye maintains a principled stance on the situation in Venezuela, standing for international law, institutions, rules and global justice, and will always be with the Venezuelan people.
"As the Republic of Türkiye, with the experienced and resolute leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, we will continue our efforts to both defend our principles and contribute to stability through open dialogue with all parties and to engage in diplomacy."
"We will always continue to be with the Venezuelan people. We sincerely hope that Venezuela will emerge from this crisis as soon as possible and achieve stability, and that an environment will be created that will meet the demands of the Venezuelan people," Yilmaz said in a live broadcast on Turkish media outlet NTV.
Responding to a question about the U.S. detention of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Yilmaz said the world is heading in a different direction and it is necessary to look at the background before this individual incident.
Yilmaz said power politics has come to the fore in the world after the Cold War era, noting that "we are passing through a period in which international rules and institutions are not as effective as before."
He emphasized the importance of leadership in foreign policy, adding that Türkiye maintains a principled position in favor of international law, institutions, rules and global justice.
Yilmaz said the ideological Cold War has ended and an "economic cold war" has now begun.
"We are in an environment where many struggles are taking place, from the control of minerals to logistics routes. In this environment, we are moving toward an environment where international economic institutions, rules, multilateralism have weakened, and everyone focuses more on their unilateral interests. This is not a good thing, of course," Yilmaz stated.
"As the Republic of Türkiye, we certainly do not approve of this, but we must also see the realities," he added.
Yilmaz noted that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts the world economy's growth rate at 3.2% this year and 3.1% next year.
"What is more interesting is the decline in the rate of increase in trade. In a liberal global world, trade generally grew faster than growth in rate terms. But now we are talking about world trade that is below growth. Therefore, we can speak of a global environment in which growth and trade are becoming increasingly moderate, around 3%, and forecasts are that this will continue for the next 3-5 years," he noted.
Regarding geopolitical tensions and their impact on energy and food prices, Yilmaz said they sincerely hope that conflicts, especially the Ukraine-Russia conflict, will end.
Yilmaz said Türkiye supports the initiative started by the U.S. on this issue.
He noted that through the Coalition of the Willing, of which Türkiye is a part and which was established under European Union leadership, they are making every effort to resolve the Ukraine-Russia conflict through diplomatic means and establish peace.
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Responding to a question about the SDF's integration into the Damascus administration and the March 10 agreement that was scheduled for Dec. 31, 2025, which the SDF did not fulfill, Yilmaz said they feel close to everyone living in Syria, want good relations with all of them, and wish for all segments to live together in peace within Syria's unity and integrity.
"Our policy is this. Let Syria's territorial integrity and sovereignty be preserved, let the Syrian people live in peace, but of course, all these different segments should also benefit from fundamental rights and freedoms to the fullest extent. Let them participate in politics and the economy in Syria at the highest level. But we do not want terrorist organizations, we do not want threats against Türkiye. This is our perspective," Yilmaz said.
He noted that Türkiye has very good, positive relations with the Sharaa government.
"Syria needs to restructure with its institutions, infrastructure, and economy. Some countries do not want this. We know this; it is no secret. There are also forces in our region that are working to keep Syria unstable. They are also trying to use and provoke identities within Syria for this purpose. No one should fall for this," he added.
"What is important here is to preserve Syria's unity and integrity with an approach that integrates all elements. Türkiye is also making efforts in this direction through all channels of diplomacy," he noted.
"All our institutions are also making efforts in this direction. We can't remain indifferent to any incident in Syria. As Syria's stability and prosperity increase, this will also have a positive impact on Türkiye," he concluded.
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