President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan made a statement at the Çerkezköy-Kapıkule High Speed Train Line Opening Ceremony.
Highlights from President Erdoğan's statements are as follows:
I wholeheartedly greet all citizens living in Kırklareli, with its districts and villages. I pray that God bless our love and solidarity forever.
Today we are here for the opening of a very important investment. I wish good luck to the Kapıkule-Çerkezköy section of the Halkalı-Kapıkule Train Line, which we have inaugurated. I thank those who contributed. I congratulate each laborer. Halkalı-Kapıkule High Speed Train Line is one of the projects that will add vision to our country. Our project consists of 3 stages. Çerkezköy-Kapıkule line, with a length of 153 km, is the longest stage. Our line is built as double track, electric and signalised. There are 8 cut-and-cover tunnels with a length of 2520 meters, 114 underpasses and overpasses and 175 culverts. With the entry into service of our project, a period will begin in which we will see its effects on a wide range of areas. Travel time in Halkalı-Kapıkule will decrease from 4 hours to 1 hour 30 minutes. Freight transport time will decrease from 8 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours 30 minutes. Capacity will approximately quadruple. Transportation will accelerate and travel time will decrease. Production will increase, exports will increase, employment will increase... Our project will not only unite hearts and cities. It will also make a great contribution to the economy of Thrace and Türkiye. We are building new station buildings. We transform not only the main line, but all the elements of the line into a modern and strong structure.
We cannot limit the importance of the Kapıkule line only to Thrace; it also strengthens the European connection of the Central Corridor. It is a critical part of the section of the Development Corridor passing through Türkiye. Our transportation investments have no longer been roads, bridges and railways, but have turned into the most strategic points of global trade routes. It will facilitate the access of our industrial centers and ports to European markets. Hopefully, this line will be a vein, a logistics backbone, connecting Anatolia's production to Europe. I wish the project to be beneficial, which I believe will make great contributions to the Turkish economy, including the Thrace region.
One of the areas where we have made progress in Türkiye in 24 years is transportation investments. Our investment in transportation during our rule increased to 355 billion dollars. The investment in railways is 80 billion dollars. We took it from scratch and built a 2251 km high-speed train line. 51 percent of our population benefits. Our goal for 2053 is to increase our railway line length to 28 thousand 590 km. Here I would like to draw attention to a profound difference that I believe you see very clearly. You see our agenda. You follow our goals and dreams. Our agenda is to serve you. We were in Şanlıurfa last week. We opened our city hospital with a capacity of 2000 beds. We witnessed the proud projects of our young people at Teknofest. Previously, we made openings at Istanbul Airport. We opened our city hospital with an investment of 17 billion liras in Samsun. Today we are here. We don't stop, we don't rest, we work with love 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We produce action, action. We produce services, not just words. We are putting stone upon stone. We are working day and night to prepare Türkiye for the new century. What do those who constantly tease us do? They are doing the same thing they have been doing for 24 years. There is no project on their agenda. There is nothing but populist promises that even they themselves do not believe in. If not, lie. It's not a political party, it's a rumor mill. They are just looking for disinformation. They are trying to infect us with their dirt. They are attacking us with what they learned from FETO scoundrels. They attack our values with isolated examples. This is not called politics, this is not called opposition. We have the recording of the 32-hour conspiracy, you will pay for the baklava boxes that you say you watched. You will be held accountable for the municipalities you robbed and turned into a mess. We do not give credit to this unprincipled policy, this disgraceful policy. Whoever lays his hands on the rights and laws of the nation will find us and all the institutions of the state. We have no business with them. Those who commit a crime will be caught by the judiciary anyway. We have demonstrated our determination on this issue many times for 24 years. They should also know that we will not allow neither on-screen hitmen nor politically disguised slanderers to carry out extrajudicial executions. We do not allow operations to be carried out against our staff using dirty methods. We stand as strong today as we did on the first day. We will not deviate one millimeter from justice and equity. We will neither be deceived, nor fall into a trap, nor will we be carried away by someone's wind of lies. We will carry out this sensitive process with common sense, reason and prudence. Our nation should trust us, but at the same time be alert and careful. We are doing what is necessary. We treat the issue with the meticulousness of a surgeon.
